In this intermediate-level course, students will expand their understanding of nonfictional forms and place their work in a current nonfiction landscape. Together we will explore the intersections of personal and critical nonfiction with a particular focus on hybrid and intergenre work that seeks to meet and reflect contemporary forms of attention, politics and relation. Each student will workshop two pieces of nonfiction, polishing their work throughout the semester along with their capacities for close reading, revision and peer feedback. Students will be empowered to facilitate feedback sessions honed to meet their projects' needs, informed by Felicia Rose Chavez's model of the Anti-Racist Writing Workshop. Students will finish the course with a refined sense of their own creative intentions, lineage and goals for the development of future work. In-class prompts and discussion will be guided by readings emphasizing the work of writers from historically marginalized groups. These may include but are not limited to Hanif Abdurraqib, Elissa Washuta, Julietta Singh, Larissa Pham, and T. Fleischmann.

How do we consistently discover and shape new narratives, and then do it all over again in revision? How can our writing benefit from reassessing and reaffirming our voices, languages, craft, and writing identities? This intermediate nonfiction workshop aims to practice practice. We’ll study the essential elements of creative nonfiction through the practices and provocations of a diverse set of working writers, styles, and genres—essay, academic writing, memoir, research, reporting, criticism, and lyricism. Workshop requires a rigorous level of participation and accountability; it also allows us to take risks with craft, inspiration, and our limitless capacity to grow as writers. This course aims to help us all think and write anew, and to welcome the enlargement, refinement, and transformation of our creative practices. We'll read work by authors such as Aisha Sabatini Sloan, Carmen Maria Machado, Tressie McMillan Cottom, and Orlando White.