Evento

Three-Hour Essay Intensive With Melissa Febos

What is the role of the personal writer in this new political landscape? It has always been the job of writers to engage in conversation with the world, but in times of national upheaval, this job is more urgent than ever.

In this generative workshop, we will explore methods of bringing our personal stories more explicitly into a political context. A writer can discuss experiences of sex, addiction, violence, love, madness, the body, and all manner of internal phenomena and engage directly the larger public conversation. We will examine the personal essay as a place where experience, emotion, research, intellection, and argumentation can be combined through craft techniques and narrative structure.

We will practice literary art as activism.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Melissa Febos is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Whip Smart and the forthcoming essay collection, Abandon Me . The recipient of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, she is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Monmouth University and MFA faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).