2 Sessions: Sundays, May 5+June 2
1:00-3:30pm ET
Sandy Ernest Allen

10 Students

Become a better self-editor in this two-part Craft Seminar taught by author and journalist Sandy Ernest Allen. Sandy's essays and features have been published by Esquire, The Cut, 99% Invisible and This American Life. His debut book, A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise (Scribner) was long-listed as a top work of journalism of the decade by NYU’s journalism school. His work has been praised by The New York Times, O Magazine, The Los Angeles Times ("a bracing work of art") and The New Republic, ("thrilling writing"). Sandy received an MFA from the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program and is a former BuzzFeed News features editor. He has taught nonfiction writing and literature in a variety of contexts to a variety of people, from teenagers to retirees.

This is a Craft Seminar is focused on the revision of personal essays. When writing about our own lives, how can we forge the critical distance necessary for revision itself? In general, how can we become better self-editors? This course will be geared towards serious writers of literary nonfiction who already have a strong draft of a personal essay (or standalone memoir excerpt) they wish to revise. Consider this an opportunity to push your best unpublished personal essay draft to the next level. During the first class, the instructor will guide students through a variety of strategies for revision, ones they’ll then try out during the interim month.

Students should already have a solid draft ahead of the first class meeting. They will submit both their initial and revised drafts ahead of the second class, primarily for instructor perusal. (Maximum 15 pages. If a memoir excerpt, material should work on its own without further explanation.) Students will also be asked to share a single-page reflection with the instructor, discussing how the revision process went for them. Though this won’t be a formal workshop, participants may be asked if they’d be willing to have portions of their two drafts shared with the group for discussion. Ample time will be provided for student questions, both about revision, as well as topics like pitching, editorial processes, fact checks, and the various challenges one can face when writing about real people and events.

Workshop Highlights:

• Students will come away with a variety of approaches for the revision of personal essay/memoir, including work they already feel is strong.

• They'll get to try out and play with various mechanical drills in service of revision, as well as strategies for forging distance between the self who wrote the draft and the one who is revising.

• They will learn how to navigate some of the real-world hurdles one might face when attempting to publish personal essays/memoir.

1 full scholarship available. Please contact Kate Mabus, kate@theshipmanagency.com