Summer Salons
Writer
Sarah Schulman
with Journalist
Peter Slevin
Friday, June 28, 2024
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Friday, June 28, 2024
6:00 – 7:30 PM ET
Four Months to Election Day: A Conversation with Sarah Schulman and Peter Slevin
5:00 PM Reception
Daniel A. Mullin Courtyard
6:00 – 7:30 PM Salon Conversation
Stanley Kunitz Common Room
We kick things off on Friday evening with an un-moderated conversation between our two guests. Peter Slevin, New Yorker writer, Michelle Obama biographer, and one of America’s most ear-to-the-ground journalists covering swing states, will share his insights and reporting on the precarious nature of America’s Democracy. Interlocutor Sarah Schulman will explore how this professor at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism learned his chops, chose his beat, and rose to the top of his field.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
2:00 – 4:00 PM ET
In-person Workshop with Sarah Schulman
Prose Master Class – Craft Basics for Fiction and Nonfiction Writers
The workshop is a combination of lecture, in-class exercises and conversation about craft.
Sarah Schulman is a novelist, nonfiction writer, playwright, screenwriter, and AIDS historian. Her 21st book – as yet untitled- on the fantasy and necessity of solidarity- will be published by Thesis Books, a new Penguin imprint, in March 2025. Sarah holds an endowed chair in creative writing at Northwestern University and is on the Advisory Board of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
2:00 – 4:00 PM ET
Virtual Zoom Workshop with Peter Slevin
Interviewing for Detail and Depth
In this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore the art of interviewing to develop scenes and characters, for nonfiction and fiction alike. We’ll discuss ways to approach an interview, from the tone we set and how we present ourselves to how we listen and go deep, all with an eye to capturing the moments and details that can make a piece of writing special. During our time together, we’ll consider an array of approaches, drawing on real-life examples. We’ll break into teams to practice – and we’ll look at a few short, evocative pieces of writing that show what creative interviewing can deliver.
Peter Slevin is a professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a contributing writer for The New Yorker, where he focuses on politics. As The Miami Herald’s European correspondent, based first in London and then in Berlin, he covered the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union. He spent a decade on the national staff of The Washington Post, writing about foreign policy and, later, politics, including the 2008 Obama campaign. His book – Michelle Obama: A Life – was a finalist for the PEN America biography prize.
Proceeds from these paid events ensure that the Fine Arts Work Center is able to provide free arts and culture events for the Outer Cape Cod community year round.
