Writing Workshops

How She Wrote: Generative Exercises Based on Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon with Sidik Fofana

$295

4 Sessions

Out of stock

Once a week Sundays, 12:00 pm EDT - 2:00 pm EDT January 5 to January 26, 2025

Online via Zoom

When did you last read Song of Solomon? In high school or your freshman year of college? Maybe you haven’t gotten to it at all yet? Whether you’re a diehard fan or you’ve been intimidated by this cornerstone novel from afar, we welcome you to get inspired by Morrison’s work to write your own.

We’ll read roughly 100 pages of Song of Solomon a week and use those sections as a basis for that session’s writing prompt. The exercises will focus on world-building, magical realism, character naming, and how to tell a generational story. We’re not going to copy Morrison (could we even?), but we’ll study her, learn how she addresses particular fictional dilemmas, and use her wisdom to help us make our own creative decisions.

Course Outline:

Week 1: Song of Solomon pp.1-90, Creative Writing Prompt on World Building.
Week 2: Song of Solomon pp.91-180, Creative Writing Prompt on Magical Realism.
Week 3: Song of Solomon pp. 181-260, Creative Writing Prompt on Character Naming
Week 4: Song of Solomon pp. 261-end, Creative Writing Prompt on Generational Story

This course is held online via Zoom.

Photo Credit: Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer. Toni Morrison, author at her upstate New York home. United States Nyack New York State New York, None. [Between 1980 and 1987] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020731996/.

Led by

Sidik Fofana

Sidik Fofana

Sidik Fofana is a public school teacher in Brooklyn and graduate of NYU’s MFA Creative Writing program. He is a recipient of the 2023 Whiting Award and was also named an Emerging Writer Fellow at The Center for Fiction in 2018. His work has appeared in the Sewanee Review and Granta. He is the author of Stories from the Tenants Downstairs, published by Scribner in 2022.

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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