WRITING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
All classes & events are live & virtual, via Zoom!
"The ability to craft a compelling story is one of the most powerful tools we possess as humans."
- Joy Baglio, Founder/Director of Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop
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At PVWW, we offer the following types of classes:
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These classes run two or three hours and focus on particular writing-related craft, process, or practical topics. They often emphasize the development and honing of specific skills, through craft instruction, analysis of published work, discussion, and in-class writing exercises. One-day classes are an opportunity to dip a toe into writing instruction (if you're new to writing), get a burst of inspiration about a particular topic, and be part of a supportive writing group for an afternoon! Unless stated, they DO NOT entail outside reading or the opportunity to receive feedback on your work. Limited to 12 writers (in most cases).
View All One-Day Classes |
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These longer workshops meet weekly for the stated number of weeks and in most cases offer the opportunity to receive feedback on your work from the instructor and group (unless the course description emphasizes generative writing, revision, studying a particular book, or something else). Multi-week workshops usually include weekly deadlines, reading and/or writing assignments, and most do require at least a few hours of work per week, outside of class. They are always supportive and encouraging in nature and a great way to build a regular writing practice and cultivate your own writing community. Limited to 10 writers.
View All Multi-Week Workshops |
Learn More About the 10-Month Manuscript Program & View All 10-Month Workshops |
PVWW 10-Month Manuscript Program offers small, intensive, virtual workshops in all genres (novel, memoir, poetry/hybrid, & nonfiction) for writers working on a book-length projects. Workshop groups meet monthly over the course of ten months (March - December) and offer other ways of support and connection in between meetings, including a virtual classroom space and monthly Accountability Buddies. The program offers rigorous, MFA-level craft instruction, and seeks to create a tight-knit community of support for writers as they work to complete their manuscripts. Annual program open house in November. Applications are open each year October - December.
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2023 SUMMER / FALL SCHEDULE
All Classes & Workshops Are Small-Group, Virtual, & Live via Zoom!
IMPORTANT NOTE: The workshop descriptions below are abbreviated to fit on this page. Before registering, please make sure to read the full workshop descriptions, including weekly breakdowns (for multi-week workshops), by clicking the "Full Description" links. Instructor bios and general registration policies are also listed there.
Receiving the Zoom link for each workshop: A welcome email and Zoom link will be emailed to all who register closer to the date of the workshop (1 - 3 days before one-day classes and 3 - 5 days before multi-week workshops). If you do not see a an email from joy@pioneervalleywriters.org a couple days before your workshop, make sure to check all email folders (promotions, spam, trash, etc.) before getting in touch as sometimes our emails end up there. Please note: Our system does *not* send a confirmation email after registering, so please mark your calendar beforehand!
Did you recently attend a one-day or multi-week workshop? We'd love to hear about your experience! If you have a minute, we always appreciate feedback via our Workshop Feedback Form or our Editing & Manuscript Consulting Form - we take all feedback into account and it's incredibly helpful to learn both what you enjoyed and anything you didn't. If you've enjoyed your experience, we're also endlessly grateful for all Facebook reviews and Google Reviews, which help other writers find us! Thank you in advance!
If you teach at a university, college, or school: You may be able to use professional development credits to pay for writing workshops. We have had a number of people do this before. If interested in this, first check with your institution, as it would depend on them.
ONLINE - FULL
Poetry Group, with Anders Carlson-Wee
Fall Session (8 Weeks): Sundays, Oct. 1 - Dec. 10* (6 - 8pm EST) • $350
*No class on 11/12, 11/19, & 11/26
NEW! This is an ongoing group that meets weekly for eight weeks, followed by a four-week break, before continuing on for another eight week session, and so forth. Registration in this group is according to an ongoing membership subscription plan: once you register, your place is held in the group and in all future sessions until / unless you withdraw. Please note that payment ($350) is for ONE 8-week session, and if you remain in the group you will be billed before each new session.
Poetry Group meets on Sundays, from 6 - 8pm EST. (See schedule at "Learn More" link!)
Poetry Group meets on Sundays, from 6 - 8pm EST. (See schedule at "Learn More" link!)
