Current Workshops & Classes

Every person has at least one story within them. But then they face the page and freeze. Their memory fails them. They get fearful they will offend family members. Suddenly, the house has never been cleaner. In this class, students will participate in a comfortable and supportive environment where they can learn about the general forms of memoir writing and try their hand at crafting their stories. Each week, students will learn about a different style of nonfiction writing and how it can enhance their content, read nonfiction example texts, and work toward the creation of their own portfolio of work. A few memoir examples will be discussed on the first day of class, which will be emailed to the students a week before the first session. Opportunity for feedback. Level: Beginner. No experience required. Limited to 10 writers.

ANITA GILL is a writer, editor, and recent Fulbright fellow in Spain. Her essays, memoir, and satire have appeared in The Iowa Review, The Rumpus, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Prairie Schooner, The Offing, The Baltimore Sun, and elsewhere. Her writing has been listed as Notable in Best American Essays and has won the Iowa Review Award in Nonfiction. She currently serves as the Nonfiction Editor for Hypertext Magazine.

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Tarot for Your Character

2 Hours: Saturday, August 27 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45

Crafting fully-realized characters is no small feat! It’s about far more than what our characters might carry in their backpacks, what they eat for breakfast, or what they desire in life. Our characters arrive in our stories carrying baggage — past traumas, parental programming, social conditioning, victories large and small, and relationships that shaped who they’ve become. Rather than trying to manufacture all of that complexity ourselves, we can turn to the mystical, storytelling art of Tarot to dive deeper into what makes our characters tick, what motivates them, and how they stand in their own way. This workshop is helpful for any writer working in a story format — short story, novel, memoir, script, or comic. Knowledge or familiarity with Tarot is not required or needed. (Read Full Description!) Limited to 12 writers.

CECILY SAILER is a creative coach and founder of Typewriter Tarot, which offers guidance and inspiration for Creative Spirits. Her writing and reporting on books, Texas history, and social care have appeared in Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly, Austin Fit Magazine, The Texas Observer, and Resolve Magazine. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Houston.

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Narrative Eyeballs: Point of View in Fiction

4 Weeks: Tuesdays, September 6 - 27 (6 - 8pm EST) • $250

Point of view is perhaps one of the most taken-for-granted elements of fiction. Like a movie’s background music, audiences don’t always consciously notice it. Yet it informs character creation, characters’ relationships to each other and their worlds, and even entire plots. Through discussions and reflections, in-class and at-home exercises, and short readings, we’ll dive into the below-the-surface hows, whys, and whats of point of view. This will include learning different terms and approaches associated with point of view, its relationship to character building and voice, how plots are related to narrative intimacy or distance, and point of view’s surprising psychological components. (Read full description before registering!) For beginner and advanced beginner writers, though may be a helpful refresher for intermediate writers.

CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse and A Child Is Being Killed. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is an English professor and volunteer death doula.

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Intro to Playwriting

6 Weeks: Wednesdays, September 7 - October 12 (6 - 8pm EST)

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Are you interested in learning more about playwriting? Maybe you've started a play for the stage, and now you're in need of a supportive community to keep the fire going. Perhaps you're just curious to explore a new theatrical genre. In this course, you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the art of playwriting. With craft-based writing exercises, group discussions, close readings of plays by contemporary playwrights such as Charly Evon Simpson, Kristoffer Díaz, Kimberly Bellflower, Qui Nguyen, and Julia Izumi, you'll be guided to developing a stronger hand at world building, character development, plot, dialogue, and the magic that is theatre. (Read full description before registering!) Level: Beginner. Limited to 10 writers.

KIRA ROCKWELL is a playwright and 2021 Fellow in Dramatic Writing with Mass Cultural Council, a recipient of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, a Runner-up for the Princess Grace Award, among others. Her plays have been supported by The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, among others. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University.

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Jumpstart Your Memoir

2 Hours: Saturday, September 10 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45

A memoir is, in essence, a ‘slice of life.’ Our lives can seem like large, myopic odysseys that can be difficult to navigate when writing a memoir. What’s my story? What to include? What to leave out? Where to start? Where to end? This 2-hour session is a place to explore those questions. The class will begin with a short craft lecture on the basic components of a memoir. We will do a number of writing exercises throughout and end the day with some ideas to help you develop your memoir going forward. The workshop is open to those who have a story in hand as well as those who are relatively new to the page. All levels, but may be of particular interest to beginners.

