Creative Non-fiction
8 Wednesdays Sept. 12 to Nov. 7—6:30-9:00 pm
REGISTRATION CLOSED
Are you interested in writing a short-form or book-length memoir, essay collection, or creative nonfiction narrative but need to develop the focus and direction necessary to do so? Easy-to-follow lectures teach the essential elements of the storyteller's craft: structure, characterization, plot, description, dialogue, point of view, style, and voice. A series of creative and inspiring in-class exercises deepens students' understanding of the personal narrative and builds confidence. The workshop also considers revision, and publishing in both print and online formats.
Karol Nielsen worked as a journalist before becoming an author, editor, and writing instructor. Her memoir, Black Elephants (Bison Books, 2011), was selected as a New and Noteworthy Book by Poets & Writers in 2011 and shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing in nonfiction in 2012. Excerpts from her memoir were honored as Notable Essays in The Best American Essays in 2010 and 2005. Her poetry chapbook, This Woman I Thought I'd Be (Finishing Line Press, 2012), includes poems from her full collection and was selected as a finalist for the Colorado Prize for Poetry in 2007. She has contributed essays and poems to The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous and Obscure (Harper Perennial, 2012), Ink Stained (Ink Stained Press, 2013), and many publications, including Epiphany, Guernica, Lumina, North Dakota Quarterly, Old Red Kimono, Permafrost, RiverSedge, Smith, Used Furniture Review, Women's Voices for Change, and Woodstock Poetry Society. As a journalist, she covered Latin America, the Middle East, New York City, and other beats, contributing to Thomson Reuters and Jane's magazines as a staff writer and editor, New York Newsday and the Stamford Advocateop-ed page as a freelance writer, the New York Times as a stringer, and others. She works as a freelance manuscript editor and has served as senior editor, nonfiction editor, and contributing editor of Epiphany, an award-winning literary magazine. She has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She teaches writing workshops at New York University and New York Writers Workshop.
[OFFERED AGAIN in Spring 2018 — check for details]