Literature & Writing

A to Z Grant writing is an invigorating and informative seminar specially created for individuals who want to learn a ‘bird’s eye’ view of the grant writing process and learn how to: research and develop mutually beneficial relationships with potential funding sources, organize a grant writing campaign and keep track of all funding sources, requests and donations, prepare complete proposal packages, and dissolve crisis management and submit one hundred proposals a year in ten hours a week. After you register, please create an online account and enroll on our partner website: www.ed2go.com/howardcc. This is where you will access the course. This class is offered monthly; for the start dates of upcoming months, please contact ed2go@howardcc.edu. You will need access to a computer, the internet, and email. No refund starting on the 6th day of class.

Each year the Best American Short Stories anthology offers a window into current American society and culture. The 20 stories in the 2022 edition, selected by novelist Andrew Sean Greer, were submitted by editors of more than 200 literary magazines, represent what one reviewer calls, “the literary Oscars”. In this course students will read and discuss 12 of these stories. Along the way students will attain a grounding in the basic techniques of fiction and develop their own criteria for judging the quality of stories. Instructor: George Clack.

A Zoom link will be sent within one week of the course start date.

Learn the tools and information to produce accurate, fair, balanced, and independent news and feature reporting for print and online media. Break into the freelance market by sharpening your interviewing, writing, reporting, and editing skills and become familiar with a variety of news story constructions. Address moral and ethical responsibilities, libel laws, copyright issues, and promote critical-thinking skills that are necessary in today’s multimedia journalism world where separating facts from fiction matters more than ever. Instructor: Timothy W. Maier.

Join this class for a literary trip across continents, cultures, and historical eras! Analyze fiction from the Russian Realists, Latin-American Magic Realists, the British Bloomsbury Group, and more. Participate in lectures and discussions to evaluate cultural and historical influences on fiction, while also considering common human experiences which unite readers across continents and historical ages. Stories will be provided. Instructor: Ann Stephenson.

In this course, we will read Leo Tolstoy’s masterwork Anna Karenina. As we consider the novel’s historical and ideological context, we will pay close attention to the themes mentioned in our course’s title. Though Tolstoy is famous for his psychological portraits, with which Anna Karenina is replete, we will focus on the author’s lesser-known interests. For the mature Tolstoy, connections among humans, animals and plants are more real than any individual consciousness. The ethical and philosophical quandaries Tolstoy dramatized in his novel are as relevant to our own lives as they were to Tolstoy’s. We will try to resolve them together!

Learn to share important events and memories from your own life in this writing workshop. Bring your experience and enthusiasm to brainstorm and capture your ideas and vivid details to create an engaging story. The instructor will support students with feedback and editing during the writing process. This class is designed to help students over 50 and veterans find their voice, clarify ideas, and write about inspirational and challenging moments that can be shared with others. Instructor: Hazel Domangue.

Discover your story and better understand the creative process to banish dreaded writer’s block. Learn the mechanics of plot, structure, character motivation, and compelling dialogue to avoid pitfalls common among first-time novelists. Explore paths to publication and practice giving and receiving feedback in a writer’s workshop. Leave this course with a first chapter, a novel outline, a pitch to literary agents, and a plan to finish your novel. Instructor: Emily Abdow.