Creative Nonfiction
Jonathan Corcoran is the author of two books: the memoir No Son of Mine (University Press of Kentucky), which received starred reviews in Kirkus and Foreword and was named as one of the best books of 2024 by Book Riot; and the story collection The Rope Swing (WVU Press), which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards and long-listed for The Story Prize.
His essays and stories have been published and anthologized widely, including in Belt Magazine, Salvation South, Still: The Journal, Best Gay Stories, and the Oxford University Press textbook How Writing Works. He received a BA in Literary Arts from Brown University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Rutgers University-Newark. Jonathan teaches writing at New York University. He was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more at jonathancorcoranwrites.com.
Course Description
Writing Life Stories
This class will focus on the difficult challenge of shaping true life stories into engaging pieces of narrative. We’ll grapple with questions of form, memory, ethics, and truth. This class will be especially helpful for those working on memoirs and personal essays. Students will have the opportunity to workshop a 4,500 word piece (a chapter or essay or selection of essays). Class time will be divided between workshopping, craft discussions, and generative activities. We’ll save some time also for discussions about publishing. Writing memoir can be challenging and emotional and wildly fun. We’ll work from the premise that all stories have value: A successful story is one that is told well.