Department of English

This creative writing workshop collects, explores, and promotes the writing of poetry and creative nonfiction in a range of styles that center around the theme of place. We will begin with literal notions of place (geography, the city, neighborhoods) and move into metaphorical engagements with the theme, using our own writing as well as assigned readings to explore the idea of one’s place in the world, displacement and diaspora, the page itself, and myriad formal approaches that engage place and placelessness in writing. This class posits the act of writing as a means of establishing a locale for creativity, self, exploration, and more. Through a (seemingly) limited thematic structure, we will see just how numerous and porous literature makes something that is typically mitigated by limits, borders, and territories. Student will be encouraged to read, challenge, represent, and re-write turf, region, and terrain in ways that are multiple.