ALL CLASSES ONLINE Summer 2021 writing & reading classes oo TABLE OF CONTENTS COVID-19: All Summer 2021 classes will take place online. About Our Classes ... 2 All classes are listed in Pacific Time. Highlights ... 3 Classes listed as “Asynchronous” will be held on our Wet Ink platform that allows for asynchronous learning. Students will receive Fiction ... 4 an invitation to join Wet Ink on the class start date. Nonfiction ... 8 Poetry ... 11 Mixed Genre ... 14 Reading ... 19 The Writing Life ... 20 Free Resources ... 21 About Our Teachers ... 23 iiii From Our Education Director REGISTRATION Register by phone at 206.322.7030 The music critic Amanda Petrusich recently reveled in the continuing ero- or online at hugohouse.org. sion of genre for the New Yorker. “(G)enre feels increasingly irrelevant to the way we think about, create, and consume art,” she says. “It’s interesting to All registration opens at 10:30 am consider genre as inherently backward-looking—particularly in a moment, Scholarship Donation Day: May 17 such as this one, in which we are all hungrier than ever for the future.” Member registration: May 18 While we toyed with the idea of a genre-less catalog this quarter, we’ve kept General registration: May 25 the categories you’ve come to expect for searchability’s sake. But look care- fully and you’ll find this catalog’s full of mixed-genre gems… Register early to save with early bird pricing, in effect May 17–31. Come philosophize about the nature of memory with Charles Mudede. Make a screenplay out of a poem in Rose McAleese’s Poetic Screenwriting. See how moving between forms “can strengthen the story you are trying to SCHOLARSHIPS tell” with Darien Hsu Gee. Mix up all your disparate, errant bits in Rebecca Makkai’s Blind Date. Or study the structure of Toni Morrison’s Beloved “as Need-based scholarships are available an example structure for (your own) stories about loss, violence, memory every quarter. Applications are due and healing” with Dr. Michele L. Simms-Burton. May 24, and scholarship applicants will be notified May 31. In other news, the first day of registration this quarter—May 17—will be for scholarship applicants and Hugo Fellows, as usual, but also for anyone Visit bit.ly/HHscholarship for more who donates $250 to our scholarship fund. Call in to make your donation information and to apply. and sign up for a class that’ll keep your writing practice strong this summer. See you in the classroom, MEMBERSHIP As a member, you help us provide thought-provoking classes and events that connect writers and readers to the craft of writing. You’ll also receive great Margot Kahn Case benefits, including early registration and discounts on classes and events. Learn more at hugohouse.org/become-member/ QUESTIONS? If you want to know more about a class or Hugo House policies, email us at [email protected] or call 206.322.7030. We are here to help! hugohouse.org 206.322.7030 [email protected] 1 ABOUT OUR CLASSES STUDENT GUIDELINES CLASS LEVELS Our Student Guidelines are intended to help you and your fellow TIERED | These courses are designed students engage in our literary community with compassion, curiosity, to equip you with tools, skills, and an and consideration. If you experience or witness any harassment or understanding of the diverse voices at discrimination in a Hugo House class, please alert the registrar: work in each genre. You may self-select [email protected] or 206.322.7030. into classes based on where you feel comfortable. Take these classes as Hugo House does not tolerate racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, many times as you like. transphobic, or any other oppressive behaviors. Please alert Margot Kahn Case, education director, if you experience or witness any harassment or ALL LEVELS | Many classes at Hugo discrimination. At all times, please: House are intended for writers at any level, regardless of prior writing class • Remain respectful of all writers (and their work) in the classroom. experience. • If you come into the classroom with a background of privilege, be aware of that position and the ways in which it can potentially affect INTRODUCTORY | Writers with other students. limited experience in a writing class or • Be intentional in working against traditional power dynamics, which workshop setting who want to expand can alienate and silence voices that have been historically marginalized. their knowledge should consider introductory classes. These classes are • Be aware that your fellow students have an equal right to the class also designed for writers who want to space and time. explore a new genre. • Put aside personal technology, if not being used for the purpose of the class. INTERMEDIATE | Writers with some experience in genre-specific instruction For the full version, please visit: hugohouse.org/classes/student-guidelines/ looking to deepen their understanding should consider intermediate classes. ACCESS NEEDS These