Description

This six-week audio course explores eight sub-genres of creative nonfiction: biography & autobiography, memoir, personal essay, lyric essay, meditative essay, literary journalism and flash nonfiction. Lessons will discuss work of creative nonfiction that exemplifies these sub-genres; look at how published authors successfully execute their pieces in each of these forms; and include writing prompts for you to spend time writing your own creative nonfiction. Above all, we will leave room for exploring how creative nonfiction is often undefined, unruly and, sometimes, unavoidable.

CNF 101 is designed as a survey course, which means that our attention will be on exploring and understanding the genre in its many forms. Although there will be time for writing, that is not our central focus. The goal of this course is to foster a greater understanding of the creative nonfiction genre so that when you leave and sit down to your next piece of writing you may readily identify the form that it wants or needs to take.

In six weeks you will:

• understand how the literary world talks about creative nonfiction as a genre
• read excellent examples of creative nonfiction’s different forms
• practice writing in each of the CNF sub-genres
• have access to the course material for future reference
• have continued access to a private Facebook group with other course participants
• become familiar with many resources available for continuing to explore creative nonfiction