Hot Takes: Writing Essays in a Digital Age (Session 2)

The essay is at least as old as Montaigne, but in the past decade, it’s become more popular than ever, and taken some new forms. We will help meet that demand by honing your craft. You’ll work on op eds, review essays, personal essays and columns. We’ll also experiment with newer genres including news cycle-inspired “hot takes,” video essays (no video skills needed!), blogs and Substack posts. We will also discuss work by James Baldwin, Vivian Gornick, Zadie Smith, Natalie Wynn and other essayists. The highly participatory class will be run as a seminar and workshop.