Class

What's Good: Reading and Writing Essays of Wonder, Attention, and Delight

Wonder, delight, and gratitude will be our touchstones for this 4-week creative nonfiction class. Together we will read short essays by Ross Gay, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Brian Doyle and others, as well as write our own. In times of upheaval (political, social, ecological), it can be easy to feel despairing, cynical, or panicked. But these texts invite us to consider delight as subversion, resistance, and survival—something to lean into instead of away from.

Participants will write a 100-1000 word essay each week, and will have the opportunity to have their pieces workshopped by the whole group at least once. The first portion of every class will be spent discussing the course texts, and the second portion will be spent workshopping student work, as well as tackling writing prompts/exercises. This class will help us not only (re)orient our daily attention toward delight and wonder, but also hone our descriptive, narrative, and expressive skills. We will treat delight as a daily practice that will, hopefully, become a habit—a way of being in, and of writing, the world.

Participants will receive class reading materials directly from the teaching artist electronically, via PDF, so book purchases are not required.

Accessibility: Please submit this request form at least two to three weeks in advance if you have any accessibility requests for this class. This class takes place in-person, at the Loft at Open Book. Please see the Loft’s website for the most up to date information about the Loft’s COVID policies.