Course Document
Syllabus
The full course at a glance — shape, schedule, what to expect each week, and what is asked of you.
To Save Your Own Copy
Select the syllabus text below with your mouse, press Ctrl + C (Windows) or ⌘ + C (Mac), open a blank Word document, and press Ctrl + V (or ⌘ + V) to paste. Then save and print — you will have your own copy of the syllabus.
The Shape of the Course
The Art of Telling is built as a sustained study of narrative — how it is shaped, how it is heard, how it earns the reader’s trust — moving across three forms in turn. The same fundamentals (image, voice, scene, structure, revision) recur in each unit, treated through the conventions and pressures specific to that genre.
Unit One
The Short Story
Sessions 1 – 4
We begin with fiction because the short story is where the elements of narrative come most clearly into view. We read short, complete stories — Hemingway, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Katherine Mansfield, and Chekhov — and examine how scene, summary, character, and the seven questions every story must answer combine to make experience legible on the page.
May 17 · May 24 · May 31 · June 7
Unit Two
Poetry
Sessions 5 – 7
We turn next to poetry, where narrative is compressed and the line itself becomes a unit of meaning. We read Bishop, Heaney, Oliver, Kenyon, Clifton, Frost, and Williams — and practice the image, the line, and the lyric “I” as instruments of storytelling.
June 14 · June 21 · June 28
Unit Three
Memoir
Sessions 8 – 10
We close with memoir — the place where lived experience becomes literature. We read Frederick Douglass, Mary Antin, Booker T. Washington, and Sherwood Anderson — and examine the double structure of memoir (what happened versus what it means), the ethics and craft of writing about real people, and the difficult work of revision.
July 5 · July 12 · July 19
Closing
Farewell
The Writing Life
A closing meditation on the writing life and what comes next.
July 26
Course Details
- When: Ten Sundays, 4:00–5:30 PM
- Where: The Community Room
- First session: Sunday, May 17, 2026
- Final session: Sunday, July 26, 2026
- Cost: Free — a free course for residents of 2601
- Class size: Limited to 12, with possible room for 15
Handouts & Worksheets
What to Expect Each Week
Before Class — about 30 to 60 minutes
A short reading — drawn from the relevant unit (a story for the fiction weeks, a small set of poems for the poetry weeks, a brief memoir passage for the memoir weeks). The reading is always brief. You will get more from it by reading it twice than by skimming it once. Click any reading link in the Readings section below to open the text.
During Class — 90 minutes
- A short opening read-aloud (about ten minutes)
- A focused discussion of the day’s craft topic (about thirty minutes)
- A ten-minute in-class writing exercise (laptops closed, pen and paper)
- Voluntary sharing and warm response (about thirty minutes)
- A closing reflection (about ten minutes)
After Class
A short writing assignment (optional, never collected, always welcomed). Weekly notes and worksheets are posted right here on this site — in each session’s entry below.
A Few Promises to You
- I will not embarrass you. Nothing said in this room leaves this room.
- I will not ask you to share writing you do not want to share.
- I will respond to your work honestly, specifically, and warmly.
- I will keep us on time. We start at 4:00; we end at 5:30.
- I will treat your time as the most valuable thing you bring.
A Few Asks of You
- Come, if you can. The arc of the course depends on the room.
- Read the brief readings before each session. They are short on purpose.
- Be generous with one another. Many of us are writing about things that matter.
- If you are nervous, come anyway. Nervousness is the cost of caring.