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Writing for the mainstream press can take many forms, including conventional journalism, narrative journalism, creative nonfiction, and a blend of all three. Each section of this course focuses on a different kind of writing for the mainstream press. Taught by experienced professional writers, the different sections offer opportunities to learn aspects of the craft of popular nonfiction writing from the writers who write it. The course is open to all students and may be repeated for credit.
Taught by Pamela Petro
This course will introduce students to the art of the personal profile essay. Writing about other people can be tricky; we’ll work on how to create character studies of others without reveling too much of the writer’s self, and how to bridge the thorny gap between a subject’s personal and professional life. In class we’ll read and examine successful profiles—as well as some less so—of figures in literature, the arts, science, popular culture, and sports. We’ll also learn interview techniques and will practice profiles on one another. There will be two assignments, one short, one longer, as well as mini, in-class writing exercises.
Pamela Petro is the author of three travel memoirs published by HarperCollins, UK, and has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, and The London Telegraphi>. Her latest personal profile, of artist Jim Magee, was published in Granta magazine in Summer, 2008. She also profiled Smith professor Patricia DiBartolo in the Summer issue of The Smith Alumnae Quarterly.
Meets Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9:00-10:30, January 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22
Taught by Judith Hooper
Personal writing is a journey into the inner world, which is unique to each person. The mapping and cultivation of this inner world is rightly considered a complex task. In this course we will explore a variety of techniques to tune into the mind’s innate wisdom and communicate our personal story in an honest, vivid, and powerful way. The backbone of the class will be a daily writing practice designed to free up “first thoughts” and silence the inner critic. We will discover writing as a tool of self-knowledge and awakening, of transformation and cultivation of the self. Out of this process will emerge childhood stories, illness narratives, travel tales, wake-up calls, coming-of-age stories, family memoirs, and other forms of personal writing.
Judith Hooper is an award-winning nonfiction author whose books include Of Moths and Men and The 3-Pound Universe. She is currently working on a novel, Morbid Sympathy. She has 25 years of experience as a magazine writer and editor, and her articles have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Omni, Tricycle, Lear's, Psychology Today, and many other magazines. Her memoir “Beauty Tips for the Dead” appeared in the anthology Minding the Body and was produced as a one-woman play, and her personal writing on childhood, illness, spirituality, parenting and other subjects have appeared in various venues. A graduate of Smith College, she holds a master's degree in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley
Meets Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 2:30-4:00, January 13, 15, 16, 20, 22, 23
Taught by Sam Samuels
Nature writing can take many forms. It can be deeply personal and essayistic, as in the writings of Wendell Berry. It can be meticulously researched and rigorous, as in the writings of John McPhee. It can be politically charged and written in pursuit of an agenda of social change, as in the books of Bill McKibben. This class will give students an opportunity to find their own voice as writers about the natural world. It will include frequent in-class writings, as well as the development of a sustained piece with an eye toward publication. The course will also cover the logistics of getting published, from writing query letters to working with editors.
Sam Samuels has written freelance articles about nature for Sierra, The New York Times, Smithsonian, FamilyFun, Iowa Outdoors and American Forests, among others. His topics have included the nearly-extinct pallid sturgeon of the Yellowstone River; the invasion of earthworms into the North American continent; foraging for wild foods along the banks of the Wapsipinicon River; the vanishing prairie of the Iowa's Loess Hills; Monadnock, Thoreau's favorite mountain; and a family trip to the Flume in New Hampshire's Franconia Notch, among many other subjects. He also works as a fundraiser in the Advancement Office of Smith College.
Meets Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 1-2:30, January 13, 15, 16, 20, 22, 23
Taught by Chip Brantley
This course will provide students with an overview of “food journalism.” From a profile of food show celebrity Rachael Ray to a business story on how Wal Mart’s entry into organics is affecting the produce business, from an investigative piece tracking a salmonella case to an essay on the simple beauty of the parsnip, from a profile of a lobersterman to an essay on the moral implications of eating lobster, we’ll look at the many options available to a budding food writer. Each student will identify a story, research and write it, then send a professional query to an editor at a newspaper or magazine.
Chip Brantley is a food and culture writer who has written for Slate, Gastronomica, the Oxford American, Boston Globe, Daily Hampshire Gazette, and other publications. A former food writer for the San Francisco Examiner and features writer for the Albany Times-Union, Brantley also worked for several years as the cheesemaker for Westfield Farm. Brantley edits the food blog Cookthink, and his book on the pluot will be published by Bloomsbury in later this year.
Meets Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:30-12:00, January 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22
Thursday, January 22, 4-5 PM, Seelye 207. Refreshments will be served.
Alexandra Fuller has written three nonfiction books. Her 2001 debut book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, a memoir, was a New York Times Notable Book for 2002, the 2002 Booksense Best Nonfiction book, a finalist for the Guardian’s First Book Award and the winner of the 2002 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. Her 2004 Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier won the Ulysses Prize for Art of Reportage. Her latest book is The Legend of Colton H Bryant (May 2008). Fuller has also written extensively for magazines and newspapers including The New Yorker magazine and National Geographic magazine.
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