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“Personal essay takes the messy unfiltered stuff of life and molds it into something of beauty, meaning, wisdom, and hopefully, a great story,” says instructor Gila Lyons. “It is no small task, but wrangling the blur of life into something crystalline reinforces Isak Dinesen’s famous words, ‘All sorrows can be bourne if you put them in a story.’ And I would add, all joys, confusions, and ponderings as well.”
In this course we’ll read and talk about a diverse array of personal essays by some of the greats, including Jo Anne Beard, Sherman Alexie, Leonard Michaels, and Joy Harjo. Class will be comprised of generative writing exercises and workshops in which we’ll cover such elements as character development, dialogue, plot, humor, and self-revelation. Come see why this innovative form is enjoying such a renaissance for beginning and advanced writers alike!
No Instructor Specified
- Saturday, May 12, 2:00pm-4:30pm
- Saturday, May 19, 2:00pm-4:30pm
- Saturday, June 2, 2:00pm-4:30pm
- Saturday, June 9, 2:00pm-4:30pm
- Saturday, June 16, 2:00pm-4:30pm
Gila is a talented teacher, very encouraging and effective and thoughtful. The freewrites and pair & shares, the readings and discussions were all lively and interesting and helpful.
I really liked that the class was centered on reading, writing, and
discussing the readings and each other's writing, with minimal
lecturing. This approach really works for me. All of the writing
exercises were helpful, and I liked that they were connected to the
readings we had just done. The teacher was great and I appreciated her positivity and questions that showed active listening/reading.