The lyrical essay has become a highly popular genre in multiple disciplines, from journalism to the personal essay. Authors from Purpura and Forché to Didion and Dillard have written them. But what, exactly, is this form? Poetic essay or essayistic poem? Both – or neither? The form employs a series of images or ideas, rather than chronicle or argument, to sculpt a narrative. Often inconclusive, lyrical essays reach beyond archetypal classical frames to a meditative sense of place and displacement. In this introductory workshop, we'll read and analyze several lyric essay examples, learning what distinguishes a lyric essay from other essay forms. We'll then try our hand at writing a short lyrical draft, incorporating the hallmarks and characteristics we discussed during the morning. The focus of this workshop is on experimentation rather than perfection.
Prior fiction or nonfiction writing experience is required. Students should be comfortable sharing early drafts with others.
Students completing this workshop will:
*be able to identify key components of the form and know how to negotiate its terrain
*understand what the lyric essay borrows from other genres, such as poetry
*have a clear direction about how to undertake crafting a full-fledged lyric essay
*be able to spot a lyric essay when they see one
Lyzette Wanzer’s work appears in over 30 literary journals, magazines, and books. Her book, Trauma, Tresses, & Truth: Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narratives, appears on Library Journal’s 2022 Top 10 Best Social Sciences Books list and was a 2023 Black Women’s Studies Association selection. A contributor to Lyric Essay as Resistance: Truth From the Margins, Civil Liberties United: Diverse Voices from the San Francisco Bay Area, and the multi-award-winning The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays, Lyzette has appeared on a lyric essay panel at the 2023 AWP Conference and published an article on the form in the Essay Daily column. A National Writers’ Union and Authors Guild member, Lyzette has had her work supported by the California Arts Council, California Humanities (a National Endowment for the Humanities partner), the Center for Cultural Innovation, and the San Francisco Arts Commission. She’s a Lucas Artist Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center.