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This group is for poets of all levels, at any stage of the process who want to be part of a supportive, weekly ONGOING writing group, whether you’re generating new poems or at work on your fourth collection! Meetings are structured so as to be casual and manageable with busy lifestyles, and as such there will be no readings or assignments outside of group meetings, and the commitment to your own writing. Each meeting will include a mix of text-study and discussion of masterful poems; discussion and breakdown of different craft topics; prompts and generative in-class writing time; and an opportunity to share your work (and/or goals) aloud with the group for on-the-spot feedback and/or brainstorming (always optional).
The week-by-week agenda (including topics of discussion and poems the group will discuss) will evolve and change in response to the interests and goals of the writers in the group, as led by Anders. Above all, the Poetry Group is a space of community-building, creative support, and craft / process development for writers who aim to make time for their work and want to connect with other writers in a supportive, stimulating environment. Limited to 10 writers. |
ANDERS CARLSON-WEE is the author of Disease of Kings (W.W. Norton, 2023), The Low Passions (W.W. Norton, 2019), a New York Public Library Book Group Selection, and Dynamite (Bull City Press, 2015), winner of the Frost Place Chapbook Prize. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, BuzzFeed, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many other publications. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, he is the winner of the Poetry International Prize. His work has been translated into Chinese. Anders holds an MFA from Vanderbilt University and is represented by Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents. Find him at www.anderscarlsonwee.com
ONLINE - 2 spots left!
Generative Short Fiction Intensive
8 Weeks: Mondays, October 2 - November 20 (6 - 8pm EST) • $400
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Have you vowed you'll write more? That you'll reclaim your writer’s life? This fun, supportive deep-dive into short fiction is for you! In this generative workshop, you’ll create up to seven short fiction drafts using prompts on storytelling elements like plot, voice, structure, character, setting, and point of view. To represent each element and deepen our understanding, each week you’ll be guided by reading and discussing a story from the masters, including Manuel Gonzalez, Alice Munro, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and more. You will have the opportunity to submit at least two drafts to receive workshop feedback from the teacher and class. Though this is a generation-focused course, we’ll also touch on introductory revision strategies. Past participants have estimated that the at-home reading/writing takes 2-5 hours per week. Read full course description and course outline at the "Learn More" link!
CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novel In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016). Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Everyday Feminism, DIAGRAM, West Branch, Dusie, Huffington Post, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University and currently works in Western Massachusetts as an English professor and death doula. |
ONLINE
Intro to Playwriting: One-Day
2 Hours: Sunday, October 8 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45
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This workshop is a one-day introduction to the craft of playwriting. During this generative workshop, you will have the opportunity to experiment with dialogue, setting, theatricality, and writing specifically for actors. The instructor will lead a discussion about a short excerpt from a published play, as well as share a light craft discussion to give you a preview of the elements for the stage that would be explored in a future playwriting multi-week class. There will be no workshop portion or on-the-spot feedback, due to this class being an introduction to the form. If you've ever thought you'd like to try your hand at playwriting, or you'd like to pick up where you left off, or you'd like to work on creating scenes and dialogue, then this one-day workshop is for you. All levels are welcome, even if you've never written a play before. Limited to 12 writers.
KIRA ROCKWELL is a neurodiverse playwright and educator. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a Recipient of Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, an Elliot Norton Nominee, and more. Her work has been developed with The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Great Plains Theatre Commons, among others. |
ONLINE - 1 spot left!
Intermediate / Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop
8 Weeks: Tuesdays, October 10 - November 28 (6 - 8pm EST) • $400
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This course is designed to give creative nonfiction writers, both those writing short essays and full manuscripts, the opportunity to give and receive feedback on work in progress. Writers may be working in any creative nonfiction genre, including but not limited to personal essay, memoir, travel writing, science and nature writing, political commentary, philosophical or contemplative essays, literary journalism, lyric essay, and hybrid or experimental work. The course offers a model for workshopping in which participants will receive written comments from the group and instructor via Google Docs during the week, before their work is discussed in class. Read full course description and course outline at the "Learn More" link! For intermediate and advanced writers with a serious commitment to taking their work to the next level. Limited to 8 writers.
CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novel In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016). Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Everyday Feminism, DIAGRAM, West Branch, Dusie, Huffington Post, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University and currently works in Western Massachusetts as an English professor and death doula. |
ONLINE
Funding Your Writing Getaway and More:
Residencies and Merit Fellowships
2 Hours: Saturday, October 21 (1 - 3pm EST) • $45
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Have you considered applying for a writing residency or funding for your writing but don’t know how to begin? Have you thought about giving up applying because you keep getting rejected? Or maybe you’ve asked yourself, “Why go away to write when I can do it at home?” This session is for writers of all levels who are curious about residencies and who seek money for writing expenses (or living expenses, or truly whatever!). Through lecture, a shared handout, a personal statement writing exercise, and Q&A, we’ll cover types of residencies that are available, how to search for both residencies and fellowships, creating a winning application, and why you might consider leaving that cozy home office. Limited to 15 writers.
KIM COLEMAN FOOTE is the author of the novel, Coleman Hill (SJP Lit/Zando, September 2023). She has received writing fellowships and residencies from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Phillips Exeter Academy, Center for Fiction, Yaddo, MacDowell, Hedgebrook, and elsewhere. She also received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research for a novel in Ghana. Her fiction appears most recently in The Best American Short Stories 2022. |
ONLINE - 2 spots left!
Down the Rabbit Hole:
Writing Strange and Innovative Fiction
4 Weeks: Wednesdays, November 1 - 29* (6 - 8pm EST) • $250
*No class on 11/22
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In this class, we’ll challenge the idea of what makes a story. We’ll start by reinventing the wheel of inspiration and steal from what we know. During the first two weeks, we’ll pluck characters that already exist—from movies, pop culture, history—to use as springboards for our own inventions. Then, we’ll learn how to use magic. We’ll look at speculative pieces and examine how they plunge us into a different reality. We'll examine the voice and tone that give them their authority. Finally, we’ll experiment with form. From lists to Wikipedia page entries, we’ll learn how to subvert the norms of what a story is supposed to be. This class is designed for beginners or more seasoned writers looking to break through writer’s block. Read full course description and course outline at the "Learn More" link! Limited to 10 writers.
LEONORA DESAR's fiction has appeared in places such as River Styx, Passages North, The Cincinnati Review, Black Warrior Review, and Columbia Journal, where she was chosen as a finalist by Ottessa Moshfegh. She has been selected for The Best Small Fictions 2019 and 2021, Best Microfiction 2019, 2020, 2021, and the Wigleaf Top 50 (2019, 2020, 2021). She holds an MFA in fiction from NYU, where she taught creative writing. |
ONLINE - NEW! ONGOING WRITING GROUP
Prose Writing Group, with Melenie Freedom Flynn
Fall Session (8 Weeks): Thursdays, Nov. 2 - Dec. 28* (6 - 8pm EST) • $350
*No class on 11/23
NEW! This is an ongoing group that meets weekly for eight weeks, followed by a four-week break, before continuing on for another eight week session, and so forth. Registration in this group is according to an ongoing membership subscription plan: once you register, your place is held in the group and in all future sessions until / unless you withdraw. Please note that payment ($350) is for ONE 8-week session, and if you remain in the group you will be billed before each new session.
The Prose Writing Group meets on Thursdays, from 6 - 8pm EST. (See schedule at "Learn More" link!)
The Prose Writing Group meets on Thursdays, from 6 - 8pm EST. (See schedule at "Learn More" link!)
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This group is for prose writers at any stage who want to be part of a supportive, weekly ongoing writing group, whether you’re just starting out or publishing frequently, and whether you’re writing short stories, memoirs, or any kind of prose-based storytelling! Meetings are structured so as to be casual and manageable with busy lifestyles, and as such there will be no readings or assignments outside of group meetings, and of course the commitment to your own writing. Each meeting may include a mix of looking at masterful excerpts (or complete short pieces) together in class and discussing how they work; discussion and breakdown of different craft topics; prompts and generative in-class writing; and an opportunity to share our work (and goals) aloud with the group for on-the-spot feedback/or brainstorming (always optional). The week-by-week agenda (including topics of discussion and texts the group will discuss) will evolve and change in response to the interests and goals of the writers in the group, as led by the instructor. Above all, this group is a space of community-building, creative support, writing time, and craft/process development for writers who aim to make time for their work and to connect with other writers.
