Grief Work: Honoring Sorrow as a Generating Motor

Writers can’t decide what to do with grief. It has wrongly been called too sentimental or too cold. Too traumatic or too unoriginal. But regardless of the current writerly opinion about it, grief is going nowhere. So how do we write about it? How do we write with it?

This generative class will help writers investigate how writing with/from grief or sorrow can be a catalyst for creative discovery that honors both the writer’s experience and bolsters the quality of what appears on the page. Learning how to write about grief with curiosity is for the writer who wants to make unexpected, illuminating, and gratifying narratives despite (or because of) the gravity of the subject matter.

Topics that will be covered include re-examining narrative structure/chronology, the power of the speculative, second subjects/research, and formal experiments. Authors excerpted for class readings/discussion may include Justin Torres, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Jesmyn Ward, Patricia Lockwood, and others.

Class Takeaways

Students will finish this four-week course with new work from instructor-provided creative prompts, take part in excerpt-driven class discussions, and leave with a handful of new techniques for how to approach and articulate grief from a more considered, care-filled point of view.

Access Program
We want our writing classes and Delves 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 and Delve tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.

Class cancellation policy:
If you register for a class and need to cancel before the class begins, here’s a link to our class cancellation policy.