5 sessions, Mondays, May 13 to June 10, 5-6:30pm Eastern

online, 10 students max, writers of all genres welcome

Though autofiction is gaining traction at both indie and big five presses, it still remains a somewhat illusive and misunderstood subgenre of fiction. In this five session workshop, we will explore definitions of autofiction and look closely at a few short examples or one short novel depending on what the class would like and our reading desires. We will also write autofiction together in class and work on beginning or continuing our own autofiction short stories and novels. We will do some generative workshopping as well.

Some questions we will consider: What is autofiction and how is it different from fiction? How do autofiction writers decide what to keep “true” or autobiographical and what to fictionalize? What do story and plot look like in autofiction and how do we utilize and re-imagine more traditional story and plot structures? Why is autofiction particularly important for marginalized writers? Is autofiction in some ways safer than nonfiction? And last, but not least, what’s with all the amazing (queer) autofiction these days?

Each student will also get a private 30 minute session with the instructor to work on whatever they wish.

About the Instructor

Carley Moore is a queer, disabled writer who has published two novels, Panpocalypse (Feminist Press, 2022) and The Not Wives (Feminist Press, 2019); an essay collection, 16 Pills (Tinderbox Editions, 2018); a poetry chapbook, Portal Poem (Dancing Girl Press, 2016; and a young adult novel, The Stalker Chronicles (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011). Her debut poetry collection Heartless is forthcoming from Indolent Books. Her work has appeared in Aster(ix), The American Poetry Review, Book Forum, The Brooklyn Rail, Electric Literature, The Journal of Popular Culture, Lit Hub, The Los Angeles Book Review of Books, Public Books. Carley received a Best of the Net Award in Non-Fiction for her essay “My Big Gay Essay” and an Indie Foreward Award for her novel The Not Wives. The Not Wives was also a finalist for both a LAMMY in Bisexual Fiction and a Firecracker Literary Award. Carley’s novel Panpocalypse was a finalist for the Brooklyn Public Library’s Literary Prize and the ALA Stonewall Barbara Gittings Literature Award. Edition Assemblage will publish the German translation of Panpocalypse in 2024. Carley is a Clinical Professor of Writing and Creative Production at New York University and an Associate at The Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College where she has taught teachers across disciplines and grade levels to use more writing in the classroom. Carley lives with her daughter and two cats in Brooklyn. You can find her on Instagram @fragmentedsky or blogging on Substack.

What Is Autofiction? 5 sessions with Carley Moore