MFA Writing Colloquium: Dani Shapiro ’83, MFA ’89: The Unthought Known

How do we come to understand what haunts us as writers - and why? The psychoanalytic term “the unthought known” is at the center of everything Dani Shapiro has come to understand about the creative process. What we know in our bones but are unable to think (too dangerous, too scary, too impossible) becomes available to us over the course of a writing life, whether we are writing fiction or creative non-fiction. In this talk Shapiro will use the trajectory of her own “unthought known” to illustrate the ways in which what we don’t think has the power to shape our work.

Dani Shapiro ’83, MFA ’89  is the author of eleven books, and the host and creator of the hit podcast Family Secrets. Her most recent novel, Signal Fires, was named a best book of 2022 by Time Magazine, Washington Post, Amazon, and others, and is a national bestseller. Her most recent memoir, Inheritance, was an instant New York Times Bestseller, and named a best book of 2019 by Elle, Vanity Fair, Wired, and Real Simple. Both Signal Fires and Inheritance were winners of the National Jewish Book Award. Dani’s work has been published in fourteen languages and she’s currently developing Signal Fires for its television adaptation. Dani’s book on the process and craft of writing, Still Writing, has just been reissued on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. She occasionally teaches workshops and retreats, and is the co-founder of the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy.

This event is colloquium credit eligible.