Humanities 9: Reading for Fiction Writers

Instructors: Neel Mukherjee and Laura van den Berg
Monday & Wednesday, 10:30-11:45am | Location: TBD

There is no writing without reading. This is a fact that all writers know. Ask any writer why they became a writer, and they'll tell you that it's because they read. Octavia Butler, who came from a poor family, once said that she became a writer because she had access to public libraries. Books, in other words; they showed her what was possible. What kind of training in reading prepares one to become a writer? This is an open-enrollment creative writing course that will introduce you to some extraordinary writers who will inspire you, make you think, make you quarrel with them, fill you with wonder and awe and, sometimes, bafflement. The reading list is meant to be a stepping-stone to possibilities, to greater imaginative and creative worlds. 

We will begin with Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness; students should plan to read the novel before the second course meeting.