Cooper Street Workshop: Writing the Past

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

If you’re writing or thinking about writing a story set in the past – maybe looking at an under-appreciated figure at an important historical moment, or maybe writing about a grandparent’s story, or maybe you just want to explore the exciting possibilities of historical romance or adventure – you probably have some questions about how to make the past seem real. How did people talk back then? Where do you go to find information about your historical setting and characters? How do you balance research and story? In this Cooper Street Workshop, we’ll look at extracts from stories set in the past, focusing on how writers use their research in describing scene and setting; we’ll practice writing dialogue using real historical materials; and we’ll play with some Camden-area historical resources to get you brainstorming about story ideas.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Bronwen Everill is a historian and author, whose books include Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance (William Collins, 2024; The New Press, 2025), Not Made By Slaves: Ethical Capitalism in the Age of Abolition (Harvard, 2020), and Abolition and Empire in Sierra Leone and Liberia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). Her fiction has appeared in Defenestration and her essays and reviews have appeared in the TLS, Smithsonian Magazine, BBC History Magazine, and Foreign Policy. She teaches writing at Princeton.

This is a virtual event. To facilitate community-building, please plan to have your camera on during the workshop.

Register

$20 General, $5 Camden residents & Rutgers-Camden students