Aatif Rashid

Instructor Bio:

Aatif Rashid, author of the novel Portrait of Sebastian Khan. His short stories and essays have appeared in, among other places, The Massachusetts Review, Arcturus, Barrelhouse, Triangle House Review, X-R-A-Y, Maudlin House, The Ex-Puritan, Pithead Chapel, The Adroit Journal, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Lit Hub and The Kenyon Review.

Instructor Statement:

While the most strident of postmodernists might have argued that a novel or story is nothing more than a set of words on a page, most of us who read fiction understand that these words can convey powerful emotions, vivid sensory experiences and profound social and political insights. My goal as an instructor is to help students understand how writers create this connection between words and reality, whether it’s through complex characters, rich and detailed settings, plots with conflict and tension or meaningful commentaries on our world. Ultimately, I don’t think fiction writing is the result of any innate talent—like any form of art, it can be learned with the right combination of hard work and inspiration.