Advanced Non Fiction Writing

This subject focuses in the intersection of journalistic skill and literary technique in the genre broadly defined as ‘creative non-fiction’. The weekly workshops discuss classic and contemporary authors of narrative journalism, personal essays, polemics and features such as Joan Didion, Hunter S Thompson, James Baldwin, Michael Paterniti, Rachel Kushner, Caity Weaver, George Orwell and others. Each week examines different aspects of the craft of non-fiction: research, interviewing, structure, voice, characterisation, metaphor and so on. The subject also emphasises practice, simulating the experience of writing for publication. Through the course of a semester, students choose their own topic and angle, and then pitch a non-fiction article to a guest editor from a major magazine or other outlet. They submit a draft for feedback before writing a polished piece of creative non-fiction.