Master Class with Karen Russell: Cartographers of Imaginary Places [Karen Russell]

This class will feature in-class writing, reading, and discussion around how writers build a credible universe on the page: a setting that envelops readers. Russell will bring in stories from throughout the realism/speculative fiction continuum: traveling from Oz, to Macondo, and Detroit. Russell will also guide students through Mavis Gallant’s incredible “The Fifteenth District,” in which Gallant applies the tricks of realism to a spectral realm, and still makes room for social commentary and existential terror. Includes one-hour lunch breaks.