MELENIE FREEDOM FLYNN’s memoir-in-progress is currently being supported by grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation and Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, Djerassi Artist-in-Residence Fellowship, Atlantic Center for the Arts Residency, and scholarships to the Community of Writers Workshop. Her essay “Message from Your Inmate” won the annual nonfiction contest at Vela Magazine and her recent work can be seen in Provincetown Arts Magazine and the Straw Dog Pandemic Poetry and Prose Journal. A graduate of the MFA Acting Program at California Institute of the Arts, Melenie has performed in theatres across the country including the New York Theatre Workshop, the Kitchen (NY), Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre (MA), and Majestic Theatre (MA). Visit her online at meleniefreedomflynn.com. |
ONLINE
Intro to Playwriting: Multi-Week
6 Weeks: Wednesdays, November 8 - December 20* (6 - 8pm EST) • $350
*No class on 11/22
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Do you have a great idea for the theatrical stage? Curious to try your hand at playwriting? Maybe you need refresher in the company of a supportive community. Over the course of six weeks, you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the art of playwriting. With craft-based lessons, writing exercises, generative writing, group discussions, and breakout rooms to get to know your fellow writers better. There will be weekly out-of-class reading assignments of plays by a collection of diverse (both in identity and style) contemporary playwrights such as Charly Evon Simpson, Kristoffer Díaz, and Qui Nguyen. In this class, we'll practice developing our world building, characters, plot, dialogue, and all the magic that is theatre. By week three, you will have the opportunity to hear your work read aloud by your peers, receive both on-the-spot feedback as well as extensive feedback from your instructor. Read full course description and course outline at the "Learn More" link! Limited to 8 writers.
KIRA ROCKWELL is a neurodiverse playwright and educator. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a Recipient of Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, an Elliot Norton Nominee, and more. Her work has been developed with The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Great Plains Theatre Commons, among others. |
ONLINE
Introduction to Prose Revision
4 Weeks: Mondays, November 27 - December 18 (6 - 8pm EST) • $250
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This course is designed for prose writers, including those writing fiction and creative nonfiction of any style or length, who have early drafts of work in progress and are ready to learn revision basics. This will include big-picture concerns like structure, scene vs. summary/exposition, and revising characters and settings. We’ll also explore techniques for upping the ante on clarity, voice, and style at the sentence level. Class will revolve around fun in-class exercises and goal-setting, small group and big group reflections, and discussions of techniques, plus at-home exercises and short readings. In the spirit of community and curiosity, we’ll put our heads and hearts together to build skills for our revision toolkits that we can take into the world beyond the course. Limited to 10 writers.
CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is is the author of two hybrid novels. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared widely, in publications such as The Washington Post, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor and volunteer death doula. |
ONLINE
The Art of Character Creation
4 Weeks: Tuesdays, November 28 - December 19 (1 - 3pm EST) • $250
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Creating great fiction requires creating compelling, three-dimensional characters who break through clichés and stereotypes. In this class, we’ll explore questions like: What are the internal states and motivations of our characters? How does that connect to their external behaviors—how do they think, feel, and act in different situations and environments, from the mundane to the profound? What are their personal, social, and cultural histories, and what should we take into account when writing characters who come from different social or cultural groups than us? We will use a variety of in-class and at-home explorations, brainstorming exercises, small-group and large-group sharing, and guided discussions to get at these core issues. We’ll even bring our characters to life by introducing them to the group and interviewing them. Students may bring ideas from characters they're already working on; for students who don't have characters yet, prompts will be given to create some. Read full course description and course outline at the "Learn More" link! For writers of all levels, genres, and backgrounds. Limited to 10 writers.
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ONLINE
Short & Sweet & Maybe Sour: The Art of Short Poems
3 Weeks: Sundays, December 3 - 17 (10am - 12pm EST) • $150
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Some of the most powerful and memorable poems are short – they pack a punch and linger. How to craft such a poem? Compression, imagery, tension, sounds, surprise. We will study examples by a diverse group of poets to discover techniques that work to create these gems. Participants will write each week using prompts or ideas gleaned from our discussions. Writers will receive feedback on their works in progress. Open to poets of any level, this workshop will illustrate how to use craft to deepen their work. All levels. Limited to 10 writers.
