Skip to content

Yale Writers’ Workshop Summer 2018


Despite being a Harvard woman, I happily taught undergraduate creative writing at Yale for five years, and am delighted to report that I’ll be joining the faculty of the Yale Writers’ Workshop this summer. I’ll be teaching a workshop on historical fiction in Session II.

Here’s my course description:

Historical fiction can take many forms: reimagining historical people in historical circumstances; imagining fictional people into historical circumstances, or historical personages into fictive situations; alternate or speculative history; thinking your way into the interior life of a Paleolithic ancestor, or simply trying to remember the first time you saw someone take a selfie. Some historical fiction writers rely on research, while others (E. L. Doctorow!) eschew it; others still push at the boundaries of genre (Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policemen’s Union, an alt-historical hardboiled police procedural). This workshop defines historical fiction broadly, and welcomes writers working in diverse styles and periods (up to and including the present moment) who want to talk world building, verisimilitude, faithfulness to the historical record and the given world, research, and imagination.

Applications are now open; click here to learn about admissions and to apply. I look forward to working with you there.

Join my mailing list for occasional updates