ARTS 220: Writing Self and World: Exploring Creative Nonfiction

Number of Sections: 1 | Days and Times: Tuesdays & Thursdays (13:30-15:00 ICT)

Course Description

In this course, students will explore the challenges of writing creative nonfiction in forms that go beyond the academic essay. In particular, they will explore the following:
1. The craft of memoir and the transformative power of personal storytelling
2. The art of literary reportage
3. The literary essay — bridging the personal and the political.
What is creative nonfiction? The writer Lee Gutkind calls it the art of “true stories, well-told.” This course aims to take students from first steps in writing creative nonfiction to engaging with the global marketplace for creative nonfiction writing.
Students will also read widely both in creative nonfiction, and in theoretical approaches to understanding nonfiction writing. The readings are diverse, and take a global view on nonfiction writing, while placing contemporary creative nonfiction in its historical contexts. As well as focusing on the craft of writing, students will explore questions of ethics, truth and responsibility in nonfiction.
This is a creative writing course. Students will be expected to engage in all individual and collective writing tasks, and will come to understand the possibilities and the challenges of creative nonfiction by writing creative works of their own.
By the end of the course, students will have built up a substantial portfolio of their own work: two assignments, six-micro assignments, and a large.