“One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
Course Description
The more things change the more we need…monsters. But why do some chill us more than others? How do writers make invented magic seem real? Why do characters talk so much during battle scenes? How does one create effective suspense? Whether you are writing science fiction, surrealism, high fantasy, or in some other speculative genre, this class will teach you to squint at the world and see invisible forces. You’ll learn to expand metaphors
into monsters, turn dreamy what-ifs into concrete fantasy landscapes, and develop heroes and villains that draw out qualities we grope for and sense, but are often afraid to speak of.
Age: The workshop is suitable for young adults and adults as well.
About the instructor
Eireene Nealand has degrees from UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Santa Cruz and spends a lot of time thinking about how our brains are wired differently now. Her fiction, poetry, and translations have been published in Index on Censorship, ZYZZYVA, Poetry International, the St. Petersburg Review, Drunken Boat, and The Chicago Quarterly, among other places. All of her books are experiments. They include
Shadows and Doubts (eohippus 2015), The Nest (with Megan Lueneburg, Nova Kultura 2017), and The Darkroom (by Marguerite Duras, co-translated with Alta Ifland, ContraMundum 2021). These works have won multiple awards, including an Ivan Klima Fellowship, an Elizabeth Kostova Fellowship and Fulbright Fellowship.
