Creative Nonfiction (in-person class)

Instructor: Brendan Wolfe
$150 Members | $165 Nonmembers
Tuesdays, 6/7/22 – 7/12/22 | 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Before signing up for this in-person class, please read the following statement about requirements to enroll:

All in-person students must be fully vaccinated and provide WriterHouse staff with proof of vaccination. For summer term, masks are optional, but in the event of significant Covid-19 upticks, students must be prepared for the mask policy to change and to transition to a virtual platform if necessary. No refunds will be issued if in-person classes/seminars need to transition to an online format.

In this workshop, we’ll critique student writing in addition to considering samples of a few published selections. We’ll consider essays and memoir as a distinctive genre, with the goal of moving from the chin-strokingly philosophical—”What is a true story?” “Is it memoir or mem-wah?”—to the more practical: “How should this story be told?” “How do I convince my readers to share my passions?” “What parts am I allowed to make up?” All levels are welcome and come prepared to write!

Brendan Wolfe is a professional genealogist and the author of three books, including Finding Bix: The Life and Afterlife of a Jazz Legend, about a journey the New York Times kindly noted was “well worth reading about.” His personal essays and reviews have been published in Colorado Review, The Morning News, VQR, and Mud Season Review, among others. For twelve years Wolfe edited Encyclopedia Virginia, and has written numerous historical essays, including “History Writ Aright” and “The Train at Wood’s Crossing,” the latter of which was honored by Bunk magazine as the best historical narrative of 2019. It will be included in an anthology of essays about lynching forthcoming from the University of Virginia Press. Wolfe lives in Charlottesville with his daughter, Beatrix.

This class has already begun. Prior to the second week, you may still register by emailing programs@writerhouse.org.