Emily Pifer

Emily Pifer received her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Wyoming and is now a PhD candidate in composition and cultural rhetoric at Syracuse University, where she teaches courses in creative nonfiction and critical research and writing. Her work has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Brevity’s Nonfiction Blog, Women’s Health, Esquire, and elsewhere. The Running Body, her debut memoir, was chosen by Steve Almond as the winner of the 2021 Autumn House Press Nonfiction Prize. Through multiple modes of storytelling—memoir, meditation, and cultural analysis—The Running Body uncovers the effects of idolization and obsession, reckoning with power and agency, beauty and pain, loss and healing. Through the lens of long-distance running, The Running Body interrogates our relationship to magical thinking, the stories we tell ourselves, and the faultiness of memory. Emily is from West Virginia and Ohio, and she currently lives with her family in Logan, Utah.

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Writing With and Without Fear

As runners, we train ourselves mentally and physically to take on our workouts and races despite our fears of the uncomfortable, the uncertain, and the downright painful. Sometimes we are able to quiet our fears, or even totally destroy them. Other times, we must show up on our starting lines with our fears in tow. Writing—from our very first drafts to our lasts—is no different. This session offers participants the opportunity to not only examine and reflect on the fears we bring to the page, but to learn and practice strategies for both shaking our fears and continuing on when we can’t quite shake them—when we must show up with our fears and write on anyway. This session will include guidance from renowned writers, prompts for individual and collaborative reflection and examination, practical tools and exercises, and time to practice drafting with(out) our fears.