So, my class is on the horizon and I am building the resources I want to use which means find mentor texts for us to read and discuss. I knew definitely I wanted to use Jesmyn Ward’s piece in Vanity Fair, “On Witness and Respair” because it is devastating, honest and brutiful (I stole that word from somewhere…). And I had a few other ideas, but I was scrolling Twitter- which is what you do when you should be writing and have an impending deadline- when I came across a tweet asking for recommendations of personal essays by writers of color. So, I checked the thread and wow, there were some amazing suggestions!
I can’t keep all of them and I am excited to see if any of my writer friends out there have other suggestions, but here is what I have so far. Oh, and if this looks interesting and you want to pop an idea kernel into a full blown polished piece, sign up for my class 🙂 Registration link is here.
What are your favorite personal essays? Drop the title and author in the comments so we can share in the beautiful words!
Readings for Class:
https://www.thekitchn.com/white-russians-uncool-23078312
https://pen.org/a-body-of-athletics/
http://www.offassignment.com/articles/lilly-dancyger
https://www.theparisreview.org/letters-essays/7194/worlds-finest-chocolate-kiese-laymon
http://www.flywheelmag.com/386/l%E2%80%99epee-de-damocles-vehicular-manslaughter/
https://www.ssense.com/en-us/editorial/fashion/this-is-an-essay-by-hanif-abdurraqib-about-sneakers
https://www.triangle.house/review/issue-four/on-seatbelts-and-sunsets
https://shenandoahliterary.org/632/2014/02/10/how-to-skin-a-bird/
