Archive - The Querent

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On What I Learned Editing Best American Essays 2022

Some thoughts on how reading thousands of essays in a year changed me

Apr 23 •

February 2023

What Is A Novel For? The Session 2 Thread

Dear Reader, Thank you to everyone who is participating in this experiment. While those of you who are not registered for the class are welcome …

Feb 9 •

What Is A Novel For? We Continue.

On a forgotten memory prompt that came back to me twice.

Feb 6 •

January 2023

What Is A Novel For? Session 1 Q&A Thread

Here is our thread for Session 1 questions. I’ll try and get to them as we go forward. You can also use this as a way to meet other writers and …

Jan 19 •

Alexander Chee here, back with a new class: What Is A Novel For?

Is your idea a novel, interconnected stories, a memoir, a memoir in essays? A screenplay? A new class takes one idea through an adventure in forms.

Jan 16 •

July 2022

Alexander Chee and A Couple of People I Used To Be

On reaching for our rejected selves with the essay

Jul 8, 2022 •

August 2020

Using the materials of your life in fiction and nonfiction

Welcome to The Querent, by Alexander Chee. I am most recently the author of the essay collection How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. It wasn’t a how…

Aug 14, 2020

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