Interviews with Authors: Nonfiction Writers on Their Subjects and Their Craft

How do authors choose subjects for their books? How is research conducted? When does a writer decide to incorporate personal experience into a work of nonfiction? What is the rewrite process like? And what is it like to profile a well-known figure you admire versus someone you don't? In this class, Claudia Kalb will conduct interviews with journalists and scholars about their books on a wide range of subjects, including history, education, international affairs, sports, science, and music.

Guest authors include Marc Selverstone, Director of Presidential Studies at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia and author of The Kennedy Withdrawal: Camelot and the American Commitment to Vietnam; Heather Won Tesoriero, an executive editor at Audible and author of The Class: A Life-Changing Teacher, His World-Changing Kids, and the Most Inventive Class-room in America; Debby Applegate, historian and author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age, and The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Biography; and Steve Fainaru, investigative writer at ESPN, and author of numerous books, including League of Denial: The NFL, Concus-sions, and the Battle for Truth. Steve won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of the Iraq War.

Each class will feature a discussion of narrative nonfiction, an author interview, and Q&A with students.