This class will focus on how we can use an investigation and exploration of the wider world as a springboard for writing more nuanced and resonant personal narratives. How can we situate our stories in larger social, political, and cultural spheres? How might we use research, journalism, or lyric association to show the connections held within our own stories? By the end of this course, students will have greater fluency with blending various types of nonfiction and a more thorough understanding of the possibilities for opening up their personal narratives. Students will write a series of weekly generative prompts based on readings from authors such as Eula Biss, Elena Passarello, and Lidia Yuknavitch.
Instructor: Thomas Mira y Lopez is the author of The Book of Resting Places (Counterpoint Press, 2017). His work has appeared in The American Scholar, The Georgia Review, and Kenyon Review Online among other places and he has received fellowships from Colgate University and the MacDowell Colony. He's an editor of Territory, a literary project about maps, and a lecturer at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Details: Expanding the Personal Narrative with Thomas Mira y Lopez takes place Tuesdays 1/5, 1/12, 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, & 2/9 from 6:30-8:30pm using Zoom video conferencing.
Zoom Info: Register for the class and Lit Cleveland will send you an invitiation and instructions on how to attend via Zoom. All you need is a good internet connection and a computer or smartphone with a camera. Not sure if your system is compatible? Just click here. Have any questions about online classes? Email or call associate director Matt Weinkam at mweinkam@litcleveland.org.
