Back to School for Everyone: (Free!) Syllabi from Some of Our Favorite Writers

There’s something about a fresh syllabus. A sincerely grandiose course description, all those readings curated just for you, a schedule that promises a beginning, middle, and end. If I could’ve stayed in school forever, I might have. Alas, the working world came for me eventually.

But even if we’re not in school anymore, should we be deprived of the sweet, sweet rush of a new syllabus? I say no! So did these ten writers, who I greatly admire, and who generously shared with us the courses they love to teach (or hope to teach one day). Each syllabus is accompanied by a refreshingly un-stodgy reading list and a few words about what makes the topic so special.

Take a full course load this fall or dip in and out as you please. Your scholarly journey awaits. Bon voyage, fellow students!

–Eliza Smith, Special Projects Editor

Ekphrastic Poetry with Victoria Chang

The Literature of Obsession with Julia May Jonas

Multigenre Experiments in Form with Paul Lisicky

Reading About Writing with Peter Ho Davies

Speculative Women with Lina Maria Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas

Place, Space, and Landscape with Alexandra Kleeman

Writers and the World with Viet Thanh Nguyen 

Sports and Contemporary Writing with Sam Lipsyte

Hybrid Poetry with Ocean Vuong

Lyric Research with Ross Gay