CELIA JEFFRIES is the author of the award-winning novel Blue Desert, and her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solstice, and Puerto del Sol. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Turkey Land Cove Foundation, and La Muse. She holds an MA from Brandeis and an MFA from Lesley University. She is currently at work on a memoir.

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Generative and Community-Building Poetry Workshop

8 Weeks: Mondays, September 12 - October 31 (6 - 8pm EST) • $300

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This group is for both beginner and established poets who are craving a space to just be…poets! Each week, we'll generate new poems in class, guided by versatile prompts. Rather than intensive craft study, formal workshopping, and revision, we'll engage with encouraging on-the-spot feedback on brand new pieces. If you are a poet looking for guided writing time, gentle accountability from an experienced instructor and fellow like-minded poets, support around writing/life balance, and the opportunity for community, this group is for you! By the end of the course, you’ll have garnered a sense of peer support, set intentions for your writing life, and written at least seven new drafts of poems for you to take with you. Limited to 10 writers.

CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse and A Child Is Being Killed. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is an English professor and volunteer death doula.

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Tarot for Worldbuilding

2 Hours: Saturday, September 17 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45

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The worlds of our stories give our characters a place to explore, become, struggle, and evolve. In this class, we'll use Tarot to explore and examine different elements of our story's setting, including historical backdrops, energetic influences, and elements of social structure and environment. You'll uncover exciting and rich elements of your story's world that provide more opportunity for story development, conflict, and resolution. This workshop is helpful for any writer working in a story format — story, novel, memoir, or script. Knowledge or familiarity with Tarot is not required or needed. You’ll begin to see how Tarot can be helpful in the writing process, and how you can use the cards to unearth deeper layers. All genres and levels.

CECILY SAILER is a creative coach, writer, and founder of Typewriter Tarot, which offers guidance and inspiration for Creative Spirits. Her writing and reporting on books, Texas history, and social care have appeared in Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly, Austin Fit Magazine, The Texas Observer, and Resolve Magazine. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Houston.

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Beginning Your Novel: Jumpstart Your First Draft

6 Weeks: Saturdays, September 24 - October 29 (4 - 6pm EST) • $325

Have an idea for or just getting started on a novel? Join us for an inspiring six weeks of planning, brainstorming, and drafting parts of the first draft of your novel. This class is for writers of all levels -- if you're just getting started with your first novel or laying the groundwork for your fifth, this is for you! This course offers lectures, handouts, and reading materials that break down crucial craft elements in the novel form; group brainstorming discussions, prompts and writing exercises that will help participants figure out what kind of story their novel wants to be; opportunities for casual sharing of work and verbal feedback from the instructor and the group; and focused attention on construction of the first chapter. All levels. Limited to 10 writers.

KATE SENECAL is the Director of PVWW's Year-Long Manuscript Program. She has received an honorable mention in Glimmer Train’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest and was the winner of Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose’s 2021 Award in Fiction (where her story is forthcoming). Kate’s fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, Storychord.com, and The Waterwheel Review. She holds an MFA from VCFA.

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Writing Monologues

3 Hours: Saturday, October 1 (1 - 4pm EST) • $60

Cue the coach giving her inspiring speech. A lover finally shares his heart. The hero defeats their enemy and relishes in lessons learned. Whatever the pivotal moment, when a character gives a monologue, it carries power. It's important for this dialogue to not simply take up space, but for it to serve a specific purpose. In this seminar, you'll have the opportunity to learn the ingredients of a monologue, as well as try out a few tips and tricks to write strong monologues for your characters. Includes playwriting writing exercises, close readings of plays by contemporaries such as Lauren Gunderson, Terrell Alvin McCranney, Jocelyn Bioh, and Mike Lew. Taught from a playwriting perspective, but for writers of all genres. Level: All. Limited to 12 writers.

KIRA ROCKWELL is a playwright and 2021 Fellow in Dramatic Writing with Mass Cultural Council, a recipient of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, a Runner-up for the Princess Grace Award, among others. Her plays have been supported by The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, among others. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University.

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The Only Fact We Have: Writing About Death

4 Weeks: Tuesdays, October 4 - 25 (6 - 8pm EST) • $250

***IMPORTANT NOTE: Though the topic of grief will naturally arise, this is not a grief support group and is not run by a therapist/grief counselor. If you are experiencing acute grief or trauma, or might otherwise be in need of intensive psychological support around death, you are advised to consider whether a clinical support group is more appropriate at this time.

