CRW 251 Writing at the Border
This Creative Writing course focuses on the craft of storytelling, with particular focus on the cultural, political, and historical contexts that inform a writer’s imaginative life. Many borders are globally defined. For the writer who emigrates from one country to another, stories are often informed by multi-cultural and multi-lingual experiences. Other borders are more abstractly defined; they are drawn—implicitly and explicitly—by differences in race, religion, gender, and sexuality. In this course, we will focus on reading and writing works that bring to light the stories of those who live along borders, those who cross borders, and those who wish to transcend them. Assigned readings will emphasize works informed by global borders (i.e., émigré writers, transnational writers, second-generation writers in the United States), and will lead into other readings that explore borders defined by other differences. Exploration of published works to experiment with different forms of writing. At semester’s end, student will submit a portfolio of creative work.