3659 - (OSHEROnline)Writing the Personal Essay: Finding Your Story (Lisa Stolley, PhD)
Course Description
This is an Osher Online course, created and offered through the Osher National Resource Center. These courses are different from our regular OLLI at Emory program. These are six-week courses and live attendance required. You must also have an active OLLI at Emory membership and to register. Currently all classes are limited with 13 seats.
This class is supported by the NRC and participation details can be found on our website.
Instructor: Lisa Stolley, PhD
The personal essay, one of the oldest forms of creative nonfiction, blends storytelling, reflection, and analysis to give voice to lived experience. In this course, we will explore the personal essay as both art and self-expression. Through readings, discussion, and writing exercises, we will study elements such as narrative arc, scene-setting, and reflection. We will draft our own essays, discovering how this enduring form helps us find our voices and tell our stories with clarity. Click link for promo video.
Bio: Lisa Stolley, professor of English at the University of Illinois Chicago and Northwestern University, is a published fiction author. Her short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, earning an Illinois Arts Council Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and first prizes from the Washington Review and Georgia State Review. Her nonfiction has been published in Today’s Chicago Woman and the Chicago Reader. Stolley teaches scientific writing at UIC’s School of Public Health and is a legal writer for immigration attorneys.