James Baldwin wrote, "Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, the only fact we have." But how in the world to address this one fact, death? In this class, we'll do so through creative writing, with the guidance of a trained death doula. Prompts will be adaptable to poetry, hybrid, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, allowing students to explore types of writing which speak to them. Rather than engaging with intensive academic study and workshopping, the invitation is to gently contemplate and get curious about death; we'll aim to foster the vulnerability and bravery it takes to do this, and likely we'll find humor, too. Thus, this course is focused on anyone with this goal, and is not connected to one's level of writing experience. Themes will include death of self and other, death and oppression, and hope and renewal. We'll read poetry, hybrid, short fiction, and short essays from writers including Walt Whitman, Thich Nhat Hanh, Claudia Rankine, Lydia Davis, Jericho Brown, Kenneth Patchen, Ursula LeGuin, and Rumi. Each week in class, we'll generate writing with prompts, and there will be opportunities to informally, and optionally, share our work. For writers of all levels & genres. Limited to 10 writers.

CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse and A Child Is Being Killed. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is an English professor and volunteer death doula.

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Experimenting with Style

4 Weeks: Thursdays, October 6 - 27 (6 - 8pm EST) • $250

So you have a story that needs to be told. But how are you going to tell it? As writers, words are our building materials. The way we put them together — the length of our sentences, the sound of the words we choose, the size of our paragraphs — is what we call style. And a unique style can make a story stand out from the pack. In this generative workshop, we’ll focus in on a different aspect of style each week –– like sound and rhythm, structural constraint, mindful minimalism and maximalism, and formal vs. informal tone. We’ll read a wide range of writers with varying aesthetics (including authors like Lydia Davis, Jamaica Kincaid, Cristina Rivera Garza, and Lily Hoang) to inspire and inform our work. (Read Full Description!)

CAROLINE BELLE STEWART's stories can be found in Gulf Coast, Denver Quarterly, Fairy Tale Review, Black Warrior Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbook "Husbandly Things" (Factory Hollow) and co-creator of “Mast Year: A Mystical Field Guide" (Mount Analogue). A recipient of fellowships from Monson Arts and MacDowell, she lives in Western Massachusetts.

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Revision: Cracking the Shell of Your Manuscript

2 Hours: Saturday, October 8 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45

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Cynthia Occelli says “for a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” In this two-hour workshop you may tap on the shell of your work, or you may crack it wide open. Either way, you can expect to shake things up enough to see your work in a new light. We will write in response to a few prompts and you will leave with exercises to help your manuscript grow. For writers of all levels and genres. Limited to 12 writers.

CELIA JEFFRIES is the author of the award-winning novel Blue Desert, and her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solstice, and Puerto del Sol. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Turkey Land Cove Foundation, and La Muse. She holds an MA from Brandeis and an MFA from Lesley University. She is currently at work on a memoir.

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Braided Essays: How to Weave Complex Truths

Weekend Immersion: Saturdays & Sunday, October 15 & 16 (3 - 6pm EST) • $125

This two-part workshop is about defying the single story and embracing multiplicity as a way to render complicated, powerful narratives. In the first class, we’ll study braided essays by Lidia Yuknavitch and other authors who model how we can weave various narratives and capture complex truths. You’ll leave with an assignment for the week. In the second class, we’ll share excerpts from our braided essays aloud, drawing ideas and on the spot insights from Arya and other participants. You can expect to walk away inspired by the power of braided narratives, the beginnings of a new essay, and ideas for how to continue the weaving beyond our class. All levels. Limited to 10 writers. Generative.

ARYA SAMUELSON is the winner of the CutBank’s 2019 Montana Prize in Non-Fiction, awarded by Cheryl Strayed. Her work has been published in Columbia Journal, New Delta Review, Entropy, and The Millions. She teaches with LitReactor, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and through her own teaching series, Writing as Ritual. Arya writes across all genres and is currently working on a novel. She holds an MFA from Mills College.

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Revision for Playwrights

6 Weeks: Mondays, October 17 - November 21 (6 - 8pm EST) • $325

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This class is geared towards intermediate playwrights with an early draft in progress who want to complete, then extensively workshop and revise their work. The course will begin with craft-based writing exercises geared towards learning a multitude of revision styles. Close readings of essays by the likes of Sarah Rhul and Matthew Salles, contemporary plays by Lynn Nottage, John Logan, Dipak Guha, and Quiara Algre Hudes. Then, we'll transition into workshopping student pages and one-on-one meetings with the instructor. The course will culminate with an in-class submission binge! Level: Intermediate/Advanced. Limited to 10 writers.

KIRA ROCKWELL is a playwright and 2021 Fellow in Dramatic Writing with Mass Cultural Council, a recipient of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, a Runner-up for the Princess Grace Award, among others. Her plays have been supported by The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, among others. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University.

