Second person point-of-view is often used when writing nonfiction to grant the writer a bit of emotional reprieve when writing about difficult experiences or as a launching point into a more experimental form. Over the next four weeks together, we will read essays and memoir that make use of the POV by writers like Kiese Laymon, T Kira Madden, Ta-Nehisi Coates, James Baldwin, and others. We will try our hand it at second person ourselves through a variety of writing prompts.
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 a 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.”
Minda served as Feature writing juror of the 2026 Pulitzer Prizes. She has received support for her writing from The atlantic center for the arts, Château d’Orquevaux, Storyknife, VONA, VCCA and THE community of writers.
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 is the founder of "Writing For Fakers (Imposters Wanted.)" and sends out a weekly newsletter, subscribe at newsletter.writingforfakers.com.
"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."
