The Craft and Business of Authorship with Deborah Blum and Seth Mnookin
When:
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2025 1:00p -
4:00p
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2025 1:00p -
4:00p
Where:
MIT Museum
314 Main Street, Gambrill Center, Building E-28
Cambridge, MA 02142
Admission:
$20-30
Hosted by:
Categories:
Business & Professional, Classes
Event website:
https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/masterclass-series-at-the-mit-museum
In this storytelling masterclass, two best-selling non-fiction authors from MIT, Seth Mnookin, director of the Graduate Program in Science Writing at MIT, and Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism program, offer instruction in the craft and business of writing and selling a popular book. Topics will include finding the right agent, proposal drafting basics, techniques for researching and organizing your book, elements of style and story structure, along with tips on promotion and marketing, based on lessons both authors have learned from their own experiences and from their knowledge of the trade book industry.
About the Instructors
Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist is director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT and publisher of the award-winning magazine, Undark. She is the author of six books, including The Poison Squad, a New York Times Notable Book, and the Poisoner’s Handbook, a New York Times best seller, both of which were developed as PBS documentaries. She is also co-editor of A Tactical Guide to Science Journalism, and a former guest editor of Best American Science and Nature Writing. She is currently under contract with Penguin Press for a book about female poisoners. She has written for publications including The New York Times, Wired, Scientific American, Time, Science as well as literary journals such as Tin House. She is a AAAS fellow and a lifetime associate of the National Academy of Sciences, in recognition of her work in science communication.
Seth Mnookin is a longtime journalist and science writer and was a 2019-2020 Guggenheim Fellow. His most recent book, The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy, won the National Association of Science Writers “Science in Society” Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Feeding the Monster , about the Boston Red Sox, and Hard News, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. He began his career as a music critic and has covered everything from rare diseases and the Iraq War to Stephen Colbert and Batman. Mnookin is also the director of MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing and the chair of the Institute's Comparative Media Studies/Writing department.
Register for this masterclass here.
