ENC 3310 Spring 2018 Lathrop

This course will serve as an introduction to creative nonfiction, a flexible and hybrid genre that encompasses everything from food writing to literary journalism to memoir. Unlike other forms of creative writing, everything in creative nonfiction must be true, as the author remembers it; unlike other nonfiction writing like journalism, creative nonfiction is driven by the author’s unique voice. Students will learn how to discover this voice, and how to bring passion, curiosity, and honesty to writing about both their own experience and topics that interest them.

We will focus especially on American essays from the last 75 years. Authors will include John McPhee, Joan Didion, Hunter S. Thompson, James Baldwin, David Foster Wallace, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Eula Biss, and Roxane Gay.

Students should expect to read and write intensively. The major assignments for the class will be two full-length essays to be drafted and revised over the course of the semester, but students will also complete short weekly craft assignments. This class will include both discussion and workshop; active participation in both is a requirement.