When you write now, what do you write about, and whose stories do you tell—and how do you tell them? In this class, to answer this question, we will look at how a variety of cool, cutting-edge and adventurous creative writers from across the world who are writing now, about the issues problems and pleasures of this moment. We will look at writers from the US, from Ireland and Britain, and work by young writers from a variety of emigrant experiences and diasporas.

Writers include: Ocean Vong, Roxanne Gay, Colm Toibin, Sally Rooney, Anne Enright, Zadie Smith, Toni Morrison, Buchi Emecheta, Teju Cole and Lola Shoneyin. The focus will be on short stories, poems, short films, videos and new media forms.

As the final project, students can present either a paper or a creative work of their own.