Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop
  • About Us
    • What People Are Saying
    • Our Team
    • Policies
    • Contact
  • Creative Writing Classes
    • Current Workshops & Classes
    • 10-Month Manuscript Program
  • Events
    • Readings & Events (Virtual)
    • Community Writing
  • Editing & Consulting
  • Store

Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop

A Literary Arts Center for Writers 

 Workshops & Classes • Editing & Coaching • Creative Community • Literary Events
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"The ability to craft a compelling story

is one of the most powerful tools we 

possess as humans."

- Joy Baglio, Fiction Writer & Founder/Director of PVWW

ALL OUR WORKSHOPS ARE ONLINE 

• One-Day Classes • Multi-Week Workshops • 10-Month Manuscript Program •

• Workshops in Fiction (Flash, Short Story, Novel), Nonfiction, Memoir, Poetry, Hybrid • 

• Classes in Creative Planning, Process, & Publishing • Author Readings • Community •

• Editing/Manuscript Consultation Services • Writing Coaching • Writing-Related Merch •

RECENT NEWS

• Our Winter 2023 workshop schedule is here! Browse our Creative Writing Classes page for one-day and multi-week writing workshops, in all genres! 

• Note to College / University Faculty: Some workshop participants have been able to use professional development money to (partially or fully) pay for classes. If you are interested in our workshops and teach at a college or university, you may want to investigate this possibility!

PVWW featured in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, about writers finding connection amid cancellations. Read article HERE.


• PVWW and Founder Joy Baglio Featured in Business West 
Browse All Upcoming Online workshops
Donate to support our free community writing & author readings
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In every newsletter:
Updates on upcoming classes, events, news,
craft tips, & highlights from our recent workshops!

2023 WINTER WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Browse our current schedule! All classes are small & virtual, via Zoom.

Browse current workshop schedule

UPCOMING MULTI-WEEK WORKSHOP

ONLINE 

Revising and Polishing Your Poems, with Gail Thomas

4 Weeks: Saturdays, April 8 - 29 (10am - 12pm EST) • $250

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For most poets revision can be daunting, and yet it is the most important step toward creating work that resonates with readers. If you aren’t receiving regular feedback, this workshop will provide tools for discovering what your poems need. We will explore issues of craft including beginnings and endings, tension, line breaks, form, and diction. Each session will focus on giving and receiving feedback on poems that you want to improve in an atmosphere of respect. Before each session, students will send one poem for feedback, will work on suggested revisions between sessions, and complete 3-4 poems. Revision exercises will be given each week to use for future work. This workshop is geared toward beginners and advanced beginners. Read full course description and course outline at the "Learn More" link! Limited to 10 writers.​​
GAIL THOMAS' books are Trail of Roots, Leaving Paradise, Odd Mercy, Waving Back, No Simple Wilderness, and Finding the Bear. Her poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies including CALYX, Beloit Poetry Journal, North American Review, and elsewhere. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and Ucross.​
Learn more / register

ABOUT US

We are a literary arts organization based in Northampton MA and online, though we're completely virtual for the foreseeable future. PVWW was founded in 2016 by writer Joy Baglio, and each season our team of thirty author-instructors offers around 25 - 30 one-day and multi-week writing workshops in fiction, memoir, nonfiction, poetry, hybrid/experimental forms, and publishing - for experienced and aspiring writers of all levels and backgrounds. We also run a 10-Month Manuscript Group Program for writers working on book-length projects, open for applications every year October - early January. All our workshops are limited to a small number of writers (8, 10, or 12, depending on the particular class) and are held live on Zoom (sometimes with an additional online classroom space) which allows discussion and participation from all participants. In addition to our classes and workshops, we host frequent virtual author readings, free twice-a-month generative Community Writing gatherings for writers of all levels and genres, as well as offer professional one-on-one manuscript consulting and editing services. Our focus is on a rigorous understanding of craft and technique, while also creating a supportive and fun environment for writers of all levels. 

OUR PHILOSOPHY

Writing is a life-long pursuit, and as writers we are constantly observing, constantly learning. There is no end to discovery in this journey.  We truly believe that the skills of the writer and storyteller do matter and can change peoples' lives and the world. Our goal is to create an inspiring literary community while helping writers of all levels and backgrounds hone their tools, improve their craft, and accomplish their goals as storytellers, writers, and authors.

