Spending Time with Heartbreak: a Generative Personal Essay Writing Workshop

In Camonghne Felix’s memoir, Dyscalculia, she says that Black women aren’t allowed the cliché of heartbreak. This session will allow us the space to be cliché–to write about the hurt and everything in between--and tell a story that says so much more.

Details

We will read essays and memoir excerpts that explore the many facets of heartbreak–how it affects mental health, the willingness to love again, what it says about the rest of our lives.

Between readings, we’ll respond to generative prompts that allow us to be vulnerable about our heartbreak(s) and dig into the multiple stages of grief we’ve experienced.

What you will learn

• The differences in how we approach grief and heartbreak, and how to bridge the gap between the two. • How to structure an essay on heartbreak and find common themes • Questions to consider while writing about heartbreak and structuring your essay • Generative exercises to open up your heartbreak stories, memories, and more

Workshop takeaways

Students will leave this workshop with an understanding of heartbreak as grief, and the many different approaches to confronting it on the page. They will learn to tell their story honestly and transparently while experimenting with memory and other life moments/interests/lessons to craft their heartbreak essay and find the focal point. Students will also leave with the start of their own heartbreak essay, or revision of one, to expand on afterward.

What you will be reading

Dyscalculia by Camonghne Felix, Minda Honey's The Heartbreak Years, bell hooks' all about love