The motivation to create a writing to heal class came as a result of the Four Divas Writing Project, a memorial to four Middlebury College female first-year students who died in April 2000. An analysis of the role of the writing workshop in the class is published here:
Bertolini, Mary Ellen. “Workshopping Lives.” In Does the Writing Workshop Still Work? (New Writing Viewpoints) Ed. Dianne Donnelly. Clevedon, U.K.: Multilingual Matters, May 2010.Catalog Description:
This writing-intensive course examines writing as a catalyst for healing after loss or grief. In a workshop focused on student writing, we will analyze the fiction, drama, poetry and creative nonfiction of Arthur Miller, Jane Austen, Frank McCourt, C.S. Lewis, Sharon Olds, William Wordsworth, Joan Didion, Susan Minot. Reading James W. Pennebaker’s Opening Up and Rico’s Pain and Possibility will create a theoretical underpinning for our discussions. Assignments for this course will include formal analytical essays, creative work, as well as electronic journals and oral presentations. LIT