Studies in Creative Nonfiction: Writing Grief – Thursday Course

Description:
In this course, we will examine creative nonfiction narratives that push into and circle around grief and loss. We will study how the stories emerge and how the loss is revealed. Readings draw from a range of nonfiction texts in various forms, and our discussion will raise questions regarding the overall structure of narrative development. How is the author unfurling their story? What is absent or withheld, and why? What can we learn from this intensive study of writing about grief and coming to terms with loss? How is time managed within the texts that reflect the cycles of grief? 

As a cohort, we will walk through this close study of how personal stories are told and how themes are developed.

Using these questions as the basis for our collective inquiry, this seminar will also focus on helping you to develop skills to engage critically with the texts, speak to the relationship between your own work and the work of others, and find new ways to tell your story.

For the generative portion of this course, we will experiment with various methods and techniques to write into the powerful moments that define our lives.

This course expects an intensive reading of the assigned texts as well as avid contribution to the community of the classroom via class discussion and exercise participation.

Required Texts:
Kyle Boelte’s The Beautiful Unseen
Lissa Soep’s Other People’s Words
Richard Beard’s The Day That Went Missing
Alison Smith’s Name All the Animals
Mira Ptacin’s Poor Your Soul

Recommended Texts:
Anne Carson’s Nox

**Note: Course texts are subject to change. Final text list will be available on the syllabus.

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The course requires a minimum of five students to run. If we do not reach this minimum before the course starts, you will receive a notification and a refund.