Meaningful Writing

What makes writing meaningful (to audience as well as authors)? In this course we will explore meaningful writing through literary analysis, educational research, and personal engagement. We will read personally revelatory texts written by authors like Eula Biss, Alison Bechdel, and Oliver Sacks, we will learn about educational research from the Meaningful Writers Project, and we will define meaningful writing for ourselves through exploring our positionality as writers (not just as readers). To do this, we will both read and write about topics and genres beyond the academy including writing over a lifetime, medical narratives, journalism, and community writing. This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities.*