Taught by Dasha Sikmashvili (website)
Mar 21, Mar 28, Apr 4, Apr 11, Apr 18 (Saturdays)
3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
13 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011

From Annie Dillard’s book, The Writing Life: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.” 

Over the course of five weeks, we’ll focus on writing that comes from observing and reflecting on our day-to-day. You’ll be asked to keep a diary where you’ll study and describe your environment, your daily living, as well as reflect on the quieter hours of your life. We will share those pages in class and discuss them alongside other excerpted works. 

You’ll strengthen your descriptive writing skills, develop a better understanding of how you spend your time, and learn how daily observation can nurture your creative process. 

Reading selections from: Michelle Orange’s The Sicily Papers, Matthew Gasda’s Writer’s Diary, Lauren Elkin’s No. 91/92, Peter Handke’s The Weight of the World, Eva Hesse’s Diaries, Odilon Redon’s To Myself, and some visual selections from Tony O’Malley’s The Visual Diaries. 

*Please note that we are at a new location. We are no longer in Greenpoint.

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Darina (Dasha) Sikmashvili was born in Lubny, Ukraine, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where she moved at age eight. Her writing has been generously supported by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Elizabeth George Foundation, among others. She's received fellowships from The Center for Fiction and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Sikmashvili completed her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers Program. She's worked in film and TV for over a decade. Her writing is available at http://sikmashvili.com/.