English 703

ENGL 703: Advanced Nonfiction Writing: Travel Writing Sue Hertz

What better way to learn about Great Britain than to write about it? In this course, we will explore our new landscape by writing a series of travel pieces based on research, observations, and personal experience. We will interview the locals, as well as seasoned experts and travelers, to gain insight into their surroundings. The locales we write about will range from our home base of Cambridge to any of the sites we may visit as a group, from London to Canterbury to Stratford-on-Avon, or that we visit independently. Encouraged to experiment with various styles and techniques, students will meet with their instructor in at least one individual conference and have their pieces critiqued by the class. Revision is not only embraced but also expected. For inspiration, we will read a wide variety of travel pieces by contemporary authors such as Tim Cahill and Susan Orlean. This course has a prerequisite of English 501/Introduction to Creative Nonfiction, for University of New Hampshire students. Students from other universities need to have taken one course in writing beyond basic composition.

This course is available for graduate credit as English 803.

Sue Hertz is an Associate Professor of English and Director of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at the University of New Hampshire. Her work has appeared in numerous national and regional publications, including Redbook, House Beautiful, Parenting, Boston Magazine, Boston Globe Magazine, New England Monthly, and Walking. She is the author of Caught in the Crossfire; A Year on Abortion’s Front Line and is currently at work on a book about nonfiction storytelling. Before beginning the double life of teacher/writer, she worked as a feature writer for The Hartford Courant, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and The Herald in Everett, WA.