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First Paragraph Workshop, for Prose Writers

3 Hours: Saturday, October 22 (1 - 4pm EST) • $60

Curious about whether your first paragraph will get readers wanting more? Does it do the job it's meant to, and will it compel readers onward? This workshop provides rigorous, on-the-spot feedback on writers' first paragraphs, in a supportive, constructive small group. We'll spend the first hour looking at examples of masterful opening paragraphs, with an eye toward what authors like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jeff Vandermeer, Raven Leilani, Paul Bowles, Mary Gaitskill, and others are doing to both hook the reader while setting up conflict, character, and situation clearly. In the second hour, we'll turn to workshopping first paragraphs from the writers in the group, with an ultimate goal of helping each writer create as solid a first page as possible. In the final hour, writers will be led through a series of revision exercises to rewrite, tighten, and hone their opening paragraphs and sentence-level writing in general. Prose writers of all levels. Limited to 12 writers.

JOY BAGLIO, a writer, educator, and editor (former associate editor at West Branch), founded Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop in 2016. Her short fiction has appeared widely, in such journals as Tin House, American Short Fiction, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. She's the recipient fellowships, scholarships, and grants from Yaddo, The Elizabeth George Foundation, Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences, and Vermont Studio Center, among others.

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Make Me Laugh: Adding Humor in Your Writing

2 Hours: Sunday, October 23 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45

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Do you have a keen sense of humor? Have you had friends tell you your stories are so funny that you should write a book? In this one-day workshop, students will look into the ins and outs of writing humor, from pithy online satire to witty memoirs. Through reading some excerpts, students will examine the intricate craft elements (content, voice, sentence structure) writers utilize in order to make their stories hilarious. The workshop will devote some time to in-class writing followed by volunteered sharing. Finally, we will discuss how we can infuse humor into our current writing projects. For writers at any level and writing in any genre. Limited to 12 writers.

ANITA GILL is a writer, editor, and recent Fulbright fellow in Spain. Her essays, memoir, and satire have appeared in The Iowa Review, The Rumpus, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Prairie Schooner, The Offing, The Baltimore Sun, and elsewhere. Her writing has been listed as Notable in Best American Essays and has won the Iowa Review Award in Nonfiction. She currently serves as the Nonfiction Editor for Hypertext Magazine.

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Intermediate/Advanced Fiction

8 Weeks: Tuesdays, November 1 - December 20 (6 - 8pm EST) • $400

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This course is designed to give experienced fiction writers - both novelists and short story writers - the opportunity to give and receive feedback on work in progress. Writers will receive written comments from the group and instructor before their work is discussed in class, and instead of remaining silent, writers will be an active participant in the conversation about their work, with a focus on concrete revision options. We'll look at craft essays, occasional writing prompts and relevant published short stories or novel excerpts that will inform our weekly discussions. For intermediate or advanced writers with prior workshop experience. Admission by application, or permission of the instructor. Limited to 8 writers.

CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse and A Child Is Being Killed. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is an English professor and volunteer death doula.

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Writing Toward Wildness:

A Non-Linear Approach to Writing Memoir

8 Weeks: Tuesdays, November 1 - December 20 (6 - 8pm EST) • $300

Do you have an idea for a book project, but feel lost about where & how to begin? Is there a story you’ve always dreamt of telling, and now you’re seeking structure, accountability, and community support? This new year, it's time to take the plunge! Rather than starting with an outline or at the “beginning” of a story, this generative and community-building class will be about writing into the wildness of a new project in a non-linear way, allowing the story to reveal its true colors over time. Come in with the seed of an idea, and each week, we’ll write in response to a different “portal” – a launching off-point for you to explore within the world of your book. All levels. Limited to 10 writers.

ARYA SAMUELSON is the winner of the CutBank’s 2019 Montana Prize in Non-Fiction, awarded by Cheryl Strayed. Her work has been published in Columbia Journal, New Delta Review, Entropy, and The Millions. She teaches with LitReactor, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and through her own teaching series, Writing as Ritual. Arya writes across all genres and is currently working on a novel. She holds an MFA from Mills College.

