Anna Bruno
Biography
Anna Bruno is the author of Ordinary Hazards (Atria), her debut novel released in 2020. She teaches at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and coaches professionals in creative business communication. Previously, Anna managed public relations and marketing for technology and financial services companies in Silicon Valley. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an MBA from Cornell University, and a BA from Stanford University. She lives in Iowa City with her husband, two sons, and blue heeler.
Events
Writing into (and out of) Trope, Cliché, and Abstraction - 11th Hour Lecture Series
Description
To borrow a cliché, let's go down the rabbit hole. But on the way down, let's observe the dirt, the worms, the twists, the darkness, the sacred and the profane. For a writing project, whether a short story or a novel, trope can be an entry point. Think: a locked room mystery, dark academia, a midlife crisis. Similarly, on the sentence level, cliché can be relatable and point the writer in the direction of deeper truth. Finally, identifying generic language and abstraction can guide revision. This session will draw from popular novels and explore how literary writers use character and voice to successfully subvert trope and cliché to create meaning.
