Creative Writing: Intermediate Nonfiction Prose

ENGLSH 2520
Section 01
Semester
Spring
Year
2024
Sam Edmonds
Tuesday
Thursday
12:30-1:45pm
Course Description

This intermediate nonfiction course will aim to push students beyond a traditional definition of creative nonfiction by exposing them to a number of different ways of writing about the self, including graphic memoirs, speculative nonfiction, and biomythographies (a combination of biography and mythology). Toward that end, students will engage with full-length published works and excerpts of each genre, as well as creating their own short-form essays in these various styles. The first half of the semester will focus on reading and discussing contemporary nonfiction, such as The Keeper by Kelcey Ervick (a graphic memoir) and Lying by Lauren Slater (a self-proclaimed “metaphorical memoir”), in addition to a series of informal writing prompts in the style of imitations. The second half of the semester will focus on student-generated writing, as each student will revise one of their informal prompts into a full-length essay for workshopping. Students will leave this class with a broader understanding and appreciation of what falls under the umbrella of “creative nonfiction,” a greater confidence in their own work and identities as writers regardless of major, and emerging citizens of a literary and artistic community.