Poets & Writers

Join award-winning author Becky Mandelbaum for a three-part class focusing on the foundations of fiction: writing dialogue, creating tension, and crafting scenes. Each session will zero in on an essential aspect of writing fiction through a combination of lecture, generative writing exercises, group discussions, and take-home prompts. We’ll read classic short stories, such as “A Bear Came Over the Mountain” by Alice Munro, “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones, and “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff, to examine how they work and why they resonate. Students will leave with concrete tools to successfully create and revise a work of fiction—be it a story or novel—that keeps the reader engaged from the first sentence to the last. This class is suitable for beginners or practiced writers who want to hone their craft.