Summer 2025 Course Atlas

SUMMER SESSION 1

Duong     Tu/Th 1:15 - 2:45pm, online

Pre-requisite: None

Description

This introductory course is a space for us to form our own poetry writing community based on thoughtful readership, discussion, and collaboration. Over the course of these six weeks, and through a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning, you will closely read and analyze a wide range of poems in order to develop the skills necessary for generating and workshopping original work. You will be expected to maintain your own dedicated reading and writing practices, which will involve bringing in new poems for workshop on a weekly basis. You will also conduct writing exercises with your fellow students and create final poetry portfolios consisting of four or more revised poems accompanied by an artist’s statement.

Texts

Assigned readings will include works by 19th and 20th century poets such as Emily Dickinson, Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop, Lucille Clifton, and James Wright, as well as contemporary poets such as Donika Kelly, Solmaz Sharif, Paige Lewis, Diane Seuss, Terrance Hayes, and Ocean Vuong. All texts will be provided in PDF form on Canvas—no purchases required.

Assessment

Attendance & participation                                 30%

Short response assignments                              20%

Weekly poem submissions                                 15%

Written feedback on peers’ poems                   15%

Final portfolio                                                         20%

SUMMER SESSION 2

Plattner     MWF 9:15 - 10:15am, online

Pre-requisite: None

Course Description & Learning Objectives

For Intro to Fiction Writing, students will be asked to sample short stories by writers such as James Baldwin, Lydia Davis, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Anton Chekhov and Ernest Hemingway. Our textbooks include a seminal book on fiction-writing, If You Want to Write, by Brenda Ueland, and the anthology Flash Fiction International. Short writing assignments are linked to these readings.

Each student in the class will be asked to write two short original works of fiction as well as a handful of flash fiction stories. All student stories will be treated in a workshop setting. The workshop is designed to both acknowledge the positive attributes of a story as well as identify areas of a story that might be improved.

A traditional-length short story written for this class should run from 5-12 pages (typed, double-spaced), though said story might also be a little shorter or a little longer. No novel excerpts, please.

The simple goal: At the conclusion of the term each student will have a better understanding of the art of short story writing.

(Also please note that AI is banished from this kingdom.)

Texts/eBooks

*If You Want to Write, by Brenda Ueland  (ISBN: 978-1614271352)

*Flash Fiction International, edited by James Thomas, Robert Shapard and Christopher Merrill  (ISBN: 978-0393346077)

*Additional reading assignments will be posted on Canvas.