Writing memoir with detachment and sparseness: studying Annie Ernaux with Buku Sarkar (via Zoom)

In this class, we would learn how to write about personal experiences through the lens of detachment, sparseness, and minimalism. We will study the works of Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux as an example of how to do this . The idea is to write about the emotions in an indirect way. Not in the sentences, but in between the sentences through silence.

NB: This class will be taught on Zoom (Saturday, August 10, 12:30-4:30 PM ET) and will be capped at 15 students. Registrants will receive the Zoom link to the email address they use to register. It will arrive immediately after registration so please check your spam folder if you do not receive it. It will also be sent the day before class as a reminder. Please review the course policies page before registering for any classes. Please email misty@writerscenter.org with any questions.

All HVWC scholarship applications will be available on May 1 and will be due on May 15 for all summer/fall 2024 classes.

Buku Sarkar is a writer and photographer whose work has appearedin various magazines and journals including NYRB, n+1, RaleighReview, Threepenny Review, The New York Times,Huffington Post and Mint Lounge. Her photographs have been exhibitedat ICP in New York, Art Basel, Miami, and venues across the US and Europe andshe has featured in Fleur and Arbor magazine and The Photographers’ Gallery,London. She received the Andrew Nelson Lytle Award for best short story in2021. Her collection of short stories: not quite a disaster, after all , and her photobook Photowali Didi was published in 2023. Buku lives in New York and Paris.