Writing Workshops

Writing the Anthropocene with Madeleine Watts

$495

8 Sessions

Out of stock

Once a week Thursdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT January 5 to February 23, 2023

Online via Zoom

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In this class we will think about the challenges and possibilities of storytelling in the Anthropocene. How might thinking and writing about the environment and the world we live in be a way to both counter and work through the frustration and despair of our present moment? What genres and forms could we use to creatively respond to the conditions of the Anthropocene? Reading a mixture of fiction, poetry, essay, and journalism, we will look at how other writers have approached these questions and discuss what we might learn from their approaches. Generative exercises will help inspire new work, and in the final weeks of class will workshop one another’s manuscripts responding to the themes of the class, discussing strategies for revision and editing.

Course Outline:

Session 1: Introduction
Session 2: The Weird and the Eerie
Session 3: Noticing and Animals
Session 4: Plants
Session 5: The Big Picture
Sessions 6—8: Workshops

Capacity: 12

Led By

Madeleine Watts

Madeleine Watts

Madeleine Watts is a writer of fiction, stories, and essays. Her debut novel, The Inland Sea, was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing. It was published by Pushkin Press (UK/ANZ) in 2020, and in 2021 by Catapult (US). A French translation was published in 2022 by Rue de l’échiquier. Her stories and essays has been published most recently in Harper’s magazine, the Believer, HEAT, the Guardian, Astra magazine, and Literary Hub. Madeleine has an MFA in Writing from Columbia University in New York, and graduated from the University of Sydney (Australia) with a B.A. (Hons I) in English Literature. She teaches at Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities.

By Madeline Watts

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The Inland Sea

By Madeleine Watts

Published by Catapult

PURCHASE

Drifting after her final year in college, a young writer begins working part-time as an emergency dispatch operator in Sydney. Over the course of an eight-hour shift, she is dropped into hundreds of crises, hearing only pieces of each. Callers report car accidents and violent spouses and homes caught up in flame.

The work becomes monotonous: answer, transfer, repeat. And yet the stress of listening to far-off disasters seeps into her personal life, and she begins walking home with keys in hand, ready to fight off men disappointed by what they find in neighboring bars. During her free time, she gets black-out drunk, hooks up with strangers, and navigates an affair with an ex-lover whose girlfriend is in their circle of friends.

Two centuries earlier, her great-great-great-great-grandfather–the British explorer John Oxley–traversed the wilderness of Australia in search of water. Oxley never found the inland sea, but the myth was taken up by other men, and over the years, search parties walked out into the desert, dying as they tried to find it.

Interweaving a woman’s self-destructive unraveling with the gradual worsening of the climate crisis, The Inland Sea is charged with unflinching insight into our age of anxiety. At a time when wildfires have swept an entire continent, this novel asks what refuge and comfort looks like in a constant state of emergency.

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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