FROM CHAOS INTO ART: FINDING AND SHAPING THE LARGER STORY with Dani Shapiro

9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

3-Day Workshop

Life often presents itself as one damned thing after another. When we set out to write about some aspect of our lives, paralysis may set in. Why this moment and not that one? Why this detail and not that other one? Given the seemingly endless array of choices, a writer might throw up her hands in confusion or despair, or fall victim to the “kitchen sink” approach. But not everything belongs, and — as V.S. Pritchettonce said — It’s all in the art. You don’t get credit for living.

In this workshop, in addition to giving feedback on the opening pages of student manuscripts, we will also generate new work on the spot, and will take a look at various aspects of modern memoirs in order to begin to identify the lenses through which writers can make stories – and hopefully art – out of what happened. Dani Shapiro’s books include the bestselling memoirs Still Writing, Devotion, and Slow Motion, and the novels Black & White and Family History. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Tin House, Ploughshares, n+1, One Story, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Op-Ed Page, The Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Elle, Conde Nast Traveler, and many other publications. She has taught in the writing programs at Columbia University, NYU, The New School, and Wesleyan.