Instructor: Kathy Curto
Two hour ON CAMPUS sessions on Tuesdays
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EST
Workshop is limited to 10 participants
$470

Per Sarah Lawrence College guidelines, participants must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and booster vaccination on the first day of class. Masks are required indoors. Any updates to safety guidelines will be communicated to participants in advance of the class.

Classroom TBA
 

Course Description

It’s the smell of Play-Doh for some of us. For others, the feel of velvet or the sound of Sinatra, Miles Davis or Nirvana. It’s that first bite into baklava, black licorice or beignets. Or maybe all it takes is looking through a pile of old family photos.

In this class, using timed writing exercises and short readings, we’ll honor the senses by opening our writing lives up to what they can offer. Then we’ll write from that opening. Word by word, step by step, scene by scene.

The focus will be on generating new work, giving and receiving feedback, encouraging revision and, if the writer desires, pulling pieces together. The opportunity to work on stand-alone pieces, essays, flash nonfiction and/or micro-memoirs, will also be available, if interested.

Who Should Take This Class?

Writers who are open to taking risks on the page, who appreciate the value of starting from scene-driven work and who desire, in a 5-week course, a balance of in-class writing, sharing, listening, reading and revision.

Your Instructor

Kathy Curto teaches at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and Montclair State University, as well as several nonprofit organizations and community centers in the NY metropolitan area. She is the author of Not for Nothing-Glimpses into a Jersey Girlhood, published by Bordighera Press. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, on NPR, in the essay collection, Listen to Your Mother:  What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now, and in Barrelhouse, Toho Journal, The Mom Egg Review, HerStry, La Voce di New York, Drift, Talking Writing, The Inquisitive Eater, Voices in Italian Americana, Ovunque Siamo and Lumina, among others. She has been the recipient of the Kathryn Gurfein Writing Fellowship and two fellowships at Montclair State University, both promoting engaged teaching and community writing projects. Kathy also serves on the faculty of the Joe Papaleo Writers’ Workshop in Cetara, Italy. Kathy and her family live in the Hudson Valley. Please visit her site: www.kathycurto.com.

Testimonials

I thought Kathy Curto was a terrific teacher. She creates a caring and supportive and inspiring writing environment that helped me produce writing I could further work on. She helped all of us write from our hearts. - former student

Kathy is so present and attentive and generous with her time. She creates a safe and warm environment for her students. A great teacher. - former student

Kathy is an insightful and compassionate teacher. She is inclusive of all her students and willing to go the extra mile for us. Her classes are always interesting and I have learned something new in every class I have taken with her. - former student

I've taken Kathy Curto's Tiny and Ordinary class more than once because the focus is exactly what my writing practice needed. With an MA in Creative Writing and all the writing classes I've attended, I honestly have never worked with a better guide. - CM, April 2021

I continue to be amazed by the amount of preparation Kathy does for our class: the depth of her knowledge about so many authors, her insight into the writing process, and her skill and enthusiasm for teaching. She is truly an inspiration! - Debby L.

Through stimulating prompts, Kathy’s class enables students to navigate not only nonfiction “glimpses” but feature-length pieces. Her class has inspired me to begin my memoir.  Kathy is an encouraging, empathetic, and insightful instructor. - Kate H.