Writing Workshops

Writing the Short Story with Emily Nemens (Sold Out)

$395

6 Sessions

Out of stock

Once a week Tuesdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT April 26 to May 31, 2022

Online via Zoom

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This workshop has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Randy Winston at [email protected].

James Salter once told an interviewer, “I hate the first inexact, inadequate expression of things. The whole joy of writing comes from the opportunity to go over it and make it good, one way or another.” Participants will be given the opportunity to do exactly that in this course—sharing early drafts of short fiction, identifying the writings’ strengths and inevitable weaknesses in dynamic weekly workshop sessions, and then making our stories better through revision. While workshopping in-progress fiction projects will be the focus of this six-week course, those discussions will be complemented by readings of contemporary short fiction and in-class creative writing exercises.

Capacity: 12

Led by

Emily Nemens

Emily Nemens

Emily Nemens’s debut novel, The Cactus League, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and named one of the best books of the year by NPR. From 2018 to 2021, Emily served as the editor of the Paris Review. During her tenure, the magazine saw record-high circulation, published two anthologies, produced the second season of its acclaimed podcast, and won the 2020 American Society of Magazine Editors’ Award for Fiction. Previously, she coedited the Southern Review. Stories published during her tenures at the Southern Review and the Paris Review were selected for the Pushcart Prize anthology, Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize anthology, and PEN America Best Debut Fiction. In 2021 she joined the staff of Stranger’s Guide as the sports/senior editor. She teaches fiction writing at Drew University and 92Y and is working on her second novel.

By Emily Nemens

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The Cactus League

By Emily Nemens

Published by Picador

PURCHASE

Jason Goodyear is the star outfielder for the Los Angeles Lions, stationed with the rest of his team in the punishingly hot Arizona desert for their annual spring training. Handsome, famous, and talented, Goodyear is nonetheless coming apart at the seams. And the coaches, writers, wives, girlfriends, petty criminals, and diehard fans following his every move are eager to find out why—as they hide secrets of their own.

Humming with the energy of a ballpark before the first pitch, Emily Nemens’s The Cactus League unravels the tightly connected web of people behind a seemingly linear game. Narrated by a sportscaster, Goodyear’s story is interspersed with tales of Michael Taylor, a batting coach trying to stay relevant; Tamara Rowland, a resourceful spring-training paramour, looking for one last catch; Herb Allison, a legendary sports agent grappling with his decline; and a plethora of other richly drawn characters, all striving to be seen as the season approaches. It’s a journey that, like the Arizona desert, brims with both possibility and destruction.

Anchored by an expert knowledge of baseball’s inner workings, Emily Nemens’s The Cactus League is a propulsive and deeply human debut that captures a strange desert world that is both exciting and unforgiving, where the most crucial games are the ones played off the field.

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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