Instructor Samantha Mann is a Brooklyn-based writer covering queer life, popular culture, mental health, and motherhood. She is a contributing writer for Vogue and The Cut. She has written for Elle, Today Show, Huffington Post, Bon Appetit, Bustle, Washington Post Magazine, Romper, BUST, and others. Her essay, "The Orgasm Gap and DJ Khaled," was featured in Roxane Gays newsletter, The Audacity. Samantha is the author of the essay collection, Putting Out: Essays on Otherness. In 2023 Putting Out was added to CLMPS recommended reading list for Women's History Month. Samantha edited and curated the anthology, I Feel Love: Notes on Queer Joy. And Buzzfeed Book review said, "This is the perfect collection for readers looking to appreciate and celebrate the many talented writers within the LGBTQIA+ community." Her sophomore collection, Dyke Delusions, debuts June 2025 with Read Furiously. 

In this 4-week intensive, we’ll explore how our bodies hold the stories of our lives. Whether through shame, pleasure, pain, illness, triumph, or transformation, the body often speaks before we find the words. 

Using deeply personal texts from acclaimed essayists, we’ll examine how to translate pivotal bodily experiences into powerful, publishable personal essays. Through guided readings, writing exercises, and feedback sessions, you’ll uncover how to mine your physical experiences for emotional and narrative depth.

Who Should Enroll:

This course is ideal for writers who have at least a minimum experience with personal essay writing and who want to write about the intersections of body and identity. Whether you’re crafting essays for publication, a memoir-in-progress, or seeking to deepen your personal writing practice, this workshop offers a generative, supportive space to explore your physical history and its ongoing impact.

What You'll Learn:

Week 1: The Body as Memory

Reading: The Heart-Work: Writing About Trauma as a Subversive Act by Melissa Febos

Focus: We’ll explore the idea that the body remembers what we forget, and how writing can bring that memory to the surface. Through generative prompts, you'll begin to draft an essay about a pivotal body-based experience (illness, first desire, shame, transformation, etc.).

Week 2: The Body and Public Perception

Reading: What We Hunger For by Roxane Gay

Focus: This week examines the politics of the body — how our physical forms are seen, judged, and mythologized by others. We’ll look at the tension between internal experience and external perception and work on essays that address the gap between who we are and how our bodies are treated.

Week 3: The Body in Place

Reading: Ordinary Girls excerpt by Jaquira Díaz

Focus: We’ll explore how our bodies are shaped by the environments we grow up in — geographically, culturally, and emotionally. This week’s writing will focus on the intersection of place, identity, and the body.

Week 4: Breaking Form / Writing Beyond the Binary

Reading: The Chronology of Water excerpt by Lidia Yuknavitch

Focus: This final week challenges traditional ideas about form, structure, and “acceptable” body stories. We’ll discuss ways to experiment with form and voice, and revise one of your drafts. The workshop will end with a live sharing session, a Q&A on pitching and publishing, and next steps.

What You’ll Create:

• Three essay drafts (or strong outlines), each centered on a transformative experience involving your body
  
• One revised piece ready for feedback and potential submission
  
• A body-based writing toolkit you can use for future essays or memoir work
  

Course Takeaways:

• Learn to write about physical experience with emotional precision and literary depth
  
• Explore how cultural narratives shape our body stories — and how to subvert them
  
• Gain confidence in writing about topics often labeled taboo, difficult, or “too much”
  
• Understand how to revise and prepare your work for publication
  

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE: