In a time of political upheaval, amidst a saturated media landscape saturated with tweets and news feeds, deeply imagined narratives of individual lives are more important than ever. In this session, we will explore on the craft considerations in creating fiction and narrative nonfiction that gives a human face to the charged political debates of this moment in history. How does the writer depict the realities of place and time while maintaining allegiance to the desires and complexities of individual lives? How do we convey strongly held beliefs without becoming didactic and boring? We will analyze excerpts from authors ranging from Isaac Babel to Junot Díaz, Toni Morrison to Merce Rodoreda, reading as writers and isolating techniques for use in our own work, which we will practice through a series of brief writing exercises. By the end of the session, you will have an enhanced tool box for building stories that engage with the pressing issues of our time.
Adam Stumacher's fiction has appeared in Granta, Narrative, The Kenyon Review, The Sun, TriQuarterly, and others, was anthologized in Best New American Voices, and has won the Raymond Carver Short Story Award and a Nelson Algren Award. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times... Read More →
