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Writer Isaac Fitzgerald Visits Teen Students

Brooklyn-based writer Isaac Fitzgerald returned for a second year to speak to the Muse teen students about his writing career and his memoir, a collection of essays titled Dirtbag, Massachusetts.   

“Any fool can confess,” Marlon James said of the book, out in July. “It’s the rare writer who reveals, and Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a heart on the sleeve, demons in check, eyes unblinking, unbearably sad, laugh-out-loud funny revelation.”  

Fitzgerald spoke to the students about his varied life experiences as a writer, including his creative process and how much his teachers meant to his development. He also stressed the importance of writers finding community.  

Luckily, our teen writers have that at The Muse! 

Fitzgerald regularly appears on the Today Show to discuss books. His work has appeared in a long list of publications, including the New York Times and The Guardian. Prior to his arrival, the class read and analyzed his incredible essay about growing up as a teen in rural Massachusetts, titled “The True Story of My Teenage Dirtbag Fight Club.” 

We leave you with an excerpt from it: “We were the right age, the right amount of troubled, and most of all the right amount of stupid for this movie. Just when we were ready for Fight Club, we got it.”