“Children who become writers evolve into a particular genus of angelic spy,” wrote Jayne Anne Phillips in “The Writer as Outlaw.” The “angelic spy” that Phillips describes is always “absorbing information, bargaining with ourselves, banking on the possibility that we might one day intervene in the dynamics of loss.”

This course explores the fertile yet fraught terrain of writing about one’s family.

What are the ethics, risks, and rewards of writing about family members–the cast of characters we’ve been “spying” on in their most intimate hours–not just our parents and siblings, but our children and romantic partners? What is the relationship between memory and truth? How do we make our personal lives and intimate family stories compelling to larger audiences? We'll discuss dialogue and description, voice and characterization, scene building and structure. Equal attention will be paid to the emotional and formal challenges of telling family stories.

Led by Priscilla Gilman, author of The Critic’s Daughter and The Anti-Romantic Child, this four-session course will feature guest appearances by an extraordinary cast and range of memoirists: Safiya Sinclair, Maggie Smith, Dani Shapiro, and Casey Gerald. Assigned readings, generative prompts, and animated conversations with our guest authors will both educate and inspire students to think through difficult issues involved in composing and publishing family memoirs and to produce their own writing about family. There is no workshop component to the class (no feedback on student writing will be given), but students will leave the class armed with reading suggestions, writing tips, and strategies for devising, revising, and submitting their own family stories.

This course will take place on Zoom on Tuesdays September 3-24 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. EST. Participants will receive a Zoom link prior to the course as well as a recording of the course afterwards. We cannot offer refunds once the course has begun. Please email courses@offassignment.com with any questions.

A limited number of scholarships may be available for this course; please send a brief statement outlining how and why a scholarship would impact your ability to attend to courses@offassignment.com by August 2 and we’ll get back to you by August 12.

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Off Assignment’s Masters’ Series courses are unique four-session courses on in-depth writing topics that harness the perspectives and craft tactics of a lead instructor plus celebrated guest lecturers, such that participating writers gain a wealth of input while benefiting from the cohesive leadership of one renowned writer in a particular niche of nonfiction.