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"I"dentity: Crafting Persona in the Essay, a Zoom Seminar with Jill Talbot on Wednesday, December 10th, 2025
"I"dentity: Crafting Persona in the Essay, a Zoom Seminar with Jill Talbot on Wednesday, December 10th, 2025
 / 
$141.00

"I"dentity: Crafting Persona in the Essay, a Zoom Seminar with Jill Talbot on Wednesday, December 10th, 2025

Wednesday, December 10th, 2025

Live Seminar via Zoom from 7PM - 9PM Eastern

Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded. All enrolled students will receive a link to watch the recording, which will be available for 30 days.

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us. 

Instructor Jill Talbot is the author of The Last Year: Essays (Winner of Wandering Aengus Press Editor’s Prize, August 2023), a collection based on her Paris Review Daily column. She’s also the author of The Way We Weren’t: A Memoir (Soft Skull, 2015) and Loaded: Women and Addiction (Seal Press, 2007), a collection of personal essays. Talbot is the co-editor of The Art of Friction: Where (Non)Fictions Come Together (U of Texas Press, 2008) and the editor of Metawritings: Toward a Theory of Nonfiction (Iowa, 2012). She won The Florida Review’s 2021 Jeanne Leiby Chapbook Award for her short story collection, A Distant Town (2022). Her writing has appeared in journals such as AGNI, Brevity, Colorado Review, Diagram, Gulf Coast, Hotel Amerika, LitMag, The Paris Review Daily, and The Rumpus and has been recognized seven times in The Best American Essays.

Who is this course for?

This course is for writers familiar with the essay who would like to learn more about developing persona, though it's also helpful for writers from different genres to learn the relationship between persona, character (fiction), and speaker (poetry).

What to expect:

In this hour-long seminar, we'll look at the ways various writers think about the concept of persona (the "I") and look at excerpts from their essays.

Then Jill will lead the class in a persona inventory exercise, followed by practicing with creating a persona for a few imaginary essay ideas.

We'll end with a Q&A. Jill's goal is for you to leave inspired to return to essay drafts of your own to (re)shape the persona or to start new drafts knowing which persona the essay needs.

What are the writing goals for this class?

During this course, students will be introduced to the concept of persona in the essay and how to craft a clear persona for each essay they write.

Students will have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the seminar, and we'll close with a Q&A and recommendations for further reading.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

  • An understanding of the significance of persona
  • A view of how different writers think about persona
  • How to narrow persona to enhance an essay, but also make it easy for the writer to cut unnecessary material

SELECTED COURSE TEXTS:

We'll be reading excerpts from several author interviews/works, and I'll offer students a Recommended Reading List.

COURSE OUTLINE:

  • Showcase of Writers' Views on Persona
  • Writing Exercise
  • Group Exercise for Imaginary Essays
  • Q&A

Can't Make It Live?

No problem! The session will be recorded and available to watch after the seminar concludes.

STUDENT TESTIMONIALS:

"Jill Talbot encourages students to come as they are, and in return, they are met with an active listener who is intuitive in her advice for how the work can develop. Jill sees the person within the persona and gives them exactly what they need to understand where they are going and how they can get there."

”Jill's comments were supportive and probing and in no way presumptive, making for a safe and inviting process.” -former student

“I take a lot of writing workshops and classes and I have to say, Jill’s method, her demeanor, and her feedback were absolutely far beyond what I usually see.” -former student

"Jill has done more to expand my understanding of the essay than any I have encountered." -former student

"Publishing class with Jill Talbot was amazing. Chock-a-block with useful, practical, real-world tips.  She also gave us a look behind the scenes at what editors look for.  Can't wait to use all her resources!  And, Jill was fun, funny and warm. Really, what more can you ask for?" -former student

"I just took a class taught by Jill Talbot called the Writing the Lyric Essay. It was a wonderful generative class. I know much more now about lyric essays and feel my writing has improved!" -former student

PAYMENT OPTIONS:


Tuition is $99 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

  • Instructor: Jill Talbot

  • Wednesday, December 10th, 2025

  • Live Seminar via Zoom from 7PM - 9PM Eastern

  • Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded. All enrolled students will receive a link to watch the recording, which will be available for 30 days.