Creative Writing: Intermediate Nonfiction Prose

What does it mean to be from somewhere? How do we come home to our bodies? How do creatives write about the locations they long to return to, whether that place even exists at all? In this course, we will get comfy and do some reading of work by contemporary creative nonfiction writers who consider the above questions at enormous scale. This course will provide writers with a unique opportunity to think and write expansively about the meaning of the ubiquitous term “home” through a range of philosophical, social/political, cultural, anthropological and ecocritical frameworks. We will read essay and memoir selections that consider how one’s ancestral homelands might now be eroded by borders, or flooded out from shifts in climate, or simply no longer marked by the same familiar childhood landmarks of the convenience stores or beauty salons of our memories. And even if we could teleport back to the exact circumstances of our hometowns, our home countries, we would find that our bodies and minds have been changed by everything we have encountered since leaving. The body becomes our primary home, and it holds all our memories, desires, and regrets. Somebody or many somebodies said that you can never go back home again, but in the space of the essay and this course, we can visit for a time. Students will be encouraged to write honestly about the places and people that have shaped their bodies, minds, and how they have come to understand the word home. Through a rich and ranging selection of essays and nonfiction pieces, we will consider how to write about the past in order to confront the future. Students will be provided with a nurturing space to learn and experiment with developing voice, storytelling craft, formal presentation through constructive and supportive workshopping experiences and engaged community writing time. Writers will attend readings by local and visiting writers to make connections both to Columbia as a place of writing and to better understand the publishing landscape as part of professional development. Students can expect to be challenged to develop their technical skills as creative writers and leave prepared to enroll in Advanced Creative Nonfiction if they so choose. In keeping with the homebody theme, (literal) pajamas, lo-fi, and lowkey vibes are always encouraged to help cultivate a classroom of coziness, creativity, and community.