Masterclass: creative non-fiction (a one-term intensive workshop)
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- Course Code: HW658
- Dates: 18/04/24 - 27/06/24
- Time: 19:40 - 21:40
- Taught: Thu, Evening
- Duration: 11 sessions (over 11 weeks)
- Location: Keeley Street
- Tutor: Amber Husain
Course Code: HW658
Choose a start date
Duration: 11 sessions (over 11 weeks)
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
What is the course about?
Aimed at writers who have either already published or are close to publication, this course is designed to challenge students working within the umbrella term of creative non-fiction. Those working within autobiography, memoir, the essay, narrative reportage and other forms will have their ideas pushed, their material workshopped and their writing practice honed by weekly contact with an experienced cohort of other writers.
What will we cover?
Structures of various creative non-fiction forms.
- Innovations within creative non-fiction.
- Techniques for writing about memory and the self.
- Approaches to capturing the voices of others.
- Methods for revising your work.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Redraft your work to a more advanced standard, incorporating techniques explored in class and feedback received.
- Participate constructively in a workshop setting.
- Respond to and assess creative non-fiction with critical insight.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
Writers are invited to submit details of their writing background and workshop experience, and a sample of prose no longer than 500 words. Please use the assessment link on this page to apply. The extended deadline for applications is 24 March 2024.
Applications for this course are now closed. However, you are still welcome to submit an application, and we will review this and contact you if any spaces become available on the course due to withdrawals.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
The course will include a mix of tutor led discussion, workshop readings, critical feedback from the class on your own work, tutor feedback and discussions of theory and structure and writing and redrafting exercises in and out of class time.
City Lit Writing endeavours to create a safe and welcoming space for all and we strongly support the use of content notes in our classes. This means that learners are encouraged to make their tutor and classmates aware in advance if any writing they wish to share contains material that may be deemed sensitive. If you are unsure about what might constitute sensitive content, please ask your tutor for further clarification and read our expectations for participating in writing courses at City Lit.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
There are no additional costs. Writers will be expected to submit manuscripts electronically in advance of class.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
The next step will be discussed individually with each participant.
All students are invited to join us at Late Lines, our regular performance night for City Lit writers. Students are also encouraged to submit their work to Between the Lines, our annual anthology of creative writing. For the latest news, courses and events, stay in touch with the Department on Facebook and Twitter.
Amber Husain is a writer based in South London, UK. She is the author of Meat Love (Mack, 2023) and Replace Me (Peninsula Press, 2021). Her essays on politics, literature and art have been published in Granta, the LRB, New Left Review, The White Review, Baffler, The Believer, LA Review of Books and New York Times Magazine. She is currently working on a hybrid work of memoir and political history, to be published by Penguin Random House in the UK and Simon and Schuster in the US.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
