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Use code EARLYBIRD through September 10 for 10% off! Members, check your email for your special 20% off limited-time discount code.
In her memoir, The Black Notebooks, Toi Derricotte writes, "The process of coming to the creation of a great work of art is also a process that entails the re-creation and revision of the self." In other words, if your intent is to produce great writing, you must bring the "person" to your personal essay! In this class, we will break this concept down further with writing exercises and by reading the work of Phillip Lopate, Dorothy Allison, Melissa Febos and Zelda Lockhart, among others. This class is suitable for writers at all levels who are interested in engaging further in the concept of self in their writing and who struggle with centering themselves in their own writing—a surprisingly common issue among memoir and personal essay writers.
• In-Class Writing Lift: Medium
• Homework: Required
• Workshopping Drafts: Optional
Minda Honey’s (she/her) essays on politics and relationships have appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Harvard’s Nieman Storyboard, and Longreads. Her work is featured in “Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger”, “A Measure of Belonging: 21 Writers of Color on the New American South”, and “Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic.”
Her debut memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS (Little A, October 2023), is a hilarious and intimate portrait of a Black woman finding who she is and who she wants to be, one bad date at a time. She also sends out a weekly newsletter, MID., about being mid-life and mid-career.
"Minda is such a great teacher! The readings, discussions, and exercises were expertly crafted. Teaching and learning via Zoom isn’t easy, but Minda still created a warm and welcoming classroom feeling, even among a group of socially distanced Zoomers. This class was amazing and I hope to The Porch will offer many many more classes with Minda!"
"Minda Honey teaches you how to write about life from a place of healing--you become a better writer and a better human."
"Minda is super relatable while providing great content. I feel empowered to speak my truth. I think it is also important that she clearly approaches the subject matter through a black femme lens and is unapologetic about it."