We also know that writing is an art form that can be practiced, honed, and improved. Imagination can be nurtured, and exercised. We don't view craft as a rigid set of "rules" but as tools with multifaceted uses and purposes that we are always learning more about, no matter what level we may be at or how long we've been writing. We don't view craft and these "tools" of the writer as an end in themselves, but as a means to better express ourselves and tell our stories. To become more confident storytellers, poets, memoirists, essayists, etc. As Ursula K. Le Guin has said, "Skill in writing frees you to write what you want to write. It may also show you what you want to write. Craft enables art." We couldn't agree more!

OUR INSTRUCTORS & EDITORS

Our instructors, editors, consultants, and coaches are all professional, working writers with years of experience in the literary world, both locally and nationally. We each specialize in a range of genres and topics, from flash fiction, short stories, and novels to memoir, poetry, screenwriting, and experimental/hybrid writing. 
Joy Baglio, Founder, Director • Fiction
Kate Senecal, Assistant Director Fiction
Sarah Jane Cody, Director of Marketing Fiction
Simon Han / Fiction
Celia Jeffries Nonfiction & Memoir
Drew Johnson/ Fiction & Nonfiction
Carolyn Zaikowski, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Dennis James Sweeney / Hybrid, Poetry, Nonfiction
Ben Jackson / Fiction & Nonfiction
Áine Greaney Nonfiction
Anders Carlson-Wee Poetry
Sara Rauch / Fiction & Nonfiction
Gail Thomas / Poetry
Fungai Tichawangana • Book Marketing
Caroline Belle Stewart Fiction
Lara Ehrlich / Fiction
Kat Lewis • Fiction
Arya Samuelson • Memoir, Nonfiction
Ken Mondschein Academic Writing
Olivia Kate Cerrone • Fiction, The Novella
Liz Bedell • Fiction, Nonfiction, Young Writers
Anita Gill • Memoir
Candice Reffe • Poetry, Writing Process
Tommy Dean • Flash Fiction, Generative Writing
Jyotsna "Jo" Sreenivasan • Fiction
Dorian Fox • Memoir
S.K. Brownell • Fiction
Leonora Desar • Fiction, YA Fiction
Neil Grayson • Fiction
Kira Rockwell • Playwriting, Fiction
Meet our instructors!
Browse Editor/Consultant Profiles

OUR STUDENTS & COMMUNITY

Writers of all backgrounds, career levels, and walks of life attend our classes: Some have MFA's and published books, others are taking their first steps toward making writing a part of their lives. Writing is a life-long journey, and our community reflects this!
Gail Thomas leads a poetry workshop in PVWW's Williamsburg MA classroom.
Author/Illustrator Ruth Sanderson's Picture Book workshop group, showing final book dummies!
Author Carolyn Zaikowski with her Fiction Intensive Workshop group, last day of class!
Assistant Director Kate Senecal, with PVWW's first Year-Long Manuscript Group Cohort!
Instructor Carolyn Zaikowski leads a character development workshop online, via Zoom!

WE ARE COMPLETELY VIRTUAL* 

Before the pandemic, our classes were held in a physical classroom (in Western MA, where we are based) and while we do plan on having in-person classes and events at some point in the future, we are completely virtual right now and for the foreseeable future. No matter what the future brings, we will also plan to continue virtual workshops indefinitely.

*We have two in-person workshops this July that will be held at the Smith College Conference Center, in Northampton MA. Check out our Creative Writing Classes tab for more info!

OUR WRITING WORKSHOPS/CLASSES


​At Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop, we offer the following types of classes. 

Workshops listed below are from our current summer/fall 2022 schedule: 

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• The Lyric Essay (in person)
• Writing the Body (in person)
• Genre-Bending Fiction
• Full-Day Retreat (in person)
​• Who's Afraid of Freewriting?
• Tarot for Worldbuilding
• Tarot for Your Character
• Writing Monologues
• Jumpstart Your Memoir
• Writing Short/Flash Fiction
​• Story Sketching / Outlining

• Generative Writing Workshop
• Writing the Supernatural
• Generative Memoir
• Writing About Death
• Beginning Your Novel
• Generative Poetry
• Narrative Eyeballs: POV
• Braided Essays
• Intro to Playwriting
• Revision for Playwrights
​• Nonlinear Memoir

• The Novel (First Draft)
• The Novel (Revision)
• Memoir
• Creative Nonfiction
• Poetry / Hybrid
​• Short Story

Learn more about our 10-month manuscript program & open house HERE!

Learn More / Browse Our Current Workshop Schedule

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Find out what people are saying about our classes!

