Fulfills MFA Workshop in Creative NonFiction requirement.

Every kitchen table is a wealth of stories. There are the literal stories told by those sitting at the kitchen table. There are layers of stories built up through generations, through history from archetypal and mythic underpinnings. There are stories without voices. They may wait sadly or patiently at the table as everyone rushes off without breakfast or to eat on the run with no thought of the larger story or gift of the food. There is the story of the table itself: what is it made of, does the wood come from: a forest in Malaysia? Was the table handed down from the next-door neighbors who moved or from a mother, grandmother all the way back generations? And what of the food on the table? Where was it grown? Who picked it? What country? Is it food manufactured for sheer profit, not for nourishment? And what of the story of the room? The house? What of memory? A simple kitchen table is a complex trope of story. It is also a state of mind and represents an approach to studying the art of memoir. We get back to what matters, and why and how we tell our stories.

Assignments will range from light research, to incorporation and use of historical, mythical and oral elements to written works. What’s most important is to experiment and explore. The workshop will culminate in a 12-15 pages story, and/or a series of shorter related pieces.

Required texts : Inventing the Art and Truth of Memoir, William Zinsser, and a packet of readings including excerpts and interviews from/with: Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Silko, Che Guevara, Mahmoud Darwish, Paul Monette, Sandra Cisneros, Robert Olen Butler, Erica Jong, Johnny Moses, Mary Karr, Malcom X and others.

Suggested texts :

Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness
Mary Karr, The Liar’s Club
Nick Flynn , Another Bullshit Night in Suck City