Writing Co-Lab

It can and has been easy for critics of the personal essay to dismiss the artform as navel gazing, but that’s bullshit, the kind of trash talk self-important men do as a defense mechanism rather than investigate their own emotions. In truth, the personal is political and the personal essay is a method of political writing that powerfully communicates the lived, embodied experience of its author with an intimacy in consciousness few other artforms allow. As Melissa Febos put it in her essay “In Defense of Navel Gazing,” “Social justice has always depended upon the testimonies of the oppressed.” Now more than ever we need you to write and share the story of your lived experiences, your body, history, identity, family. We need you to put yourself on the page. There is nothing narcissistic about that, not if done with intentionality, compassion, and context.

In this five week course we will read personal essays by authors such as Garnette Cadogan, Alexander Chee, Melissa Febos, Calvin Gimpelevich, Kiese Laymon, Leslie Jamison, T Kira Madden, Justin Torres, and Elissa Washuta. We’ll begin each class with a discussion of published work, drawing out specific techniques and approaches to essay writing as well as inspiration for the bravery it requires to get real with a reader, to fully expose your vulnerable self for a stranger to experience. We’ll talk about the difference between writing as therapy, for the self, and writing for a readership, and how the two often coexist during the writing process. 

The class has a generative aspect as well. Each week, students will receive prompts to spark their own work and have the opportunity to write and share a short essay with the class. During our meetings, we will discuss every student’s work, focusing constructively on what is working effectively and what could be built upon and revised, and after class you will receive written feedback from me. 

Time will be spent getting to one another and establishing group trust, as sharing personal essays is often an emotional experience. That said, it is important for students to recognize that this is a class where they will likely encounter work of a traumatic, upsetting, or intimate nature, as so often these are the experiences that are the engine of the personal essay, and why they continue to be an essential living literary art.

About the Instructor

Brian Gresko (he/they) is a writer based in Brooklyn, where they co-run Pete’s Reading Series, the borough's longest running literary venue. Their work has appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine, Slate, The Atlantic, Longreads, The Rumpus, and many other publications. Also a stay-at-home parent, they edited the anthology When I First Held You: 22 Critically Acclaimed Writers Talk about the Triumphs, Challenges, and Transformative Experience of Fatherhood. They received their MFA in fiction from The New School, and was the first in their family to attend college, at Oberlin.

Student Testimonials

Brian is such a thoughtful, enthusiastic, experienced instructor. He facilitated each session with consistency and fluidity to meet the needs of the team. Brian modeled feedback for us very well and did a great job of demystifying the writing world from his seat. I’m glad I took this course. – former Creative Nonfiction Foundations student

Brian is a caring, kind, and intuitive teacher. In addition to being genuinely excited about writing and teaching it as a craft, he's responsive to questions and generous with his time. I learned a lot in the nonfiction class I took with Brian, and left with a deeper understanding of how to create emotional connections with a reader, follow the arc of a narrative, and choose details that move the story forward. – Luna Adler

I came in wanting to produce at least two chapters from my next haiku book, but instead I got the tools I needed to write an entire next book—one that is going to be challenging, but that I'm going to be really proud of. In Brian's class, I felt like I “leveled up,” learning creative strategies to organize and make my work more readable and interesting. I gained an excitement and enthusiasm for writing that I didn't have before - an energy that I plan to keep flowing now that the class is done! – Kristen Lem, author of Haiku to Fall in Love To

I took Brian's workshop in non-fiction and worked on two pieces with the class, while also reading and giving feedback on students' work. That experience reignited my writing process in a serious way. I continued to work on the second piece from the class with Brian one-on-one, and he encouraged me to submit it for publication. He helped me understand the submission process, and tracked down contacts at the publications on my short list. That piece kinda blew up on the Internet and the next thing I know I have a literary agent and am working on a full-length book project. Will you get an agent by taking Brian's class? Unclear. But you will gain an honest understanding of both your strengths and tics as a writer, and hopefully a kick in the motivation pants while you're at it. – Christina Wallace