Master Class: Notes on Nonfiction with Jennifer Michael Hecht
Master Class: Notes on Nonfiction with Jennifer Michael Hecht
2 Sessions: Sundays, February 1 + 8
2:00-3:30pm ET
Jennifer Michael Hecht
Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of The Wonder Paradox: Awe, Poetry, and the Meaningful Life (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023), as well as Doubt (Harper Collins) and Stay (Yale), and four other prose books, and her three poetry books include Who Said (Copper Canyon). Her prose and poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Vox, The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, The Missouri Review, Tin House, and The Kenyon Review. She has taught writing in the graduate programs of The New School and Columbia University.
If you’ve got a nonfiction project, or just an idea, there’s a lot I can tell you about writing it and getting it through publication. I’ve got five nonfiction books, with four different publishers. They have met with a variety of success from heartbreaking, to significant, to bestseller. I’ve worked in many forms: academic, popular history and philosophy, creative nonfiction, memoir, and journalism. My work has won some major awards as well. Along the way I’ve learned a lot about writing nonfiction and I’ve also learned a lot about what agents and editors are looking for. I’ve got a collection of insights to share. So if you have a nonfiction idea, or something you’re trying to finish, I’ll give you a nice leap forward. If you don’t have a project but want to know more about it all, I’ve got a lot to share. All are welcome!
There will be an optional invitation to send me a short piece of writing which I’ll give notes on by the second class session.
Workshop Highlights:
Learn how to attract agents and editors.
Discuss techniques for exciting prose and developing your own voice.
Think about how to hone an idea towards an original thesis.
This class has 2 partial scholarships available. To apply, please fill out this form by Friday, February 23.
Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, historian, and commentator. Her most recent book is The Wonder Paradox: Embracing the Weirdness of Existence and the Poetry of Our Lives (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2023) a guide to using poetry to find meaning, invoke awe, and rest in some clarity of mind. She is the author of the bestseller Doubt: A History, a history of religious and philosophical doubt all over the world, throughout history. Her newest book is Stay: A History of Suicide and the Arguments Against It (Yale University Press, 2013). Her The Happiness Myth (HarperOne, 2007), brings a historical eye to modern wisdom about how to lead a good life. Hecht’s The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, and Anthropology won Phi Beta Kappa’s 2004 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award “For scholarly studies that contribute significantly to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity.” Her books have been translated into many languages. , a guide to using poetry to find meaning, invoke awe, and rest in some clarity of mind.