A 2022 LARB Publishing Fellow, Eraldo Souza dos Santos is a Brazilian writer based between Paris and São Paulo. He recently joined Cornell University as a Klarman Fellow and will join UC Irvine as an Assistant Professor within the Poetic Justice Cluster in Summer 2025. His first book, to be published in 2025, is an autobiography of his illiterate mother and a meditation on the lived experience of Blackness and enslavement in modern Brazil. At the age of seven, his mother was sold into slavery by her white foster sister. It was 1968—eighty years after the abolition of slavery in Brazil and four years into the anti-communist coup d’état, during the month in which the military overruled the Constitution by decree. By weaving in extensive archival research and interviews, the novel narrates their journey to Minas Gerais—where she was born—and Bahia—the Blackest state in Brazil, where she was enslaved for three years—to investigate why the family that enslaved her has never been brought to justice. It also narrates his grandmother’s journey to search for her missing daughter.

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

Explore via the work of James Baldwin and Toni Morrison the poetics and politics of literary writing.

From Giovanni's Room to Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, from The Bluest Eye to Sula and Beloved, the works of Toni Morrison and James Baldwin remain a key source of inspiration for writers today.

This workshop offers both an introduction to their life and work as well as an invitation to write with them, through their writings.

After reading selected passages from their books, we will explore in each class writing exercises inspired by motives and techniques that are characteristic of the literary project of each author.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Class 1: The Note as Form (James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son)

Class 2: Writing Different Voices (Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye)

Class 3: The Poetics of the Letter (James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time)

Class 4: Finding Inspiration in History (Toni Morrison, Beloved)

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• We will read, discuss, and find inspiration together in key works by James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.
• You will have the opportunity to produce at least four short pieces based on writing exercises proposed throughout the workshop.
• You will receive written feedback for the pieces you will produce during the workshop and for one of the pieces you may want to produce independently.
• You will have the opportunity to workshop your pieces with the other workshop participants as well as with me in a one-on-one consulting session.

TESTIMONIALS:

Eraldo is a marvelous teacher -- quick to see the value in his students' work, and a fine guide in their intellectual and creative pursuits. He draws immediate, inspiring connections between what his students have produced and a multitude of published writers; his knowledge of international writers of many genres is remarkable. I feel very fortunate to have crossed paths with such a fine person. The material is so rich and Eraldo is a fine teacher. -former student

This was a brilliant workshop! I really enjoyed the mixed approach of tasks, reading & discussion, and I came away with some amazing new thoughts & insights. Thank you so much! -UEA Creative Writing Course, MA Prose Fiction

I was in Eraldo’s Lounge Writers session on writing autobiographies. Eraldo selected excellent readings and discussed them closely, inviting our questions and comments. I really appreciated the balance between thorough examination of content and concepts and hands-on exercises on autobiography. Eraldo shared his extensive knowledge of world literature, literary criticism, and history in ways that contextualized the readings and provided a useful framework for the participants to contextualize the autobiographies they may want to write. I left this relatively short session with a deeper and broader understanding of the concepts covered. Eraldo is a generous, engaging, and enthusiastic instructor. I look forward to learning more from him in future sessions. -Lounge Writers

Eraldo is brilliant, current, and analytical. His course content was endless -- in that beyond what was covered in class, Eraldo exposed us to new worlds in literature that we go forward to pursue independently, a sort of limitless virtual classroom. Eraldo's presentation/material is marvelously thought-provocative. He never talked down to the class while he consistently elevated our knowledge base. I consider it an honour to have studied w/ him and hope to do so again in the future. -Former Student

The workshop was agile and engaging, where Eraldo Souza dos Santos shared his knowledge and encouraged everybody to participate. The writers and books he recommended to us (so hard to find alone in a bookstore) were precisely what I was looking for to pursue my project. Thanks! -Center for Fiction

"Content and instructor were harmonious. Examples and discussion opened up a new world to me as an author. Your teaching style is very grounded, open, inviting, warm, personal, literate, intellectual." -Former Student

"It must be said... that you are a wonderful, clear in purpose and delivery, teacher." -Former Student

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE: