Into the (Afro)Surreal: A Craft Writing Class
Full Tuition: $300 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Kagunda | 5-weeks | Sundays | October 15 - November 12 | 3:00 - 5:00 PM ET | ONLINE
As writers, we hold the potential to think and create outside the rules and boundaries held within the limited imagination of White Capitalist Patriarchy. Surrealism—and more specifically Afro-surrealism—offers an avenue for such boundary-breaking. Historian and scholar Robin DG Kelley says, “Surrealism is not merely an aesthetic doctrine but an international revolutionary movement concerned with the emancipation of thought.” From decolonial poets like Aime and Suzanne Cesaire, storytellers like Henry Dumas and essayists like Amiri Baraka, all the way to contemporary television writers like Donald Glover and Boots Riley, the history of Afro-surrealism has been one of revealing and rejecting the absurdity of the everyday. In doing so, they make the imaginary of a different way of being in the world more plausible, less absurd. Together we will think through how to uncover the invisible world beyond the visible world. We will ask ourselves, what are its textures? Scents? Fears? Dreams? And we’ll discover how to draw these out on the page in a way that converses with the realities of our world. Each week's meeting will include a writing prompt, and we will spend the last half of the class sharing parts of our work.There will be the option to create several flash fiction pieces or to work on one to two short stories through the duration of the course. Throughout this 5-week course, we will use call and response as a method of generating new work to imagine new possibilities for being in the world. As Octavia Butler says, “There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.”
Classes are recorded to allow for students to participate asynchronously. If you want to take a class but cannot make the class time, sign up for the asynchronous audit option to follow along on your own. Recordings are password protected and will only be available for the duration of the class and two weeks after it ends.
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Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class, and one full scholarship per person per term. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out or you would like to pay tuition on an installment basis, please email us directly, and we will work with you.
If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, please email us and we will reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After that point, we are able to offer 50% refunds.