Long-Form Nonfiction
Essays that earn their length. Craft, structure, and the art of the sentence.
Instructor
Theo Araujo
Starts
October 6, 2025
Ends
December 5, 2025
Price
$750
Cohort Size
Up to 8 writers
About This Course
Personal essay is not journaling. This course treats nonfiction as a literary art form with formal demands as rigorous as fiction.
We'll work on the sentence level and the architecture level simultaneously. You'll workshop one substantial piece—5,000 to 12,000 words—over the course of the term, and leave with a draft that can go somewhere.
Reading list includes James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Leslie Jamison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Hilary Mantel's memoir.
Instructor
Theo Araujo
Theo Araujo is the author of two essay collections and a recipient of the Whiting Award. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Granta, and n+1.
Syllabus
- 01Week 1 — The essay as argument
- 02Week 2 — Finding the frame
- 03Week 3 — Workshop: opening sections
- 04Week 4 — The lyric mode and its dangers
- 05Week 5 — Research and the braided essay
- 06Week 6 — Workshop: full drafts
- 07Week 7 — The sentence workshop
- 08Week 8 — Final workshop + publication strategy
What the Workshop Looks Like
Anonymized notes from a real cohort session. This is the level of feedback you can expect.
“The essay opens with the personal and never quite makes it to the argument. By page four I know what happened to you. I don't yet know what you think it means, or why I should. Those are different things. Find the claim and put it somewhere I can see it.”
Instructor note, Week 1
“The lyric passages are doing something the analytical sections aren't — they're admitting uncertainty. That tension is actually the essay's real subject. Right now you're resolving it too quickly. Stay in the contradiction longer.”
Cohort note, Week 3
“The sentence in the third section that starts 'I have never been able to explain' — that's the most honest thing in the piece. Everything before it is warming up to that sentence. Consider whether you need the warmup at all.”
Cohort note, Week 3
Apply Now
Up to 8 writers per cohort. Tell us about yourself and your work.