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Whereas journalists once felt humbled by the novel, we now live in an age in which the novelist lives in a state of anxiety about nonfiction. You see it most clearly with films in the lust to be able to put at the end of the film, “This is a true story.”

                                                                                                                    Michael Lewis
Interviewed by Robert S. Boynton, The New New Journalism, 2005

This course will concentrate on long-form nonfiction from both magazines and books, supplemented by occasional shorter pieces, plus an assortment of motion pictures based on nonfiction sources, documentary films, and even “long-form” radio journalism and gleanings from other media. The topics are eclectic -- politics, art, war, food, nature, sports, music, fashion, people and places.  So are the writers – George Orwell, A. J. Liebling, Joseph Mitchell, Rebecca West, Evelyn Waugh, E.B. White, Janet Flanner, Norman Lewis, James Lord, Kenneth Tynan, Joan Didion, Jane Kramer, Calvin Tomkins, Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Calvin Trillin, Lawrence Weschler, Ron Rosenbaum, Adam Gopnik, Richard Ben Cramer, Susan Orlean, Malcolm Gladwell, Margaret Talbot, Michael Lewis, and Steve Coll among them.  You’ll be fascinated not only by the “what” but also by the “how” of their work.  What’s more, you’ll try your own hand at short non-fiction pieces that may find their way back to your school newspaper and/or take pride of place in your writing portfolio.

Critical reading and watching, no less than writing, are skills that take practice and patience to acquire but which make life the richer for it. This summer you’ll come to know and appreciate some of the best fact-based writers and filmmakers ever, whose imaginative, incisive story-telling and portrayals-of/reflections-on the ways of our world will continue to amaze long after you’ve turned the last page or the screen goes dark.

This 5-week program of learning by doing is open to students from the Houston metropolitan area who will be entering the 10th, 11th, 12th grades or college. To apply, complete the student section of the PDF form and give it to a teacher who knows you well or a counselor to fill out the recommendation section. Your teacher/counselor should mail the completed form along with an official transcript directly to:

Stranger than Fiction
Wonderworks
PO Box 667550
Houston, TX 77266-7550
Fax: 713.523.6145

To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 12 May; early applications are encouraged. All applicants will be notified by 9 June; early applicants will be notified sooner.
If you have any questions or need additional information, call 713.301.4882 or email strangerthanfiction@wonderworkshouston.org.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from Houston Endowment Inc. and
the Greentree Fund.