Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor

By Lynda Barry

Writing exercises and creativity advice from Barry's pioneering, life-changing workshop

The award-winning author Lynda Barry is the creative force behind the genre-defying and bestselling work What It Is. She believes that anyone can be a writer and has set out to prove it. For the past decade, Barry has run a highly popular writing workshop for nonwriters called Writing the Unthinkable, which was featured in The New York Times Magazine. Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor is the first book to make her innovative lesson plans and writing exercises available to the public for home or classroom use. Barry teaches a method of writing that focuses on the relationship between the hand, the brain, and spontaneous images, both written and visual. It has been embraced by people across North America--prison inmates, postal workers, university students, high-school teachers, and hairdressers--for opening pathways to creativity.

Syllabus takes the course plan for Barry's workshop and runs wild with it in her densely detailed signature style. Collaged texts, ballpoint-pen doodles, and watercolor washes adorn Syllabus's yellow lined pages, which offer advice on finding a creative voice and using memories to inspire the writing process. Throughout it all, Barry's voice (as an author and as a teacher-mentor) rings clear, inspiring, and honest.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1770461612
• ISBN13: 9781770461611
• Release Date: October 2014
• Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.3" x 9.5"