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Nine-Month Novel Intensive: Thursday

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This course for dedicated writers is designed to guide you through the writing and/or revising of your novel. It runs from September through May. You’ll read excerpts from published novels by authors including Han Kang, Tommy Orange, Lina Meruane, Mitchell S. Jackson, Deborah Levy, and Susan Steinberg, as well as craft essays by authors including Dorothy Allison, Jane Alison, and Alexander Chee. Some weeks you’ll have craft assignments to complete outside of class, and other weeks we’ll do in-class exercises together. After the first month of meetings, two students will workshop each week. Each student will have the opportunity to workshop five times, turning in up to 25 double-spaced pages per submission. Students should be prepared to read and comment on up to 50 pages…

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$1450

Grief and the Lyric Essay

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Throughout history, writers have used lyrical techniques to access states of consciousness we associate with grief. Lyrical writing prioritizes music, rhythm, and emotion over the narrative arc. The goal of this course is to find entry into writing through reading, conversation,and various prompts and exercises to catalyze memory and thinking. We will consider how writers crafting stories and poetry about grief use lyricism, discursiveness, fragmentation, and silence to embody writing content through form. Participant should be prepared to write a lot! Prompts and exercises will allow students to access various parts of memory. In a short period of time, we will get to know one another and provide a sounding board for our stories in a safe space. We will also look at excerpts from…

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$145

Writing with Herbs w/ Amanda Andrei

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

WHAT: A four-week generative online collaboration WHEN: Begins Saturday, September 18th, 2021—just in time for the autumnal equinox. This class is hosted on our rich interactive online platform, WetInk. The class is broken into four weeks, and within those weeks you go at your own pace. In addition, there will be two zoom meetings—one at the start of class on 9/18 and one at the close of class on 10/15. These meetings will occur from 12-130pm Pacific. ACCESS: You can buy a seat in this workshop at our standard rate of $350, but this offering is also available at a sliding scale to anyone who inquires. Please reach out to Daniel Elder at registration@corporealwriting.com. Payment plans are also available. Writing With Herbs Leaves, flowers, buds,…

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$350

Nature Writing Now: Intensive

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

What does it mean to write about nature now? We are living at a time of great ecological peril and promise, when some thinkers are questioning whether “nature” even exists. How to write about this complexity in authentic and evocative ways? How to convey both the beauty and the corruption of beauty? Together, we will consider some historical and contemporary nature writing in order to learn how the genre has changed over time alongside our cultural conceptions of self and nature. Contemporary nature writing often reflects complex social and political realities, while also reminding us of the abiding depth of feeling created by, for instance, placing one’s hand on a tree trunk and pausing to simply feel. In this course, your writing will be informed…

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$485

Premise Conversation Course: How will the pandemic change us and our world? Camus’ The Plague

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

How will the pandemic change us and our world? Camus’ The Plague (Learn about what a Premise class is like here: https://www.premiseinstitute.com/premisefaq ) Many of us have described the past year as apocalyptic. We’ve been living through a global pandemic, a critical presidential election, destructive wildfires, and a national reckoning with our country’s legacy of racism and police violence. Literature and philosophy can help us make sense of our experiences and ask questions about our future. In this class, we’ll read works set during pandemics. We will start with Albert Camus’ existential novel The Plague and look deeply at themes of isolation, loneliness, and fate. Together, we’ll use The Plague to dig into the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives and discuss relevant…

Continue readingPremise Conversation Course: How will the pandemic change us and our world? Camus’ The Plague
$35

Premise Course: How can we judge something’s value? Diderot’s Rameau’s Nephew

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

(Learn about Premise classes here: https://www.premiseinstitute.com/premisefaq) We love to make value judgments: we argue about the quality of a TV show, the morality of a politician, the appropriateness of a tweet. Rameau’s Nephew, the secret classic by encyclopedic master of the French Enlightenment, Denis Diderot, is an incisive and honest consideration of how we might judge something as beautiful or good in the modern world. This whirlwind of a dialogue moves from music to virtue and education, crime, money, and on and on. Diderot presents himself as a thoughtful and upright intellectual, unconvinced by religion, supporting the latest science, and open to reforming society on new principles. But the real star of the show is Rameau (nephew of the famous composer also named Rameau) whose…

Continue readingPremise Course: How can we judge something’s value? Diderot’s Rameau’s Nephew
$35

Nine-Month Memoir Intensive

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

This class begins in September, with the goal of finishing a complete draft of a memoir by June. Participants do not need to be published writers; however, they should have some experience with elements of memoir, including character, setting, dialogue and scene, and have a clear project in mind that they will devote nine months to. They should also be comfortable in a workshop setting, giving and receiving criticism on works in progress. Download syllabus here. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org with questions. Access Program We want our writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class registrations at a reduced rate. The access…

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$1450

FALL :: A Generative Creative Lab :: Exhausting Metaphor

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Collaboration Leader: Domi Shoemaker, alongside weekly videos featuring Domi and Lidia Yuknavitch in conversation When: Begins September 26th Where: Videos are hosted on our site—you’ll receive a link to one each week on Sundays, and then have access to them always. Domi will host a Zoom meeting every Thursday from 5:30-7:30PM PST. September 30th, October 7th, October 14th & October 21st. Cost: $250—payment plans are available. Please contact Daniel at registration@corporealwriting.com. Scholarships are also available—Apply Here. Six years ago (!!!) Corporeal Writing hosted its first ever seasonal lab—and we started with Fall. It’s an exciting time for us all as we cozy back into this beautiful season ripe with metaphors. Color. Changes in light, leaves, life. Meditation. Observation. In this generative lab we will develop…

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$250

Premise Course: What is heroism? Do we all have it within us? Sophocles’ Ajax

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

What is heroism? Do we all have it within us? Sophocles’ Ajax (Learn about Premise classes here: https://www.premiseinstitute.com/premisefaq) Sophocles’ Ajax is a tragedy that unpacks the shame and death of Ajax, a Greek warrior who had won fame for his bravery during the Trojan War. The play moves through a series of reversals: old allies become enemies, honor becomes disgrace, and divine power becomes temporal authority. Together, we will wonder about and explore the concept of heroism. Who has it? Why? Does it come from within or from our circumstances and environment? We will explore the complexities of heroism through the story of Ajax. Why does he kill himself? Is Ajax a hero or just an ordinary human with a predilection for trying to find…

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$40

Delve Readers Seminar: Hilary Mantel: Beyond the Booker

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Hilary Mantel is best known for her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, the first two volumes of which (Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies) won the Booker Prize (in 2009 and 2012). The third and final volume, The Mirror and the Light, was published to acclaim in 2020. These books are modern masterpieces, yet Mantel’s earlier novels are equally worthy of attention and admiration. Mantel’s books are so original, and so different from one another, that it’s often difficult to believe they were written by the same novelist. In this seminar, we will read two of Mantel’s novels and her memoir. Beyond Black is the tragi-comic story of Alison, a modern-day medium scraping out a living among an assortment of cranks, true believers, and charlatans. Haunted…

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$240
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