Personal Essay Workshop
Begins Monday, September 19, 2011
Personal essays allow us to dig into our life stories in a short and potent form.
In this workshop, you will learn how to dig into and shape personal narratives, whether they are pieces of an autobiography, sections of a memoir, journal entries or blog posts, into a form that can move others.
Since your own work will be the core of our material, you will get a chance to write a lot for this class, with detailed feedback from the instructor and your peers, not to mention two-week deadlines to keep you going.
Each week we will turn to classic and contemporary essayists for tools to make our work better.
(This workshop is designed to be a long-term home for essay writers and you'll be welcome to repeat it to continue building your material and your network.)
Writer's Roadmap
This course is suited for those who have completed Creative Writing I or Writing Life Stories, and others who wish to gain regular feedback on personal essay drafts.
About the Instructor: Ellen Blum Barish has a masters degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Her feature articles have appeared in Newsweek, Self and The Chicago Tribune. She is author of a collection of award-winning essays based on her syndicated newspaper columns on women’s issues and family life. Many of her personal essays have aired as radio commentaries on WBEZ-Chicago Public Radio’s Eight-Forty-Eight program. She has taught writing at many Chicago-area universities including Northwestern.
Date/Time: Monday, September 19 to December 12, 2011; 6:30pm-9:00pm
Six session class (Meets every other week; no class on October 31)
Location: North Shore Studio, 723 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL
Course Fee: Non-Member: $325; Member: $305. Includes reading packet and instructor reviews.