The Summer 2023 sections of Introduction to Poetry Writing and Introduction to Fiction Writing are not permission courses. An application is not required. Summer registration opens February 7, 2023.

First Session: May 12 - June 21, 2023

ENGCW 271W-1 Introduction to Poetry Writing, Online Tu/Th 9:45-11:15am, Nick Sturm

Contemporary Lineages 

This class is an opportunity to generate new creative work in a collaborative, critical setting. In order to develop the relationship between creative reading practices and creative writing practices, we will read and discuss books by a number of 20th and 21st century poets whose work will guide our discussion of poetic techniques and aesthetic practices. We will study these poets in order to study our own interests, intentions, and practices as writers. In particular, we will explore and critique the concept of “other lineages,” of the various micro-traditions and aesthetic affiliations that exist between poets. Students should expect to devote themselves to a practice of reading and writing and be prepared for mature discussions of complex material. We will write new poems in correspondence with the material we read, recite poems, engage with poets’ archival materials in Emory’s Rose Library, create a poetics statement, and produce chapbooks of our own poetry.

Texts:

The Sonnets, Ted Berrigan (Penguin Books, 2000)

ISBN 9780140589276

The Past, Wendy Xu (Wesleyan University Press, 2021)

ISBN 9780819580467

Before Whiteness, D.S. Marriott (City Lights Publishers, 2022)

ISBN 9780872868847

Provided as PDFs: selections from the work of Amiri Baraka, Alice Notley, James Schuyler, and others

Second Session: June 26 - August 2, 2023

ENGCW 272W-1 Introduction to Fiction Writing, Online Tu/Th 1:15-2:45pm, Andrew Plattner

Course Description & Learning Objectives

For Intro to Fiction Writing, students will be asked to read short stories by writers such as James Baldwin, Grace Paley, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Anton Chekhov and Ernest Hemingway, as well as the seminal book on fiction-writing, The Art of Fiction by John Gardner. Our additional textbook will be Flash Fiction International.

There are short writing assignments tied 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.

Hopefully, by the end of the term, students will wind up with a meaningful understanding of the art of short story writing.

Texts/eBooks

*The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner (ISBN: 978-0679734031)

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

*Additional reading assignments will be posted on Canvas.

Emory College Summer School Website

For information on registration, tuition and fees, and housing.