“Creative Journalism” – An 8-week Introduction to the Genre
Beginning on October 8, 2013, I will be teaching a night course called “Creative Journalism” which is part of the Creative Writing Program in the Continuing Education division at the University of Toronto. It’s an 8-week introduction to the genre of creative nonfiction/literary journalism that is meant to answer a basic question: “how does creative journalism differ from the traditional?” We’ll be reading narrative works by writers like Gay Talese, Lillian Ross, Tom Wolfe, Jon Franklin, David Macfarlane, Michael Paterniti, Susan Orlean, Chris Jones, Katrina Onstad, John Jeremiah Sullivan and others, paying particular attention to voice, style and structure. Through classroom discussions and two or three short written exercises, we’ll explore how the laws of good writing apply to all writing.