8 Sessions: Sundays, October 5 - November 23
4:00-6:00pm ET
Sandy Ernest Allen

Writing about ourselves, writing about other people; both sound seemingly simple — and yet! Each can prove quite tricky, depending. Join acclaimed essayist, journalist and author Sandy Ernest Allen for an advanced 8-week, intermediate/advanced nonfiction writing workshop, focused around thinking through how to best write “true” stories, as in reported personal essays, literary memoirs and other such, while being respectful to ourselves — and to others. This could mean strangers; this could close family or friends. Oftentimes as writers of these forms and others, we’re dealing with all of the above, all at once. This (slightly non-traditional) workshop course is intended for serious literary nonfiction writers — personal essayists, memoirists and literary journalists in particular — who want to explore these complicated ethical issue with a group of peers. Prior writing workshop and prior nonfiction writing experience are both highly recommended. Applicants will be asked to submit a short writing sample for instructor review.

Author Sandy Ernest Allen has been grappling with these very questions for his whole career. A trans, queer writer whose longtime focus has been psychiatric history, he’s negotiated how to write about “the Other” as well as himself in his various literary nonfiction writing. His experimental, reported literary nonfiction debut A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story about Schizophrenia was first published by Scribner in 2018. The book, widely praised by critics, is written in two fonts, animating the broader issue of of how to even write about the diagnosis in question, let alone those given it. This effort was recognized by Jo Livingstone in the The New Republic, for example, who wrote: "A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise is a watershed in empathetic adaptation of ‘outsider’ autobiography.” AKOMP was longlisted a top work of journalism of the decade in 2020 by NYU’s journalism school, amongst many other honors.

Originally from Northern California, Sandy received two degrees in nonfiction writing (from Brown and then the University of Iowa, MFA '12). He was then BuzzFeed News’ Deputy Features editor, helping to create the (late) platform’s global news brand for its first few years. He had a role in editing 200 features and long reported personal essays during that time, and wrote many of his own. He’s often in his pieces had to grapple with how to write about people whose experiences are perhaps quite distinct from his own — a topic that will be a focus of this course. As a freelancer for the last 8+ years, he's continued thinking through these issues in his formally innovative essays, features and audio stories. He’s appeared on This American Life in a duet with himself. He’s reported on the past and future of asylums and of bathrooms for the design-focused podcast 99% Invisible. Sandy has written both reported and personal pieces on madness and/or transness (including his own) for numerous outlets including The Believer, Eater, Cosmo, The Cut, Them, and many other venues. He's reported at farms and community centers in Montana and the Netherlands to give some examples, for pieces on the Hearing Voices Network and about the "care farms" movement, interacting with sources who have disabilities ranging from traumatic brain injuries to severe psych diagnoses to dementia. In his own writings and appearances elsewhere, Sandy is often discussing media coverage of people with (psychiatric) disabilities and of trans people, as on his popular newsletter What's Helping Today.

Together we’ll think through and learn more about issues like inherent power imbalances when writing about others, negotiating ...

• how reporters (and memoirists) should approach working with various sorts of sources, both those we know and those we do not

• how to factor in our own biases and identities when writing even reported essays and memoirs

• practical advice how to best prepare to work with the likes of fact checkers, editors, producers (books, media, podcasts)

• an informal workshop session during which peers will discuss and review your sample, according to your direction (more description below)

During our eight weeks together, we'll read, listen to, and discuss a variety of texts as we think through these issues. Each participant will be offered one workshop slot, during which we’ll all discuss a 5 – 10page submission of your choosing. (Your submissions can be distributed the week prior or handed to us all cold the day of. They can be a short essay or an excerpt from something longer.) The writer will read their sample to the rest (if they want) and then lead the class through a discussion of whatever concerns or questions they’re having, especially as regards their ethical quandaries related to self and others. So unlike a traditional workshop wherein a writer keeps silent, I’m expecting we’ll all just have a chat. My hope is the writer can help steer the group as to how the rest of us might be of use, perhaps more like an editorial meeting.

There is 1 half scholarship available. To apply, please fill out this form by DATE TK.