Writing for the Public

WRITING FOR THE PUBLIC

Publication seminar with Arne de Boever, Program Director, CalArts – School of Critical Studies,
editor of the Philosophy/Critical Theory genre section of the Los Angeles Review of Books and member of the boundary 2 editorial collective.

Why do I write? It’s a question that many creative writers have tried to answer, but rare is the academic who has taken it on. Is this because for academics, the response is obvious? Or have academics avoided the question because the answer eludes them even more than it does their colleagues in creative writing? In this talk, I will consider these questions from the point of view of academics who are writing for the public, and through a consideration of how writing for the public differs from academic writing. Examples will be drawn from writing for the public submitted by academics in the audience.

Participants should prepare,

1. a pitch for the proposed general public article (250 words or less);
2. the opening paragraphs (1 or 2, no more than a single page—500 words at most) of the proposed article
3. an outline of the proposed article