Read work by Bay Area fiction authors who come to class to discuss their work and how they make a life as writers. Class discussions delve into elements of craft and aesthetics, serving to inspire and instruct your own pursuits. Guided homework helps you emulate and learn from each writer’s approach with critical responses to craft. Throughout the class, you read and discuss literature not as a student, but as a practicing writer, informing the ways in which you engage with the texts and the authors who visit.
The 10-week course is divided into five two-week sections, each devoted to a different fiction writer. The first week of each section, you read the writer’s most recent work. The following week, the writer visits the class and engages in a conversation reflecting on their practice and craft. You then write critical responses to the work of each writer, as well as a directed mimic to practice the time-honored practice of apprenticeship. As young painters learned from their masters in Renaissance studios, you emulate different works, and, through the intentional study of craft, come to understand each writer's place in contemporary fiction.
We are pleased to announce our spring 2020 guest writers: Vanessa Hua, Peg Alford Pursell, Elizabeth Stix, Vincent Chu and Peter Orner.