"Can't say enough about PVWW, Joy, and her amazing team of teachers! Writing is very much about the ability to sit in your seat for hours and put pen to paper, but coming to PVWW helps you build a community around your writing, breathe new life into your efforts, and get out of your own head a bit. And beyond that, I've learned lots of practical, nuts-and-bolts techniques that have vastly improved my work."
- Emily Everett, Managing Editor at The Common
"PVWW is the most effective writing platform/service/group I've tried in the local area. The variety offered when it comes to events is a great mix-up between workshops, free writing sessions, and one-day classes, which specifically focus on particular areas of writing/craft. Each time I go to one of these events, I feel not only reenergized, but capable of carrying out the various techniques and tools that are shared."
- Meg Granger, reader for The Masters Review 
Read all testimonials

RECENT CLASSES & EVENTS
​

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Our end-of-year Reading, Open House, & Manuscript Group Info Night (December, 2019)
Author and Fiction Manuscript Group participant Susanne Dunlap reading from her manuscript at our end-of-year Reading & Open House (December, 2019)
Writers mingling, at our end-of-year Reading & Open House in our Williamsburg MA classroom (December, 2019)
Assistant Director & Fiction Manuscript Group Instructor Kate Senecal, with PVWW's first-ever Year-Long Fiction Manuscript Group participants! Congratulations on a year of hard work! (December, 2019)
PVWW Instructors @ The Easthampton Book Fest (Spring 2018)
Creating Picture Books workshop, with acclaimed author/illustrator Ruth Sanderson (Spring 2019)
Creating Picture Books, with Ruth Sanderson (Spring, 2019)
Flash Fiction Workshop, with Joy Baglio (Spring 2018)
PVWW Founder/Director Joy Baglio and fiance Eric Fernandez at Business West's 40 Under 40 gala, honoring young community leaders (June 2019)
PVWW Founder/Director Joy Baglio receiving a 40 Under 40 award at Business West's gala (June 2019)
PVWW Founder/Director Joy Baglio & Instructor Sarah Jane Cody, after Sarah's all-day Suspense & Momentum workshop (May 2019)
Suspense & Momentum: Sustaining Narrative Interest - an all-day workshop with Sarah Jane Cody (Spring, 2019)
Radical Revision Poetry Workshop, with Adam Grabowski (Fall, 2017)
Halloween Reading at Mill 180 (Fall, 2017)
Publishing Your Poems, a one-day workshop with award-winning poet Gail Thomas (Spring, 2019)
PVWW Instructors Seth Harwood, Founder/Director Joy Baglio, Sara Rauch, and Adam Grabowski, after a reading at Hampden Gallery (Fall, 2018)
Open Community Writing (Fall 2017)
Revision Strategies for Short Fiction Writers, with Kate Senecal (Fall, 2017)
Author Panel on Process at Forbes Library (Fall, 2017)
Kate Senecal (PVWW Assistant Director) & Joy Baglio (PVWW Founder/Director) at The Easthampton Book Fest, 2018
Open Community Writing at Forbes Library (Fall, 2017)
8-Week Fiction Workshop, with Joy Baglio (Spring 2017)
Narrative Nonfiction & History Writing workshop, with Ken Mondschein, spring 2018
Author & New Ohio Review Editor David Wanczyk reading with PVWW @ Amherst Books (spring 2018)
8-Week Fiction Workshop, with Joy Baglio (Spring, 2017)
Just starting out! Joy Baglio at Easthampton Book Fest, just a few months after PVWW officially began! (Spring, 2017)
8-Week Fiction Workshop, with Joy Baglio (Spring 2017)

Explore

  • Meet Our Team
  • ​Writing Workshops & Classes
  • 10-Month Manuscript Program​
  • Editing/Manuscript Consulting
  • Readings At PVWW
  • ​Community Writing​
  • ​Craft Videos​
  • Apply for Financial Aid
  • Writing Blog​
  • Testimonials 
  • Refund & Credit Policies​
  • Donate 

What People Are Saying About PVWW

"Can't say enough about PVWW, Joy, and her amazing team of teachers! Writing is very much about the ability to sit in your seat for hours and put pen to paper, but coming to PVWW has helped me build a community around my writing, breathe new life into my efforts, and get out of my own head a bit. And beyond that, I've learned lots of practical, nuts-and-bolts techniques that have vastly improved my work."
- Emily Everett, Editor at The Common

Contact Us

Email: joy@pioneervalleywriters.org
Phone: 518-645-1113 
Location: Northampton, MA

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

  • About Us
    • What People Are Saying
    • Our Team
    • Policies
    • Contact
  • Creative Writing Classes
    • Current Workshops & Classes
    • 10-Month Manuscript Program
  • Events
    • Readings & Events (Virtual)
    • Community Writing
  • Editing & Consulting
  • Store