Nonfiction Workshop: The Art of Thinginess: Image and Detail as a Path to Meaning with Ella Jacobson

Tuesdays, October 3, 10, 17, 24 (4 weeks) 
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST (2 hours)

In Person, MDC Wolfson Campus

In this four-week workshop, we will look at how image and detail can be used to deepen meaning in creative nonfiction. The first session will focus on generating topics from image and detail. The remaining sessions will cover how image and detail can be used to strengthen dialogue, descriptions of setting and place, and characterization. Class readings will draw from Leslie Jamison, John Hersey, Svetlana Alexievich, and Melissa Febos, among others.

Through partner work, examples, in-class exercises, and discussion, participants will practice generating sharp, surprising prose. Open to anyone writing nonfiction. Writers may use the sessions to continue a current project, or may use the time to begin one (or more!) new pieces.

---

Scholarships Available for MDC Students

Miami Book Fair is offering two (2) full-tuition scholarships for MDC students interested in attending the above-listed creative writing workshop. Applicants must be currently-enrolled, (full time or part time) degree-seeking Miami Dade College students with a demonstrated financial need. Deadline to apply is September 26 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Click here to apply: https://mdc.formstack.com/forms/mdc_student_scholarship_application

Ella Jacobson is a cultural critic and writer originally from Alaska, and is the recipient of the 2023 Miami Book Fair Emerging Fellowship in Nonfiction. Much of her work explores how people metabolize their exposures to violence and death. Her writing has appeared in SLATE, THE DRIFT, THE GUARDIAN, THE LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS blog, HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, and REAL LIFE, among other publications. She holds a masters in Cultural Reporting and Criticism from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, and she is the recipient of residencies and support from Edith Wharton House, Straw Dog Writers Guild, Monson Arts, and the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust Foundation. She is a former New York University Abu Dhabi Fellow in Writing. You can find her on Twitter @_ellajacobson .