with Julie Sarkissian
 
In this course, writers will use their unique personal experiences and observations to craft essays elucidating some aspect of larger human experience. We will read from published personal essays from authors including Joan Didion, Flannery O’ Connor, Spadling Grey, Roxane Gay, in order to study elements of craft and mechanics of the work as a whole. We will begin class with a brief in class writing exercise applying an element of craft or a process technique, and then students will read up to 1200 words of a personal essay aloud, and receive group feedback.
 
 
What You Can Expect:
 
Opportunity to share your writing every week – aka accountability! 
Developmental and editorial feedback on your work 
Develop your own editorial feedback skills 
A safe place to grow, explore and play with the form of personal essay 
Discussion of facets of essay writing 
Exploration of creative ways to write an essay  
 
 
LEVEL:  Beginner & Intermediate
 
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WHERE:  
ONLINE via Zoom OR In person, 25 Sylvan Road South, Unit J, Westport, CT 06880
DATES:
7 Thursdays
Sept. 12, 19, 26, off, Oct. 10, 17, 24, 31
TIME:
1-3pm  EST 
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LIMITED TO 7 STUDENTS
 

About the Instructor...
Julie Sarkissian is the author of Dear Lucy, published by Simon and Schuster and nominated for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her essays, short fiction and book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Tin House, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, and Flavorwire, among others. Born and raised in Southern California, she has a BA in English from Princeton and an MFA from The New School. She worked for Sackett Street Writers in Brooklyn, NY as a fiction instructor and manuscript consultant before moving to Westport, CT with husband and two young children.