The best writers know how to use random, unexpected pieces of inspiration in their writing. One of the most popular and innovative forms of writing today is the personal essay. In this class, students will learn to pair traditional journalistic methods and structures with the narrative energy of short fiction and memoir in order to craft compelling essays. The class will focus on:

Basic elements and structures
Figuring out the frame of the essay
What to summarize and what to put into short scenes
How structure changes depending on length (800 words versus, say, 2000)
Expectations of fact-checkers and how to fact-check your own memory

About the instructor:  

Antonio Ruiz-Camacho was born and raised in Toluca, Mexico. A former Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University, a Dobie Paisano fellow in fiction at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Institute of Letters, and a Walter E. Dakin fellow in fiction at Sewanee Writers’ Conference, he earned his MFA from The New Writers Project at UT Austin. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Texas Monthly, The Millions, and elsewhere. His debut story collection, Barefoot Dogs, won the Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Book of Fiction and was named a Best Book of 2015 by Kirkus Reviews, San Francisco Chronicle, Texas Observer and PRI’s The World. It was published in Spanish translation by the author, and is forthcoming in Dutch. Antonio lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, where he’s currently at work on a novel.