Write for Your Life: Turning Trauma into Stories (Russia and Armenia, Nov. 2018)

Course Description

Russia and Armenia, Nov. 2018

Research suggests that narrative and expressive writing have powerful healing effects. As writer and University of Iowa professor Charles D’Ambrosio once said, “Instead of sobbing, you write sentences.” In this course, "Write for Your Life: Turning Trauma into Stories", we explored strategies to create vivid, compelling stories (fiction and/or nonfiction) from difficult experiences such as illness, trauma, or disability. We focused on the elements of craft while addressing the challenges of writing from personal suffering. As a community of writers, we examined and discussed published texts, and provided feedback on student work. By the end of the course, participants had produced a significant body of narrative prose.

Upcoming Events

Happening Now

  • Jennifer Feeley’s translation of Tongueless, Lau Yee-wa’s thriller sketching Hong Kong’s slide toward linguistic totalitarianism, is forthcoming from Feminist Press.

  • In addition to becoming the Berlin LitFest’s first curator-in-residence, Helon Habila has also just received Kaduna Books and Art Festival’s KabaFest Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrating his "exceptional writing and significant contributions to the development of literature globally."

  • Congratulations to Enah Johnscott, whose film Half Heaven won three awards at the Cameroon International Film Festival—best film, best director, and best cinematographer.

  • We regret the passing, on April 11, 2024, of the distinguished Romanian author and critic Dan Cristea, who served as the editor in chief of the Luceafărul de Dimineață cultural monthly. In addition to being an alum of the 1985 Fall Residency, Cristea received his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa.

  • Our congratulations to 1986 Fall Residency writer Kwame Dawes, who has been named the new poet laureate of Jamaica.

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