Class Description
Ready to get your life stories out of your journal and into the world? If you want to learn the art of writing personal essays, but have no idea where to begin (or you need a refresher), this course is for you. Over six weeks, you will learn the essentials of the personal essay, and put them into practice by writing your own essays. Each week, we will discuss an element of craft, including scene and summary, reflection, narrator and character, and revision, and study published examples from authors like Audre Lorde, Amy Tan, James Baldwin, Sy Montgomery, Berry Grass, Joan Didion, and more. To put what we learn into practice, we’ll use prompts and different essay forms to inspire our own drafts. During the second half of the class, you’ll have the chance to workshop and revise at least one of these essays with the entire class. By the end of the course, you will have generated two essay drafts and the insight and inspiration to continue developing your essays.
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 is an Online: On-Demand class that will take place on our asynchronous online learning platform, Wet.Ink. Weekly lessons and assignments open each Wednesday. Students will receive an invitation to Wet Ink before 5pm on the first day of class! All video lectures for Online: On-Demand courses have closed captioning available. To enable, click "cc" on the toolbar of each video lecture.