Four Saturdays in April-May: Public Course – The Art of Commentary

Lecturer: Christian Caryl.

Would you like to learn a few simple principles that will help you to get your message across in writing? Here’s your chance!

Come to a public course by Christian Caryl, Muse Magazine Critic-in-Residence, at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre, HKU.

As more and more outlets are available for information, it is increasingly important to be able to write clearly and effectively for websites, brochures, press releases and even in e-mails.

The same principles inform effective commentary no matter where it’s published.

There is a huge demand for informed opinion on subjects ranging from health care to economics. Yet, many academics, professionals, and policy experts still find it hard to master the art of writing for the public at large.

Christian Caryl, an experienced writer and critic, will take you by the hand and give you the tools you need to write professionally on your subject.

Caryl, a Contributing Editor at Foreign Policy, writes the column, Reality Check; he also writes for Newsweek and The New York Review of Books. He was Bureau Chief of Newsweek’s Northeast Asia Bureau in Tokyo, and its Russia Bureau in Moscow. Caryl is a master at turning round well-crafted articles in a short space of time.

What will you learn?
Over four consecutive Saturdays in April and May, this intensive course in writing opinion pieces, editorials, and commentary will enable you to communicate complex ideas to a broader audience.

You will learn how to express complex content in language that is vivid, active, and concrete. You will learn what makes effective commentary stick in readers’ minds. You will learn the art of the “pitch” – how to awaken an editor’s interest when proposing a story. By the end of the course you will have written one article that will be subjected to in-class discussion and detailed review by the instructor.

Who will benefit?
Business people, professionals, public policy experts who aim to disseminate their ideas through publication, people who want to tighten up their writing.

Course Fee: $3,500
Date: Saturdays April 10, 17, 24 and Saturday May 8, 2010 (four Saturdays)
Time: 10am – 1pm
Venue: Digital Media Lab, Eliot Hall, HKU, Pokfulam
Maximum class size: 15

Enquiries – please contact:
Kylie Chan on email kyliec@hku.hk or telephone 2219-4416

Download registration form here.