Description: In works of braided prose, short sections of seemingly distinct story threads interweave to become one cohesive narrative. "This is what I love about all braided things," writes Brenda Miller in her essay, "A Braided Heart," "the fact of their separate parts intersecting, creating the illusion of wholeness, but with the oh-so-pleasurable texture of separation." This class will explore the power and techniques of the braided form, focusing on how to choose, pace, divide, and connect the threads of narrative to create a piece of writing that comes together into something more than the sum of its parts. Looking at both fiction and nonfiction examples from currently working writers like Jenny Offill, Carmen Maria Machado, and others, we will study and experiment with the braided form to create new works of our own.

Instructor: Allison Darcy

Dates: Begins Friday, January 17, 2025 and meets every Friday for six weeks total

Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Level: Beginner and above

8 seats max

Location: online

$615: true price

$349: base price

$374, $399, $449: donate an extra $25, $50, or $100 to our scholarship fund

(Returning students receive 10 percent off).

A note on pricing:  the “true price” reflects the true cost of the class, which includes paying a fair wage to our staff and instructors, rental fees for the Redbud headquarters and for the community spaces where we host our classes, website and administrative/commerce fees, outreach and advertising to spread the word about our offerings, and the coordination and administration for our community classes, which serve people who could not otherwise access creative writing. We’re not a university or a large corporation and that means we don’t have an operating budget we can rely on; we’re proud to be a small, local, women- and minority-run business that is passionate about bringing the transformative power of the arts to our community. Your tuition helps Redbud with the critical work of keeping the arts accessible to the public. 

We also offer students a chance to donate to our scholarship fund. At check-out, you will be given the option of choosing a donor price. If you choose one of these prices, the extra $25, $50, or $100 will go towards scholarships for students who would not be able to afford our classes otherwise.  Thank you in advance for considering making a contribution to inclusivity and access!

Read the fine print, including our refund policy, here.