Saturday, March 9th, 2024

Live Seminar Via Zoom 12:00PM CST – 3:00PM CST

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Led by Samantha Ladwig, a writer, book reviewer for BUST magazine, and co-owner of Imprint Bookstore in Port Townsend, Washington. Her work has been published by New York magazine's The Cut and Vulture, Literary Hub, Real Simple, Bustle, CrimeReads, and others.

Learn more about Samantha in our Meet the Teaching Artist series.

In this one-day workshop, students will take an experience that speaks to them most and uncover the real, underlying significance of it, shaping it into an essay that will resonate not just with the writer but also with the reader.

“What happened to the writer is not what matters; what matters is the large sense that the writer is able to make of what happened.” – Vivan Gornick

It’s easy to identify the experiences that have shaped us. What’s less easy is figuring out why they’re so important, and it’s that “Why” that turns a moment into a publishable story.

We’ll use essays by Sarah Levy, Melissa Febos, and Samantha Irby, among others, as well as prompts to explore what turns an experience into an essay.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Learn how to read essays critically to be able to identify what it is the writer is doing to turn what’s happened to them into a story that resonates with readers.
• Students will leave with an understanding of how to mine their own personal experiences for the essays within them.
• Students will leave with a solid outline and start (or a fresh angle) on a new work-in-progress.

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Readings will be emailed out about a week before the start of the workshop to be read ahead of time.
• We will begin the workshop with brief introductions, then move into a short discussion about the readings, specifically identifying the surface of the essay (the experience) and then the heart of it (what the writer is making of that experience).
• We will spend the majority of the workshop writing on a series of prompts that will help students identify the experience that speaks to them the most and then move into a deep exploration of the significance of that experience.
• There will be time at the end for Q&A.
  

• Samantha Ladwig | Live via Zoom

• Saturday, March 9th, 2024

• Live Seminar Via Zoom, 12:00PM CST – 3:00PM CST