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Revision Intensive for Prose Writers

6 Weeks: Wednesdays, November 2 - December 14* (6 - 8pm EST) • $325

The revision process for writers is often billed as a way to "find mistakes and fix them," but in this 8 week course we'll reframe revision as a process of inquiry, a mechanism for prose writers to get at the heart of their creative intent, and a urge their work to grow into its best and truest self. During each meeting, writers will learn and practice revision exercises that are geared toward seeing their work with new eyes and supporting them in addressing big-picture issues such as structure, plot, characterization, and point of view choices along with sentence level and micro-organizational issues. For prose writers of any genre who have an early draft of a project. Limited to 10 writers.
* No class on 11/23

KATE SENECAL is the Director of PVWW's Year-Long Manuscript Program. She has received an honorable mention in Glimmer Train’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest and was the winner of Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose’s 2021 Award in Fiction (where her story is forthcoming). Kate’s fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, Storychord.com, and The Waterwheel Review. She holds an MFA from VCFA.

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Writing Short / Flash Fiction

2 Hours: Saturday, November 5 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45

Short can be deep. Quick can cut to the quick. Short stories can shatter your heart. In this workshop, we’ll break down examples of short prose that packs a punch, investigate what makes them powerful, and apply those elements to our own craft. We’ll do generative writing exercises with the aim of leaving the workshop with a completed flash piece and share our prose (not required). Writers will leave with a complete flash piece they've written in class. All levels. Limited to 12 writers.

LARA EHRLICH is the author of Animal Wife, which won Red Hen Press’s Fiction Award, judged by Ann Hood, and was published by the press in Sept 2020. She is also the host of Writer Mother Monster, a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of “having it all” and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Lara is the director of marketing for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas based in Connecticut, where she lives with her husband and six-year-old daughter.

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Memory & Desire: The Poetry of Midlife

4 Weeks: Saturdays, November 5 - 26 (10am - 12pm EST) • $250

''I think midlife is when the universe gently places her hands upon your shoulders, pulls you close, and whispers in your ear: I’m not screwing around. It’s time.” ~ Brené Brown

A challenge that many writers face is how to choose artful details when writing about memory or strong emotional content. Some of us may shy away from expressing deep loss or anger, or we may produce work that’s overly sentimental. What devices can a poet use to make deeply personal material most effective? This workshop is for poets in midlife who want to take their work to a deeper level by paying close attention to matters of craft. For inspiration we will read poems that elevate personal experience by paying close attention to craft. We will focus on imagery, sound, voice, line breaks, beginnings and endings. Writers will receive feedback on their works in progress. For midlife poets of all levels. Limited to 10 writers.

GAIL THOMAS is the author of five books of poetry: Odd Mercy, Waving Back, No Simple Wilderness, and Finding the Bear. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Calyx, The North American Review, among others, and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Thomas, a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and Ucross, is a working poet retired from Smith College.

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Windows, Peepholes, Portals: An Intro to Flash Fiction

6 Weeks: Mondays, November 7 - December 12 (6 - 8pm EST) • $325

Flash fiction is a very short story—perhaps a couple of pages, perhaps one sentence! Together, we’ll explore how flash offers readers strange and poignant little windows, peepholes, and portals into worlds, lives, themes, and scenes. We’ll play with the art of creating such glimpses, with their high level of attention to the beauty and dynamism of words and story-containers; we’ll also see flash’s poetic and experimental sides. We’ll discuss examples from writers like Lydia Davis, SB Divya, Sejal Shah, Jamaica Kincaid, and more. This course is perfect for beginner and intermediate fiction storytellers who crave an introduction to this multifaceted form. Writers will leave with up to five flash drafts and the basic tools to continue exploring. Limited to 10 writers.

CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse and A Child Is Being Killed. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is an English professor and volunteer death doula.

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Writing Mythical Transformation in Fairy Tales & Fiction

2 Hours: Saturday, November 19 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45

The Little Mermaid sacrifices her tail for a human soul. Gregor Samsa, feeling insignificant, becomes a cockroach. The nymph Daphne turns into a tree to escape lovesick Apollo. Throughout literature, characters transform because they are hungry. They transform because they’re restless, because they’re seeking liberation from domesticity, obscurity, prescribed roles, their own bodies. They transform for fun. As writers, we use transformation to illuminate the raw places inside our protagonists and their worlds. In this one-day class, we’ll explore these ideas through craft talk, discussion of sample texts, and in-class writing. All levels. Limited to 12 writers.

LARA EHRLICH is the author of Animal Wife, which won Red Hen Press’s Fiction Award, judged by Ann Hood, and was published by the press in Sept 2020. She is also the host of Writer Mother Monster, a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of “having it all” and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Lara is the director of marketing for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas based in Connecticut, where she lives with her husband and six-year-old daughter.

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Story Sketching: Outlining Your Book in Three Acts

3 Hours: Saturday, December 3 (1 - 4pm EST) • $60