March 8 2009 - Place and Prose Workshop: Writing Nature, Writing Culture - NYC

Place is an important component in all writing. "Place-based" literature is increasingly recognized as a vibrant and evolving genre, one that intersects with memoir, environmental nonfiction, nature writing and cultural criticism. In this non-fiction seminar/workshop, we will examine how place works--just as character or action does--to bring writing to life. We will look at place-based essays by John McPhee, Annie Dillard and Mike Davis, among others, with an eye toward how they use place to create fuller, more relevant work. Discussion of each week’s reading leads into workshopping of students’ own non-fiction pieces.

Ginger Strand, a former fellow at the Behrman Center for the Humanities at Princeton, is the author of the novel Flight and the non-fiction work Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power and Lies. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Harper's, The Believer, The Iowa Review and Orion, where she is a contributing editor.


First Session: Sun, Mar 8, 2009, 2:00pm-5:00pm

Sessions: 8

Instructor: Ginger Strand

Location: 92nd Street Y (Lexington Avenue at 92nd St, NYC)

Code: TP3LS11-03

Price: $350.00

Call 212-415-5500 to register; website