The Surreal for Underrepresented Bodies

For decades, only a few sorts of bodies have appeared in American literature. For writers with “other” bodies, this can cause us to either exclude our experiences from our work or to flatten them to be easily understood by editors and readers. Metaphor and the surreal can help us evade this double-bind, while also being a playful and exciting way to blend fiction and non-fiction across varied genres. Through discussion, structured writing exercises, and close readings of texts by Megan Giddings, Hilton Als, Therese Mailhot, Chelsea Desautels, Rachel Yoder, Chelsea Vowel, Mona Awad, and April Daniels, this workshop will guide participants through techniques they can use to introduce or enhance the use of metaphor and mystery in their work.

Open to writers of all levels, ages 18+. This is a multi-week class; please be sure you can attend all sessions.

This 2-week workshop meets on Thurs evenings from 6-8pm at LitArts RI on the following dates:

Thurs, Nov 9

Thurs, Nov 16