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Harmonizing structure & content in creative nonfiction with Zeyn Joukhadar (via Zoom)


This one-day course is intended for writers who want to learn to structure and layer their creative non-fiction and personal essays to make them more complex and compelling, and to learn to let the content of a given piece determine its structure for maximum impact. A compelling structure not only delivers the content of a piece, but also leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction, emotional clarity, and inevitability, all of which we often attribute to fiction as well. Accomplishing this often means drawing on some of the same techniques used for both short and long-form fiction: allowing content to dictate form, juxtaposing images to create meaning, and employing symbol and personal or cultural mythologies to create an emotional payoff as the essay builds energy and tension. In this course, we will examine the creative nonfiction of Jamila Osman, Melissa Febos, Cameron Awkward-Rich, and Maya Beck in order to study some of the techniques necessary for writing compelling, multilayered creative nonfiction that gives voice to complex truths.

Zeyn Joukhadar is the author of the novels The Thirty Names of Night and The Map of Salt and Stars, which was translated into twenty languages and won the Middle East Book Award. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in KINK, an anthology of writing about sex and desire coming February 2021, Salon, The Paris Review, Shondaland, and elsewhere, and has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He is a member of the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI) and guest editor of the 2020 Queer + Trans Voices issue of the Arab American literary journal Mizna. Joukhadar has received fellowships from the Montalvo Arts Center, the Arab American National Museum, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Camargo Foundation, and the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

This class will take place via Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent via email at the time of registration. Check spam/promotions and email admin@writerscenter.org with any questions. Tickets are $124 at
Harmonizing structure & content in creative nonfiction with Zeyn Joukhadar (via Zoom) | Hudson Valley Writers Center

Please note: The Altman Persons of Color Scholarships are free and given on a first come, first served basis. Please notify us right away if your plans change and you cannot attend the class. We will then reopen the slot so another student may register. The Person of Color Scholarships and the need-based scholarships are given to writers within the United States only. Thank you in advance for this consideration. NB: Please do not register for more than one scholarship class per month. Thank you.

Event Location and Ticket Information

Date: Saturday, April 10, 2021
Times: 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Ticket pricing:

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Presenter: Hudson Valley Writers Center
Presenter Phone: 9143325953