GAIL THOMAS's published books are: Leaving Paradise, Trail of Roots, Odd Mercy, Waving Back, No Simple Wilderness: An Elegy for Swift River Valley, and Finding the Bear. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Calyx, The North American Review, Italian Americana, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Gail has been a fellow at The McDowell Colony and Ucross. An experienced educator, she lives in Northampton and has retired from Smith College. She teaches, speaks at conferences and poetry festivals, and reads her work widely in community and academic settings. |
ONLINE
Poetry as Time Machine to Childhood
3 Hours: Sunday, December 3 (1 - 4pm EST) • $60
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In her essay “The Poem as Time Machine,” poet Tess Gallagher makes the case that “we have no better machine for the re-invention of time than the poem.” Our poems can be attempts to defy time, wrestle with it, understand it, reclaim it, pause it, or even just marvel at it. In this workshop, we’ll use poetry as a vehicle to transport us to childhood, not just through memories, but as a way to have the present self interact with past and future selves. An old photograph is a fixed image, but a poem, Gallagher posits, is “the place where the past and future can be seen at once without forsaking the present.” We’ll consider contemporary poems by Derrick Austin, Arda Collins, Geffrey Davis, Jennifer L. Knox, Audre Lorde, Naomi Shihab Nye, among others, and we'll discuss the different ways they invite speaker and reader back to the terrain of childhood. These poems will be launching pads for generating our own poems, and each participant will leave with three new poem starts as well as take-away ideas for writing beyond the workshop. For writers of all levels, beginning & experienced. Limited to 12 writers.
REBECCA OLANDER is the editor/director of Perugia Press, a nonprofit feminist poetry press. She has taught poetry writing at Amherst College, Westfield State University, and Mass Poetry, and she works with poets in the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University. Her poetry and collaborative visual and written work has been published widely. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. |
Did you just attend a workshop or work with an editor? We'd love your feedback!
We'd love to hear about your experience! If you have a minute, we always appreciate feedback via our Workshop Feedback Form or our Editing & Manuscript Consulting Form - we take all feedback into account and it's incredibly helpful to learn both what you enjoyed and anything you didn't. If you've enjoyed your experience, we're also endlessly grateful for all Facebook reviews and Google Reviews, which help other writers find us! Thank you in advance!
10-MONTH MANUSCRIPT PROGRAM
APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED
ONLINE - Applications Open in October 2023
10-Month Novel Workshop: First Draft
10 Months: March - Dec. 2024 • Meets Mondays (6 - 9 pm EST) • Cost: $2,500
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This workshop is for fiction writers who are working on their first draft of a full length novel manuscript. Writers who are just beginning with an idea as well as writers who are mid-draft would both benefit, but the explicit goal of this course is to have a finished first draft, ready for the first stage of revision. This course meets over zoom once a month for three hours, in small accountability buddy groups of 2-3 people at least once between meetings, and is in regular contact via a virtual classroom space. Each month, writers will be offered a slew of prompts, writing exercises, craft lectures, discussion questions, and readings designed to maintain momentum, solidify a regular writing practice, and provide support around all of the highs and lows of the novel writing process. Limited to 10 writers.
BLAIR HURLEY is the author of THE DEVOTED, which was longlisted for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. Her second novel, MINOR PROPHETS will be published in 2023. Her work is published in New England Review, Electric Literature, The Georgia Review, Guernica, Paris Review Daily, West Branch, and elsewhere. She is a Pushcart Prize winner and an ASME Fiction award finalist.
