Overview of Creative Nonfiction
Week 1: Jan 29 – Feb 2
M 1/29
- Review syllabus and class schedule
- Sign up for CUNY Academic Commons
- Read “Creative Lies I Tell My Nonfiction Students” by Liz Stephens; and “The Creative Nonfiction Police?” by Lee Gutkind
W 1/31
- Sign-up for Group Craft Talks
- Read “The Body of Memory” by Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paola; and “How to Write a Personal Essay” by Leslie Jamison
Journal #1 due 2/2
Theme 1: Writing About Self
Week 2: Feb 5 – 9
M 2/5
- Read “Writing Personal Essays: On the Necessity of Turning Oneself Into a Character” by Phillip Lopate; and “Letting Go” By David Sedaris
W 2/7
- Read“Ordinary Girls” by Jaquira Díaz
Journal #2 due 2/9
Week 3: Feb 12 – 16
M 2/12
- College Closed
W 2/14
- Group Craft Talk #1
- Read “On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic” by Jesmyn Ward
Journal #3 due 2/16
Week 4: Feb 19 – 23
M 2/19
- College Closed
W 2/20
- Read “Bad Feminist” By Roxane Gay
- Submit Messy Draft #1 and bring to class for peer review
Th 2/22
- Classes follow a Monday schedule
- Read “Girl” by Alexander Chee
Journal #4 due 2/23
Theme 2: Writing About Place
Week 5: Feb 26 – Mar 1
M 2/26
- Read “A Report From Occupied Territory” by James Baldwin
W 2/28
- Group Craft Talk #2
- Read “I Feel Most Southern in the Hip-hop of My Adolescence” by Joy Priest
Journal #5 due 3/1
Week 6: Mar 4 – 8
M 3/4
- Read “The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found” By Colson Whitehead
W 3/6
- Read “Once More to the Lake” by E.B. White
- Submit Messy Draft #2 and bring to class for peer review
Journal #6 due 3/8
Theme 3: Writing About People
Week 7: Mar 11 – 15
M 3/11
- Read “A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof” by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
W 3/12
- Group Craft Talk #3
- Read “Heroin/e” by Cheryl Strayed
Journal #7 due 3/15
Week 8: Mar 18 – 22
M 3/18
- Read “Baby Yeah” by Anthony Veasna So
W 3/20
- Read “Living Through My Mother’s Breakdown” by Ayana Mathis
- Submit Messy Draft #3 and bring to class for peer review
Journal #8 due 3/22
Theme 4: The Lyric Essay & Other Experimental Forms
Week 9: Mar 25 – 29
M 3/25
- Read “John D’Agata Redefines the Essay” by Susan Steinberg; and Excerpt from Citizen: “You are in the dark, in the car...” by Claudia Rankine
W 3/27
- Group Craft Talk #4
- Read “The Pain Scale” by Eula Biss
Journal #9 due 3/29
Week 10: Apr 1 – 5
M 4/1
- Read “Morphology of the Essay” by E.V. de Cleyre; and “The Empathy Exams” by Leslie Jamison
W 4/3
- Read “Strange Flowers” by Karrie Higgins
- Submit Messy Draft #4 and bring to class for peer review
Journal #10 due 4/5
Theme 5: Speculative Nonfiction
Week 11: Apr 8 – 12
M 4/8
- Read…“Perhapsing: The Use of Speculation in Creative Nonfiction” by Lisa Knopp; and “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston”
W 4/10
- Group Craft Talk #5
- Read“What He Took” By Kelly Grey Carlisle
Journal #11 due 4/12
Week 12: Apr 15 – 19
M 4/15
- Read “Venus in Two Acts” by Saidiya Hartman
W 4/17
- Read “Things I Thought Made Sense Just Don’t Anymore” by Mira Jacob
- Submit Messy Draft #5 and bring to class for peer review
Journal #12 due 4/19
Week 13: Apr 22 – 26
M 4/22
- Spring Recess
W 4/24
- Spring Recess
Writing Workshops
Week 14: Apr 29 – May 3
M 4/29
- Spring Recess
W 5/1
- Sign up for Workshop Groups
- Read “A Survivor’s Guide to the Long, Slow, and Infuriating Process of Revision” by Peter Ho Davies; and “Lit Mag Submissions 101: How, When, and Where to Send Your Work” by Lincoln Michel;
1 In-Progress Draft due 5/3
Week 15: May 6 – 10
M 5/6
- Read and comment on Workshop Group 1 submissions
W 5/8
- Read and comment on Workshop Group 2 submissions
Journal #13 due 5/10
Week 16: May 13 – 15
M 5/13
- Read and comment on Workshop Group 3 submissions
M 5/15
- Last day of classes
- Read and comment on Workshop Group 4 submissions
Journal #14 due 5/15
Final Exam – TBA
in lieu of an exam: Open Mic Performances
1 Transformed Draft due
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