Writing Workshops

Writing the Personal Essay with Theresa Lin

$545

8 Sessions

Out of stock

Once a week Tuesdays, 7:00 pm EDT - 9:00 pm EDT May 5 to June 23, 2026

Online via Zoom

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This writing workshop is now sold out. Please email [email protected] to join the waitlist—and become a member for early access to future programming.

What makes for a compelling personal essay? According to literary critic and essayist Vivian Gornick, the author must know who they are at the point of telling the story. In other words, the author must be able to answer: Who is the speaker?

The speaker in a personal essay is separate from the author in the present. While you, the author, might have come to certain understandings about a moment in your life, the speaker is still searching for the answers. In defining the personal essay, Gornick also distinguishes between “the situation” (the events) and “the story” (the emotional arc). Who is your speaker? What is their emotional journey in this specific essay?

Through Gornick’s lens, we will read a series of personal essays, as well as excerpts from memoirs—and even autofiction—to better understand the relationship between these three essential components: speaker, situation, and story.

Course Outline:

Each class will be broken down as follows:

Review of key concepts from previous class (10 mins)
Discussion of assigned reading focused on technique and craft (30 mins)
In-class writing exercise inspired by assigned reading (20 mins)
Workshop: Each week, up to three students can submit their writing for detailed feedback from the class. We will apply course concepts in our discussion of your work and provide actionable steps as well as line edits for revision. (1 hour)

We will read works by Emmanuel Carrère, George Orwell, Sheila Heti, Audre Lorde, Joan Didion, Jamaica Kincaid, Virginia Woolf, Sophie Calle, Anelise Chen, Moyra Davey, Gary Shteyngart, and James Baldwin, among others.

Teaching Style: The course will be equal parts craft lecture and workshop. Students will leave with a strong understanding of the personal essay as well as many ideas for their writing.

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

This course is held online via Zoom.

Led by

Theresa Lin

Theresa Lin

Theresa Lin received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, where she was awarded the De Alba fellowship and taught in the Undergraduate Writing Program. She has also taught at Rutgers, Fordham, and 92NY. Her work has appeared in BOMB, Witness, LA Review of Books, Off Assignment, Racquet, Hyphen, Storm Cellar, and Oh Reader, among others. She teaches at The Cooper Union and is represented by Janklow & Nesbit.

About this series

Writing Workshops

We strive to make our classes the most inviting and rewarding available, offering an intimate environment to study with award-winning, world-class writers. Each class is specially designed by the instructor, so whether you’re a fledgling writer or an MFA graduate polishing your novel, you’ll find a perfect fit here.

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