Class Description
Narrative medicine is a way of bearing witness to an illness journey, whether it is our own or someone else’s. Using excerpts from authors such as Laurie Edwards (Life Disrupted and In the Kingdom of the Sick), Susannah Cahalan (Brain on Fire), and Terry Tempest Williams (Refuge), we will examine the role writing can play in helping a patient process his/her experience, communicate with caregivers, and bridge the gap between the sick and the healthy. Whether you are looking to write about your own medical trajectory, write about an ill family member or friend, or simply to learn the basics of narrative medicine, this course is for you. We will do a short in-class writing prompt. Students will leave the class with a good understanding of narrative medicine and the tools to write their own illness narratives.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.