In 1977, French novelist Serge Doubrovsky came up with the term “autofiction” to describe his novel, Fils. Autofiction is not simply another name for autobiographical fiction. It might come close to what some writers term memoir, or it might come closer to the ironic metafictional treatments of Self popularized by such writers in the 1960s and 70s as Kurt Vonnegut and John Barth. In this course, we will sample it all, reading and writing “fiction of strictly real events or facts” as well as fantastical and allegorical representations of ourselves, using much of our real biographical information, but not much else. If you like the idea of exploring writing that takes you spot between real and imagined versions of yourself, then this is the course for you.

And please also join us Friday evening, February 23 at Charlotte Lit for a free community conversation and reading with Robin Hemley, 6:00-7:00 p.m. [Reading Only: Register Here]

*Schedule Description: A two-day in-town retreat. Class meets Friday evening 3:00-5:00 pm, and Saturday morning 9:30 a.m. to noon.

Robin Hemley has published fifteen books of fiction and nonfiction. His most recent books are the autofiction, Oblivion: An After-Autobiography (Gold Wake, 2022), The Art and Craft of Asian Stories: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology, co-authored with Xu Xi (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Borderline Citizen: Dispatches from the Outskirts of Nationhood (Nebraska, 2020; Penguin SE Asia, 2021). He has previously published four collections of short stories, and his stories have been widely anthologized. His writing text, Turning Life into Fiction, has sold over a hundred thousand copies and has been in print for 25 years.