Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
May 2 - June 6
6 Students
This master class led by acclaimed novelist Kathleen Alcott (author of Infinite Home and The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets) is for writers of fiction who have previous workshop experience, and who are hoping to hone their literary fiction to a submission-ready level. Admission is competitive, and will be granted on a rolling basis.
This workshop will focus on heightening our awareness of the choices we make on the page; novel excerpts and short stories are welcome. We will read published works as well as the stories of our peers, creating an informative, engaging conversation that bridges the space between the two. Each writer will have the opportunity to submit their work for peer and instructor feedback twice throughout the six-week period. All students will meet once with the instructor for an individual conference following their in-class critiques.
*no class April 26th
Kathleen will be donating 20% of her proceeds to CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group.
CLASS TAKEAWAYS
- intensive peer and instructor critiques on two fiction submissions
- one private conference with the instructor to discuss your writing style, goals, and areas for improvement
- access to a nurturing community of writers and readers
- practical advice about taking the next step as a professional writer - from applying to MFAS to preparing work for submission to agents and publishers
- greater familiarity with contemporary masters of literary fiction
- more confidence as a writer, on and off the page!
Born in 1988 in northern California, Kathleen Alcott is the author of the novels Infinite Home and The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets. Her short fiction, criticism, memoir, and food writing have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, thenewyorker.com, The Los Angeles Review of Books, ZYZZYVA, and The Coffin Factory. Her short story “Saturation” was listed as notable by The Best American Short Fiction 2014, and her most recent novel was a Kirkus Prize nominee. She lives in New York City, where she has taught at Columbia University, The Center for Fiction and Catapult.
"I always felt that she got to the core of my stories, and helped me work harder and challenge myself without ever being negative. I walked away from her class a better reader and a better editor of my own work."
"Her approach to each member of the workshop's writing was distinct and thoughtful; she read each of our work with our individual goals in mind, while adeptly diagnosing crutches that held us back, and pointing us toward ways that we could expand our skills and our project."
"Quietly wonderful... Alcott displays a deft hand with every one of her odd and startingly real characters.... The voices in this book speak volumes. A luminous second novel from a first-class storyteller."
"A stunningly sensitive exploration of how families are made and unmade, and how the search for one's place in the world can come to define a life. Kathleen Alcott writes characters so achingly real, they will take up permanent residence in your imagination. This novel is the evidence of a wondrous talent at work."
"INFINITE HOME is Kathleen Alcott at her lyrical best. In her arresting new novel, she explores the boundaries of family and fraternity, with a Brooklyn brownstone as the nexus of the occupants' interlocking worlds."
"Vibrant, inventive, expansive. Kathleen Alcott has peered through the walls of an everyday apartment building and transformed the private lives of its tenants into pure poetry. INFINITE HOME is as much a story of those neighbors we may only know in passing, as it is a commentary on the beauty and misfortune of our modern age."
"Kathleen Alcott is part sculptor and part fire-breather—not only are these characters intricately carved but they stand up, walk right off the page and beckon us into a story that is both vivid and welcoming."