To research for a novel, Michael Zapata traveled to the Amazon rainforests in Brazil to shadow the work of entomologists. What followed was a deep dive inquiry not only into the strange and complex lives of ants, but also into the lives of indigenous scientists, revolutionaries, the mysteries of literary craft, and the writers of Latin America. In this session, Michael Zapata will guide writers through the critical and magical practice of real-world research that both layers writing and takes advantage of the wonderful discoveries and possibilities that research itself contains. The class will also include a Q&A.
MICHAEL ZAPATA is the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is a recipient of a Meier Foundation Artist Achievement Award and the DAG Prize for Literature. He is on the faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. As a public-school educator, he taught literature and writing in high schools servicing drop out students. He currently lives in Chicago with his family.
