Department of English

A workshop focused on the way writers combine public and personal narratives to investigate self and world. Through your own prose and the prose of celebrated contemporary essayists (such as JoAnn Beard, Kiese Laymon, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Ross Gay, and Tressie McMillan Cottom), you will learn to render events in language that surprises—whether recounting family drama, describing campus protests, or mapping the mating cycle of an octopus onto memories of adolescence. Students will be asked to write (and rewrite) short prose pieces throughout the semester, with slightly longer midterm and final essays that mean to situate a private life in the collective world. All writing in the course will be creative, and both beginners and experienced writers are welcome.