Master Class: Writing Your Life Story $300

This is an intensive master class in the art of writing memoir.  The instructor will help students' find their own voices, and in the process come closer to creating a unique rendition of their own experiences, turning each life story into something people will want to read. Students will discuss and analyze each other's writing, as well as read selected sections from published memoirs.  Please submit 8-10 pages of your own prose to Lewis Frumkes at the Writing Center in order to gain admission to the class.
Thurs. 7:00 - 9:00pm; 3/7 - 3/28  (4 sessions)
Instructor: Daphne Merkin
Hunter College Campus Schools, 71 East 94^th Street

Daphne Merkin is a writer for The New York Times Magazine. She has also had her own cultural column at The New Yorker and is the author of Dreaming of Hitler and Enchantment.

The Story of Your Life: The Craft of Writing Memoirs $160

Are you working toward publication or composing a personal reflection? This workshop will focus on what you want to say and help you say it effectively. In-class exercises illuminate aspects of the craft that can be applied directly to your work.
Wed. 1:00pm-3:00pm; 5/1-5/15 (3 sessions)
Instructor: Sidney Offit
Hunter College, 68th Street Campus

Sidney Offit is the author of Friends, Writers, and Other Countrymen as well as Memoir of the Bookie's Son, curator of the George Polk Journalism Awards, and recipient of teaching excellence awards from NYU and The New School.

Fiction Writing $310

Explore various elements of the craft of fiction including sensory detail, character, dialogue, story and point of view through in-class and at-home exercises. Limited enrollment. Section 1 is geared towards beginners, who should come prepared to start writing. Section 2 is for those who have successfully completed the first course and would like to continue their studies.

Section 1: Mon. 5:30 - 7:30pm; 2/11-4/15 (8 sessions, skips 2/18 and 3/25)
Section 2: Tue. 5:30 - 7:30pm; 2/12-4/9 (8 sessions, skips 3/26)
Instructor: Grace Edwards
Hunter College, 68^th Street Campus

Grace Edwards is the author of five novels. She has an MA in creative writing and is the recipient of two CAPS Awards for fiction.

Murder You'll Write $270

This class is designed for students who have enjoyed reading mysteries and now want to write them. Students learn how to apply the basics of fiction - characterization, description, dialogue and plot - to the genre. Writing assignments enable students to identify experiences from their lives that will produce interesting plots. Handouts on police procedures and other technical matters are provided.

Wed. 7:00-8:30pm; 3/13-5/8 (8 sessions, skips 3/27)
Instructor: Sharon Johnson
Hunter College, 68^th Street Campus

Sharon Johnson is an editor and top free-lancer with 2,000 plus articles published in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and every major womens' magazine.

Editing For Self-Editors $270 NEW!

Having a good editor work with you on your book is a gift. A good editor brings a well-trained, fresh eye to your work and helps you to make it the best possible book it can be. But good editors are hard to find. If your book is contracted to a publishing house, you may, with some luck, get just the editor you need. But for most people, that all-important fresh and knowing eye on their work is something they have to do without. This course shows you how to edit your own work. By learning what an editor does, and how an editor thinks about a work, you can arm yourself with skills that can be used to hone your own work and bring out the best in it.

Wed. 6:30-8:30pm; 3/18-4/29 (6 sessions, skips 3/25)
Instructor: Beena Kamlani
Hunter College, 68th Street Campus

Beena Kamlani has edited books for over twenty-five years. She is an editor at Viking Penguin, where she has worked with luminaries like Saul Bellow and Robert Fagles, and also debut writers of first novels and biographies. She taught editing at NYU's school of publishing for eighteen years and received their award for teaching excellence in 2002. She is also a published writer and is completing a novel.

How to Write and Sell the Personal Essay $50

Whether the impulse to write comes from a longtime yearning, a recent itch, or a desire to get down your experiences for yourself and your loved ones, this workshop will help you capture your memories, dreams, childhood incidents, and truths in your own voice.  You will learn to:
establish disciplined work habits, avoid procrastination, open up, express yourself authentically and get rid of your internal critics. Writing exercises, suggestions for outside readings and marketing advice are given.

Tue. 6:30 - 8:30; 3/19 (1 session)
Instructor: Nancy Davidoff Kelton
Hunter College, 68th Street Campus

Nancy Davidoff Kelton is the author of six books including Writing From Personal Experience. Her essays have appeared in several sections of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Parents, Working Mother, Newsday, The Buffalo News, Redbook, and More among other publications.  She is a longtime writing instructor at NYU and at the New School, speaks on personal essay and humor writing, and writes a blog called Love 'N Stuff: My So-Called Blog.

Get to Know Your Inner Poet $310 NEW!

This class is designed to bring out the poet and poetry-lover in everyone. With a few assigned readings as inspiration, students will write weekly poems, each of which will receive focused attention and analysis. By paying close attention to construction, as well as content, students will emerge as more sensitive readers of poetry, ready to tackle what might before have seemed obscure. And by figuring out how a powerfully affecting poem manages to produce its effect, students will be able to turn their appreciation into techniques for innovative poetry.

Thu. 6:00-8:00pm; 3/7-5/3 (8 sessions, skips 3/28)
Instructor: Danielle Blau
Hunter College, 68th Street Campus

Danielle Blau is graduate of N.Y.U.'s MFA program in poetry and her poems, short stories, articles, and interviews have appeared in numerous publications. Her book, Thingèd, was selected for an award from the Poetry Society of America, who will be publishing it in spring 2013.