WRITING FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

Taught by Suzanne Scanlon

Tuesdays, Aug 1, 8, 15, 22

6-8 pm ET on Zoom

Class limit: 12

$300

Many writers use photographs- real or imagined- to inspire and create scene and story. Whether you are writing a travel essay, a memoir, or a personal essay, you likely have some personal photographs that come immediately to mind: photographs that you’ve held onto for years--perhaps one is over your desk or on your refrigerator or tucked away in a box or scrapbook. In this class, we will work with these photographs, writing through and beyond, asking what power these images hold, and how can we transform, translate, or transmute the image to the page. You will create a series of short prose pieces, ending the weekend with an image-based project.

 

Suzanne Scanlon is the author of two works of fiction, Promising Young Women and Her 37th Year, An Index. Her critical memoir, Committed, will be published by Vintage / Anchor Books in 2024. She has published fiction and nonfiction in such publications as Granta, The Iowa Review, Fence, BOMB Magazine, and Electric Literature. She holds an MFA from Northwestern University and currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute Chicago.