ENG505: Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction

"The essay isn't a retreat from the world but a way of encountering it," writes Leslie Jamison in Best American Essays 2017. Throughout the term, we will explore the art of telling stories - ours and those of others - and learn how to translate personal experience and research into effective pieces of creative nonfiction. We will read and listen to essays on a range of topics: health care, bird watching, immigration, craft beer, hunting and Serena Williams (to name a few). Forms will vary from traditional to more contemporary and innovative - memoir, lyric essay, braided essay, graphic essay, podcast and video essay. We will discuss them as readers (digesting content) and as writers (analyzing form). Students will craft original pieces of creative nonfiction, experimenting with a variety of compositional elements and techniques. The writing process will be workshop-oriented: Students will receive peer and instructor feedback, work through multiple drafts and build a supportive writing community.