Words that Woo: Literary Activism (V)

Through storytelling, writers stir up the dust, call out injustice, and unsilence silences in words. Albert Camus wrote that the writer’s purpose is to keep civilization from destroying itself, and Alice Walker called activism the rent she pays for living. Maya Angelou, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Elie Wiesel, and Ta Nahesi Coates are writers whose work could be considered activism. In this seminar, we'll explore how words can be harnessed for literary activism by reading excerpts from a range of nonfiction writers and discussing how words can craft an argument that might lead to action.