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ONLINE - Applications Open in October 2023
10-Month Novel Workshop: Revision
10 Months: March - Dec. 2024 • Meets first Wednesdays (6- 9 pm EST) • Cost: $3,400
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This workshop is for fiction writers who have finished a complete draft of a full-length manuscript and are looking for support and structure in the revision process. The explicit goal of this course is to complete one full revision of a completed draft of a manuscript. All participants and the instructor will read up to 100k words of each others’ full manuscripts over the course of the year. Each writer will have at least two opportunities to discuss their manuscript with the entire group, where they will receive written and verbal feedback. This course meets over zoom once a month for three hours, in small accountability buddy groups of 2-3 people at least once between meetings (but often more often), and is in regular contact via a virtual classroom space. Limited to 9 writers.
LIZ HARMER is the author of the novels The Amateurs (2018) and Strange Loops (2023). Her stories, essays, and poems have been published at the Globe & Mail, The Walrus, Best Canadian Stories, The New Quarterly, Hazlitt, Image Journal, and elsewhere. A recent fellow at the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences, she was also the runner-up for the Mitchell Prize in poetry. She’s the winner of a National Magazine Award for Personal Journalism, a CRAFT Literary Creative Nonfiction Award, and the WAGs-ProQuest Award Distinguished Masters Thesis, among other prizes. She teaches in the MFA program at Chapman University.
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ONLINE - Applications Open in October 2023
10-Month Poetry & Hybrid Manuscript Workshop
10 Months: March - Dec. 2024 • Meets first Wednesdays (6 - 9 pm EST) • Cost: $2,500
* Creative nonfiction writers working in more traditional or general prose-style should apply to the nonfiction workshop (course description below, on this page).
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This workshop is designed for poets and hybrid writers who have a manuscript in progress, plus those who have a vision but are just beginning. Poetry projects may be in a wide range of poetic forms. Hybrid projects may be those that mix or experiment with forms. This may include mixed prose/poetry texts, experimental or poetry-based memoir or essay, mixed visual/language texts, and poetic or lyric essays which stretch the boundaries of traditional or popular prose-based creative nonfiction.* In studying poetry and hybrid together, we'll see the vast and surprising overlaps between these terms, both in historical context and in practice. In addition to work on our own manuscripts, we'll read about and discuss traditions in lyricism, prose poetry, fixed and free verse, hybrid and cross-art, modernism, and more. Students can expect to read numerous monthly excerpts and 4 short books. By the end of the year, participants will have a solid first draft of either chapbook-length (approx. 30 pages) or full-length (approx. 60-70 pages for poetry, or a wide range of pages for uncategorizable or hybrid work.) Limited to 10 writers.
CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is is the author of two hybrid novels. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, Everyday Feminism, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor and volunteer death doula.
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ONLINE - Applications Open in October 2023
10-Month Nonfiction Manuscript Workshop
10 Months: March - Dec. 2024 • Meets first Thursdays (6- 9 pm EST) • Cost: $2,500
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This workshop is designed for creative nonfiction prose writers in non-memoir genres (nature and science writing, philosophy and spiritual writing, travel or food writing, biography, history, politics, social commentary, literary journalism, etc.) who have a manuscript in progress as well as for those who have a vision but are just beginning. By the end of the year, participants will have a solid draft of a complete manuscript. To this end, we will give each other feedback, discuss different craft topics each month, and do in-class and at-home generative prompts and exercises. Additionally, we will study numerous monthly excerpts and 3-4 books from the masters. Limited to 10 writers
CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is is the author of the hybrid novels. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, Everyday Feminism, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor and volunteer death doula.
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ONLINE - Applications Open in October 2023
10-Month Memoir Workshop
10 Months: March - Dec. 2024 • Meets first Tuesdays (6- 9 pm EST) • Cost: $2,500
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This workshop is designed for memoirists who have a manuscript in progress as well as for those who have a ‘body of work’ they can identify as a ‘possible manuscript.’ In this year-long program, we’ll discuss the history of the memoir genre and study memoir-writing techniques by reading and analyzing a mix of craft essays and stellar works of personal narrative, including 3-4 book-length memoirs that represent different stylistic and organizational approaches to the form. Alongside our active reading and discussion, we’ll find structure and purpose in our own work by defining clear individualized writing goals, doing regular generative exercises and providing consistent and thoughtful feedback on each other’s pages. By the end of the year participants will have drafted a substantive manuscript, portions of which may be ready for submission for publication. Limited to 10 writers. INSTRUCTOR TBA
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