Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (by May 19): $200
Regular Price (after May 19): $220

Seminar Description

A personal journal can be many things – a confessional, an historic record, or a practice field to try out new ideas and ways of writing. It can also be a way to maintain a sense of privacy and introspection in a chaotic, Tweet-filled world. This seminar will provide exercises and inspiration to develop and maintain a creative journaling habit, and we will investigate readings from famous diarists such as Thomas Merton, Samuel Pepys, and Virginia Woolf. Eight sessions.

A life-long diarist, Mary Wisniewski is an award-winning reporter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune. She is the author of Algren: A Life, a highly-praised biography of Nelson Algren, described by Chicago Magazine as "a captivating book that reads like a novel."

Materials List

Required:

• Participants will be asked to keep a handwritten diary, to distinguish it from the types of writing they do for their jobs or social media. The seminar instructor will offer plain, blank sketchbooks at cost in the first class, or participants can bring their own.

First Readings:

• TBA

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.