classes often feature a workshop component in which student work is For students with access needs, Hugo House is ready to help. Teachers shared and critiqued. should reach out about access needs, but please also feel free to notify the registrar of your individual needs before your class begins. ADVANCED | Writers with significant experience in a writing class or CATALOG KEY workshop setting who seek assistance ABOUT OUR CLASSES and feedback with revision should This denotes an asynchronous class. These classes can be done consider advanced classes. at your own pace throughout the week. REFUNDS CANCELLATIONS & TRANSFERS Hugo House cannot provide refunds, If you need to cancel your registration for a class, the following refund transfers, or makeup sessions for classes schedule applies: a student might miss. If Hugo House has to cancel a class, you will receive a • 3 days or more before a class, a class credit or transfer will be issued full refund. less a $15 fee. Refunds will be issued less a $35 fee. • Less than 3 business days before a class starts, no refund, credits, or transfers are available. • No refunds, credits, or transfers are available after classes begin. 2 HIGHLIGHTS FICTION J. RYAN STRADAL CREATING CHARACTER Intermediate | In fiction, character is the font of narrative. A character’s desires, behavior, and limitations create and evolve plot. Consequently, when beginning a novel or story, a writer’s knowledge of their primary characters interrogates and supersedes all other variables. Through discussion of the work of Dana Johnson, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Denis Johnson, this class will explore the components and utility of memorable characters. Students are urged, but not required, to bring works-in-progress for discussion and exploration. One session | Tuesday, June 29 | 1:10–4:10 pm General: $150 | Member: $135 MIXED GENRE HIGHLIGHTS JENNIFER DE LEON ON ENDINGS All Levels | We’ll examine published excerpts in prose (Jhumpa Lahiri, James Joyce, ZZ Packer, and others) and discuss the ways in which the authors achieve successful endings. We will consider the range of possibilities for endings in stories, essays, and yes, novels: action, flash-forward, open endings, resolved endings, and, of course, the surprising and inevitable ending. Part lecture and part discussion, this session will also provide the opportunity—time permit- ting—to try out various approaches for writing effective endings. One session | Wednesday, July 21 | 1:10–4:10 pm General: $150 | Member: $135 POETRY VIEVEE FRANCIS THE ARS POETICA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PERSONAL VISION Intermediate | How do our attitudes, backgrounds, and experiences inform the way we think about writing? If our personal narratives shift, how does that im- pact our approach to the poem? We will discuss how the conscious questioning of our thoughts and feelings about poetry can “twig by twig” (as Archibald MacLeish notes in his poem, “Ars Poetica”) move us toward a comprehensive and sustainable personal vision for our work. One session | Sunday, August 7 | 10 am–1 pm General: $150 | Member: $135 3 FICTION tiered CLASSES FICTION I RAMÓN ISAO Whether you’re looking to write a collection of stories or a novel, this course will Six sessions introduce key elements of craft such as character, plot, and setting. Alongside Tuesdays, June 15–July 20 published examples and writing prompts in and out of class, you will write short 7:10–9:10 pm stories and learn the basics of the workshop model. Readings may include George General: $305 | Member: $275 Saunders, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Carmen Maria Machado, Zadie Smith, and Edgar Allan Poe. generAL TRANSITIONS AND TURNING POINTS: KIRSTEN SUNDBERG WRITING ADOLESCENCE FOR ADULT READERS LUNSTRUM All Levels | In this intensive reading and generative writing course, participants Four sessions will study four novellas (by Sarah Moss, Julie Otsuka, Justin Torres, and Jacqueline Mondays, June 14–July 5 Woodson) intended for an adult readership but focused on that most emotionally 7:10–9:10 pm charged developmental period in a human’s life: adolescence. At the heart of the General: $240 | Member: $216 class will be an exploration of fiction techniques, which we will investigate through model texts and weekly exercises. A syllabus will be provided before class begins. WRITING THE FICTIONALIZED MEMOIR JENNIFER HAUPT All Levels | Are you struggling to tell your personal story in a dramatic and Four sessions entertaining way—or fully understand what the book-worthy story truly is? One Tuesdays, June 15–July 13 way to explore all the storytelling possibilities around real-life events is to infuse [No class June 29] them with fiction. We’ll discuss strategies for combining fiction and memoir in 5–7 pm FICTION ways that are meaningful to the theme of the book, expand the plot, and deepen General: $240 | Member: $216 characters.