Deaf Writers Workshop

Often, d/Deaf writers enter a workshop only to find they are the only deaf person there; this creates a sense of uncertainty and isolation, because the Deaf ASL-fluent writer feels alone in a sea of peers who all hear and speak. This workshop is for those writers. We will examine deaf characters, sign language, and Deaf culture in literature, film, and art, and see what came before us. Students will workshop a piece of narrative writing—a piece of fiction or nonfiction—and leave the class with a list of what to watch and read, ideas on how to edit writing while rethinking hearing abled norms, and strategies on how to build stories off what has come before in Deaf literature. In this workshop, you get to build a community of your peers while learning how to draw from Deaf culture and Deaf literature for your work.