Speculative Ecologies and Biologies: Inventing New Worlds and Ways of Being

A 4-week generative workshop with Ruth Joffre
begins February 5th
zoom meetings every Wednesday in February 6-730pm Pacific

Consider the air in your lungs. Imagine how you might be different if you could breathe another planet’s atmosphere. What if you could transform into mountains and rivers? Who would you be then? This class invites students to ruminate on these questions through the study of speculative fiction about the body and the environment. Students will spend four weeks discussing, creating, and envisioning new ways of being and thinking.

Each week will include:

• Readings of contemporary speculative fiction about the environment, including sci-fi, cli-fi, fantasy, horror, and the blurry areas between genres.

• Generative in-class writing prompts that give students opportunities to invent new species and practice worldbuilding.

• At-home and self-directed exercises that encourage students to interact with the natural world around them and develop more intentional relationships with it.

• Opportunities to share their work in small groups and via Corporeal Writing’s Mighty Networks platform (optional).

This class is open to writers of all levels and at all stages of their journey. All readings will be provided by the instructor.

When/Workshop Structure:
This workshop will begin Wednesday February 5th and run for four weeks over Zoom as well as utilizing our rich interactive online platform, Mighty Networks.
Zoom meeting dates: 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26 — Wednesdays from 6:00PM to 7:30PM Pacific. All meetings will be recorded and shared with registrants, in case you need to miss one or more.

Ruth Joffre is the author of the story collection Night Beast. Her work has been shortlisted for the Creative Capital Awards, longlisted for The Story Prize, and supported by residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Lighthouse Works, The Arctic Circle, and the Whiteley Center. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in more than 50 publications, including Lightspeed, Pleiades, Fantasy, khōréō, The Florida Review Online, Kenyon Review, Reckoning, Wigleaf, and the anthologies Best Microfiction 2021 & 2022.

Pricing:

The following payment model is inspired by and borrowed from the payment model of Bayo Akomolafe’s class, We Will Dance With Mountains: Into the Cracks. 

This course offers two sliding scales based on your relative financial standing. The huge range listed below is meant to reflect the incredible disparity in economic conditions of people living in different parts of the world, and also the historical reality of stolen wealth in many different forms, generally from the so-called Global South to the North. In an effort to reflect disparity in economic condition and access to wealth, the following payment system is designed for those with more wealth to help cover the costs of those with less access to wealth and resources. We trust your discernment of how your current financial situation and how you fit into the global economic context.

As you decide what amount to pay, please consider your present-day financial situation governed by income, but also the following factors: historical discrimination faced by your peoples; your financial wealth (retirement/savings/investments); your access to income and financial wealth, both current and anticipated (how easily could you earn more income compared to other people in your community, country, and the world); people counting on your financial livelihood including dependents and community members; the socio-economic conditions of your locale (relative to other places in your country and in the world); your relationship to food & resource scarcity.

$250 Partner

$175 Supporter (Note: this reflects the “real” value of this course.)

$100 Companion

$50 Friend

A limited number of scholarships are also available for anyone needing further financial assistance. Please email Daniel at registration@corporealwriting.com for more info, or if you are feeling challenged in any way by the financial requirements of participation.