With its origins in Old French as an essai, a method of trying, weighing, or exploring the world around us, the essay has taken on many shapes as the form has evolved. In this intermediate workshop, students will explore two popular shapes the essay currently takes within contemporary creative nonfiction: the lyric essay and the hermit crab essay. Students will be asked to examine the lyric and the hermit crab essay’s evolution, the critical conversations surrounding what these forms do, and weigh the benefits and pitfalls of experimenting with readers’ expectations of nonfiction prose. Major assignments will include a lyric essay, a hermit crab essay, workshop conversations, a final portfolio, and attendance at the creative writing program’s Visiting Writers Series events.