The word essay comes from the Latin word for "to weigh" and the French word for "to try." The personal essay, whether it's lyrical or experimental or confessional in tone and whether it veers toward memoir or journalism in style, is a form that's all about weighing and trying. We'll read work from authors as varied as Annie Dillard, Alexander Chee, David Sedaris, Leslie Jamison, Kiese Laymon, Melissa Febos, and Charles D'Ambrosio and talk about how they use and redefine the essay's structure, style, and form. We'll do some free writing and use prompts to generate new ideas and workshop student writing each week.
WHERE:
In Person at Westport Writers' Workshop25 Sylvan Rd S, Suite J, Westport, CT 06880
DATES:
6 Tuesdays
June 20, 27, off, July 11, 18, 25, August 1
TIME:
10:15am to 12:15pm EST
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LIMITED TO 7 STUDENTS
About the Instructor...
Amanda Parrish Morgan is the author of STROLLER (Bloomsbury 2022), of which The New Yorker wrote “the central strength of the book is not comprehensiveness but the way the stroller, and Morgan’s experience of her own strollering years, become an omnidirectional magnet, pulling disparate material into friendly proximity.”
Some of Amanda’s writing has appeared in The Rumpus, LitHub, Guernica, The Millions, n+1, Electric Literature, Carve, The American Scholar, The Ploughshares Blog, JSTOR Daily, The Washington Post, Real Simple, Women’s Running and ESPNW.