Writing: Poetry, Fiction, NonFiction An introduction to the writing of poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction through analysis of writings by modern and contemporary poets and prose writers and regular discussion of student writing. Different instructors may choose to emphasize one literary form or another in a given semester. Workshops will focus on composition and revision, with particular attention to the basics of form and craft. This course is a prerequisite to CRWR 0380, CRWR 0385, CRWR 0370, and CRWR 0375. (This course is not a college writing course.)

Advanced Non-Fiction Workshop: Reading and Writing Memory and Landscape The human animal is shaped by place and memory of place. How can a writer best create what Nabokov called "bright blocks of perception" and evoke the power of formative landscapes? We will move between memoir, narrative non-fiction, and autobiographical fiction, reading Virginia Woolf, Nabokov, Jesmyn Ward, and Mary Oliver. We will contemplate the way memory works with Oliver Sacks and Robin Kimmerer. Students will generate critical and creative work based on their own experiences and adventures, with room for interdisciplinary/multi-genre output. (One intro CRWR course, or by instructor approval)

Advanced Fiction Workshop: Writing Place-Sinking Deeper into Landscape * Can place be rendered so richly it becomes a character unto itself? In this course we will explore the ways writers deepen a reader's sense of place, and showcase the ways setting can pressurize a narrative and a life, through events related to climate, environmental degradation, and migration. This course will be useful to prose writers of all types, as we explore both non-fiction and fiction - like work by Vladimir Nabokov, Jamaica Kincad, Sarah M. Broom, Daphne du Maurier, and Pitchaya Sudbandthad - in order to observe technique, intention, and impact. Students will read critically and also produce place-based work of their own. This course will be of particular interest to environmentally engaged students looking to process loss and degradation of place in their work.(Any 100-level CRWR course)

The Feminine Heroic In this class we will explore the hero’s journey in literature as it relates to women and the natural world: who gets to go on the adventure, and who arrives home, transformed? How do race and gender complicate the traditional man-versus-nature narrative? We will discuss character agency, narrative authority, and structure — and look at texts where women undertake the journey, including work by Annie Dillard, Camille Dungy, Rachel Carson, Anne LeBastille, Rahawa Haile, and Pam Houston. We will work on reading critically, editing, and practicing the art of giving and receiving feedback. This class will provide students with opportunities to create both critical and creative work.

Environmental Lit Workshop: Environmentalist Literature and Action Some would say we live in supremely disturbing times. A pandemic; the sixth extinction; fascism within democracies and militant nationalisms; climate apartheid, and a political economy based around the commodification and exploitation of people and the earth. In this course careful reading and analysis is paired with literary conversation and action. Course readings represent a wide array of environmental justice in differing genres. While we respond to assigned texts, we will simultaneously write our way toward an environmental literature of our own design.

Megan Mayhew-Bergman

Reviews and ratings for Megan Mayhew-Bergman at Middlebury College.Megan Mayhew-Bergman teaches Writing: Poetry, Fiction, NonF, Advanced Non-Fiction Workshop, Advanced Fiction Workshop and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Megan Mayhew-Bergman good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

Megan is super knowledgable and no doubt she is one of the best in the field...but she never showed up and kept canceling class or leaving early. That being said whenever we did have class she always taught something productive. 

This was an amazing course that really helped with improving my writing! MMB is a great instructor, and she is really effective at breaking down complicated questions of narrative and strategy into really helpful rules of thumb. The class had a lot of reading; I personally would have preferred a bit more writing/workshop assignments. Also, it was a night class, and the logistics (Canvas, etc) were a bit of a mess. Still, her great teaching more than made up for it, and I would definitely take a class with her again. 

Megan is a very knowledgable writer and gives good advice on honing the craft of writing fiction. However, most valuably she is a very practical writer in a way that few other professors at Midd are and knows a lot about the world of getting published. If you take this class as someone interested in being a writer, invest in office hours with Megan because that connection is probably the most valuable part.