WRD 301 Creative Nonfiction

This advanced composition workshop explores creative nonfiction, a term that encompasses many genres, including memoir, profile writing, personal essay, humor, nature and travel writing, criticism, and narrative journalism, among others. This course will focus on 3-4 genres of creative nonfiction over the course of the semester. Each unit will pair a writing assignment in a particular genre with popular readings from that genre, by authors such as Paula Gunn Allen, Truman Capote, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Junot Díaz, Joan Didion, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Zadie Smith, and David Foster Wallace. The course will encourage experimentation while also paying close attention to audience, genre conventions, and other principles of successful writing. The workshop format relies on extensive peer review and revision, and each student will produce a capstone piece at the end of the semester after revision based on peer and instructor feedback. Prerequisite: student must have passed the first-year writing requirement and/or WRD 201.