Craft Lecture: How to Bake an Apple Pie from Scratch: Realistic Characters in Speculative Worlds

Login here (no pre-registration needed): https://tinyurl.com/ZellWriters24

Seats are limited and are offered on a first come, first served basis; please arrive early to secure a spot.

Zell Visiting Writers Series craft lectures are free and open to the public, and will be offered both virtually (via Zoom) and in person (in The Robert Hayden Conference Room, Angell Hall #3222). Please contact kimjulie@umich.edu with any questions or accommodation needs.

Of her lecture, Marie-Helene says, "Fabulism, magic realism, speculative fiction, surrealism, enhanced realism is often misapprehended in academic settings and the pages of literary reviews. However, writing the uncanny can be an act of resilience and survival by the oppressed. Over the years, I’ve noticed that my writing has benefited most from mentors who balance practicality with the stars. I longed for a class that would show me how to hew closer to human experience while keeping one eye on the ineffable. This class will explore the rigorous craft behind breaking the laws of physics in fiction and creative non-fiction.* I’ll share personal meters of classification and offer methods and tips on rendering the profound mundane. Writers will leave with prompts designed to move them into new parts of their creativity, and a reading/film/art list to continue the learning. This is the craft class I wish I had when I was in my MFA. A nuts-and-bolts practical look into structure, time, and the uncanny. With a seat saved for humor, sound, and Cher."

Marie-Helene Bertino is the author of the novels Beautyland, Parakeet (NYTimes Editor's Choice) and 2 a.m. at The Cat's Pajamas, and the short story collection Safe as Houses.

Awards include The O. Henry Prize, The Pushcart Prize, The Iowa Short Fiction Award, The Mississippi Review Prize, The Center for Fiction NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship and The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Fellowship in Cork, Ireland.

Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Tin House, Electric Literature, Granta, Guernica, BOMB, among many others. She is the recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Hedgebrook Writers Colony, The Center for Fiction NYC, and Sewanee Writers Conference, where she was the Walter E. Dakin fellow. In June 2021, "Disrupting Realism," an online master class and panel she designed to make graduate level resources available at no charge, was attended by 1,300 people. She has taught in the Creative Writing programs of NYU, The New School, and Institute for American Indian Arts. She teaches in the Creative Writing Department at Yale University.

For any questions about the event or to share accommodation needs, please email kimjulie@umich.edu--we are eager to help ensure that this event is inclusive to you. The building, event space, and restrooms are wheelchair accessible. A lactation room (Angell Hall #5209), reflection room (Haven Hall #1506), and gender-inclusive restroom (Angell Hall 5th floor) are available on site. ASL interpreters and CART services at in-person events are available upon request; please email kimjulie@umich.edu at least two weeks prior to the event, whenever possible, to allow time to arrange services.

U-M employees with a U-M parking permit may use the Church Street Parking Structure (525 Church St., Ann Arbor) or the Thompson Parking Structure (500 Thompson St., Ann Arbor). There is limited metered street parking on State Street and South University Avenue. The Forest Avenue Public Parking Structure (650 South Forest Ave., Ann Arbor) is five blocks away, and the parking rate is $1.20 per hour. All of these options include parking spots for individuals with disabilities.