1 Session: Sunday, December 1
1:00-4:00pm ET
Kyle Dillon Hertz

Kyle Dillon Hertz is the author of The Lookback Window, a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Vanity Fair named The Lookback Window one of the best novels of 2023. His work can be found in Esquire, Freeman’s, Time, and elsewhere. He received his MFA from NYU and a residency from Yaddo. He teaches at The New School.

In this class, we will explore the ways to transform real-life trauma into complex art. When I was writing The Lookback Window, I wanted my novel to be as funny as it was dark and shocking and violent. I wanted to write about the violent trauma from my own life and make it read how I experienced it in the real world, which meant it needed to be multifaceted. In this class, we will look at the various methods writers use to turn real-life trauma into art that is sad, horny, funny, angry, etc...

I've always rejected the idea that a book about trauma must simply be sad or the cliche victim to survivor narrative. That's not how most people experience the world, and that doesn't often make the best art. So we will look at many different examples from different writers to free ourselves.

Workshop Highlights:

• Writers will have multiple examples of different ways to turn real-life trauma into narrative art

• Writers will have exercises to help facilitate voice and story according to the different examples we have

• Writers will have a chance to do a q&a during the class to make sure all their questions are answered. Writing about trauma is hard, especially when it is your own, and this class will make sure to leave time for everyone to be heard

2 full and 2 partial scholarships available. For information, please contact Kate Mabus, kate@theshipmanagency.com