4 Sessions: Every other Sunday from September 17 to October 29, 3-5pm Eastern Time

(Sunday September 17, October 1, October 15, October 29)

Online, over zoom; 12 students max

The lovechild of a book club and craft seminar, during the four sessions of this class we’ll collectively explore the essays in The Best American Essays 2022 with a writer’s eye, discussing the content of the pieces but, more importantly, analyzing the author’s decisions and the effects they had on us, the reader. We’ll do close readings of particular excerpts, and also cast our eyes wide to see what this collection, edited and curated with care and deliberation by Alexander Chee, can tell us about the landscape of contemporary short form nonfiction. While there will be no workshopping or feedback component, the instructor will provide writing suggestions and prompts along the way, so if you’re looking to recharge your creativity and expose yourself to new possibilities in form, voice, approach, and ideation, this class is for you.

This intimate class will require active participation, and we’ll make space to share about our journeys and identities as writers, and how that informs our reading experiences. Students will be required to have a copy of The Best American Essays 2022, edited by Alexander Chee. Classes meet every two weeks, on Sunday afternoons. The book will be divided into four sections, which we’ll discuss in chunks. In addition to reading, assignments will consist of finding excerpts to share with the class for close reading, and jotting down questions and observations to spark and guide class discussion. Students will leave with over 100 prompts inspired by, and often responding directly, to the essays they've read.

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.

Reading for Craft: BAE '22, 4 sessions with Brian Gresko