Literary Arts

   

The Literary Arts are alive and well on-campus at LMU Extension.

While more and more, working adult learners want the luxury of our online classes and certificates at home, writers of all genres, whose work is predominantly solitary, find professional support and feedback, in a community of writers and facilitators, with our writing seminars and Summer Poetry Weekend Workshop Series.

Spring Courses 2012

CNTX 811.01 | Creative Writing Workshop with Stephanie Waxman  

Do you have the itch to write but don’t know how to begin? Do you have stories to tell but don’t know where to start? With guidance from a teacher who understands how daunting it is to face the blank page, this 8-week course explores writing memoir and fiction. More experienced writers hone the ability to create vivid images, compelling characters, and a strong point of view. Open to all.  Required Text: The Story and Its Writer (Compact Eighth edition) by Ann Charters.                                
Thursday | 3/1-4/26 | No class 4/5 | 7:15-9:45 P.M. | $280 | Register Here

CNTX 811.02 | Creative Writing: The Lyric Essay with Arash Saedinia

Lyric Essays are, in a sense, liminal texts, embodying aspects of lyric poetry and essay. In this course, we’ll look at innovative pieces and do assignments intended to stimulate unconventional work. For writers interested in experimental writing and vigorous discussion.     (No class on 4/4)
Wednesday | 3/14-5/2 | 7:15-9:45 P.M. | $260 | Register Here


Summer Workshop Series 2012

All Summer Poetry Workshops are designed to immerse the writer in a focused area of exploration, inspired by the unusual setting, the nontraditional class hours, and professional workshop leaders who have been successful in their fields.

Classes will take place in the Bird Nest, at the edge of the LMU bluff, overlooking L.A., from the Pacific Ocean to the San Bernardino Mountains. The hours are Saturday, 1pm-5pm and 7pm-9pm, and Sunday, 10am-noon and 1:30pm-3:30pm. All include instruction, feedback, generative exercise, and Saturday night reading around the fire in the sunken living room.

CNTX 825.12 | Poetry Manuscript in Microcosm: Cultivating a Book with Lisa Gill

This intensive manuscript class explores various techniques that allow individual poems to cohere and become a book. Topics covered range from long poems, to series and variations, thematic or narrative organization, as well as organic development. The first day of the workshop focuses on how to develop previously written poems into a book, while the second day is entirely dedicated to sparking new work and cultivating a process that sustains a new collection. To receive in-depth consultation students are encouraged to submit an electronic manuscript with a letter reflecting current goals one month in advance.                                                
Saturday, Sunday | 6/9-6/10 | $165 | Register Here
 
CNTX 825.08 | The Poetry of Silence, The Poetry of Night with Sarah Maclay

Let’s get really quiet. Merwin, Transtromer, Celan and Franz Wright are a few of the poets who know how to trust what emerges from silence and darkness. We’ll follow these footsteps, and others, into the poetry of night, generating new poems and critiquing ones you’re working on.
Saturday, Sunday | 6/23-6/24 | $165 | Register Here

CNTX 825.17 | Three Dimensional Poetry: Vulnerability, Sexuality, Sense of Humor with Suzanne Lummis

By isolating and exploring these three moods or aspects of the human condition, poet-participants discover and explore new approaches to language and new areas of subject matter from which to draw, deepen their sense of voice and sharpen their craft.
Saturday, Sunday | 7/21-7/22 | $165 | Register Here 

FREE Spring Poetry Series with open reading