Off Campus Writers Workshop upcoming events

Anne Beall Presents Nobody Knows: Rebecca Solnit (August 27, 2026)

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Anne E. Beall, Ph.D., will lead a discussion of Rebecca Solnit's essay Nobody Knows, published in Harper's Magazine in March 2018.

Nobody Knows, by Rebecca Solnit is an essay that begins with a personal experience and then expands into a cultural lens to explore the relationship between power and knowledge. She shows how power shapes what we see and whose voices we hear. Through personal experience and notable examples from the media, the essay reveals how some are heard while others are silenced. We will discuss several craft techniques Solnit uses and how you can apply them to your own writing.

Hosted by: Paula Mikrut

DOWNLOAD DISCUSSION MATERIALS HERE:

Nobody Knows
Discussion Questions for Nobody Knows

BIO: Anne E. Beall, Ph.D. is an award-winning author and social psychologist who writes about the emotional undercurrents that shape our lives. She’s written nine nonfiction books. Her most recent book, The Compassionate Writer, was awarded the International Impact Book Award in the self-help category. Anne is the founder and editor of Chicago Story Press, a literary journal publishing true stories that invite readers to see something in a new light. She holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from Yale.

Fred Shafer - Reaching the Peak: the Climax in Fiction (Session 1) (September 03, 2026)

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 14:30:00 GMT

When shaping an effective plot is their objective, fiction writers in all genres for readers of all ages understand that it must build by stages to a strong climax. But what are the issues that the climax needs to address and how can writers tell if the climax they’ve chosen is right for the plot and has carried it far enough? On September 3, 10, and 17, Fred Shafer will discuss the decisions that can go into finding a relevant and convincing climax, as well as the mistakes that will keep a plot from reaching its potential.

Fred will review manuscripts of up to 5 pages after the series concludes. Deadline to submit: Monday , September 14. Submissions are limited to one per person. When submitting part of a longer work, you can include two to three sentences describing the context from which it was taken.

Click Manuscripts for payment instructions and additional information about manuscript submissions.

BIO: FRED SHAFER is a literary editor and teacher of writing. He was an editor with TriQuarterly, the international literary journal published by Northwestern University, where he taught fiction writing in the School of Professional Studies for many years. He leads private workshops in short story and novel writing.

Fred Shafer - Reaching the Peak: the Climax in Fiction (Session 2) (September 10, 2026)

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:30:00 GMT

When shaping an effective plot is their objective, fiction writers in all genres for readers of all ages share an understanding that it must build by stages to a strong climax. But what are the issues that the climax needs to address and how can writers tell if the climax they’ve chosen is right for the plot and has carried it far enough? On September 3, 10, and 17, Fred Shafer will discuss the decisions that can go into finding a relevant and convincing climax, as well as the mistakes that will keep a plot from reaching its potential.

Fred will review manuscripts of up to 5 pages after the series concludes. Deadline to submit: Monday , September 14. Submissions are limited to one per person. When submitting part of a longer work, you can include two to three sentences describing the context.

Click Manuscripts for payment instructions and additional information about manuscript submissions.

FRED SHAFER is a literary editor and teacher of writing. He was an editor with TriQuarterly, the international literary journal published by Northwestern University, where he taught fiction writing in the School of Professional Studies for many years. He leads private workshops in short story and novel writing.

Fred Shafer - Reaching the Peak: the Climax in Fiction (Session 3) (September 17, 2026)

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:30:00 GMT

When shaping an effective plot is their objective, fiction writers in all genres for readers of all ages share the understanding that it must build by stages to a strong climax. But what are the issues that the climax needs to address and how can writers tell if the climax they’ve chosen is right for the plot and has carried it far enough? On September 3, 10, and 17, Fred Shafer will discuss the decisions that can go into finding a relevant and convincing climax, as well as the mistakes that will keep a plot from reaching its potential.

Fred will review manuscripts of up to 5 pages after the series concludes; please watch your inbox for your critique to be returned. Deadline to submit was Monday , September 14.

Rebecca Makkai - So You Think You Know It All… (September 24, 2026)

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:30:00 GMT

Allegedly, when asked why writers rarely use omniscience anymore, Rick Moody answered, “Because God is dead.”

Your own religious or Nietzschean beliefs aside, it does seem that in the 20th century, we largely abandoned omniscient authority in favor of the subjective, limited point of view, and the 21st century has so far favored the pluralism of the polyphonic novel. But omniscience, done well, can be thrilling, can open new narrative possibilities, and can now once again sound fresh and new. And omniscience combined with postmodern textual elements can give us something Charles Dickens never could. We’ll look at some old and new examples of omniscience done brilliantly, figure out what makes it work, and brainstorm our own omniscient takeovers of fictional worlds.

REBECCA MAKKAI is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel I Have Some Questions for You as well as four other works of fiction. Her last novel, The Great Believers, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and was the winner of the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize among other honors. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca teaches graduate fiction writing at Middlebury College, Northwestern University, and UNR Tahoe, and serves as Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

Eric Rampson - Cut It With A Knife: Tension as Driver and Destination (October 01, 2026)

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMT

Most stories start out by introducing a source of tension into the lives of its characters. But those lives didn't start when the story did, and the characters' pasts are a source of tension, as well. By looking at a story as the interplay between the new (acute) tension and the the existing (chronic) tension, we can find ways to keep moving forward and even leverage these simple ideas into creating "surprising-yet-right" endings. We will examine the works of authors such as George Saunders, Caitlin Horrocks, Charles Baxter, Adam Johnson and others.

ERIC RAMPSON spent almost 20 years studying, performing, and teaching improv comedy before getting his MFA in Fiction from The MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. His short fiction has been published in Change Seven Magazine, The Matador Review, Typishly, Metonym, The Gateway Review, and Broad River Review.

Christina Clancy - The line edit: revise your sentences for musicality, interest, and efficiency (October 08, 2026)

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMT

I once had a writing professor who only edited the first two paragraphs of everything we turned in and said, "continue in this way to the end."

In this workshop, we'll do something similar, looking at some sample paragraphs and exploring strategies to make the prose more muscular and concise. We'll think about various rhetorical methods, look at how the copy appears on the page, notice writing tics, and dig into the messy and recursive process of breaking up, shortening, or extending sentences while we watch out for redundancy and verb tense confusion. When we finish, hopefully we will have a better sense of how to "continue in this way to the end" of our own projects - and save ourselves some editing headaches in the process.

CHRISTINA CLANCY is the author of The Second Home, Shoulder Season, and The Snowbirds (out Feb. 4, 2025). Her stories and essays have appeared in The Sun Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, The Minnesota Review, Hobart, and elsewhere. She has a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She lives in Madison.

Sarah Kokernot - A Compass For Your Work: Find Your Way Through Long Writing Projects (October 15, 2026)

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMT

How can we keep going in the middle of long writing projects when we lose momentum, feel fatigued, or become disoriented? This class will teach you how to be your own best reader and writing coach. You'll learn a step-by-step process on how to ask yourself better questions, make generative connections in your work, and keep a process journal. By the end of the class, you'll have a compass to guide your way through short stories, essays, and book-length manuscripts.

SARAH KOKERNOT is a fiction writer and essayist. Her work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, Tricycle, EPOCH, Michigan Quarterly Review, Crazyhorse, Front Porch, West Branch, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet and other publications. She has taught creative writing as a visiting faculty member at Northwestern University and as an instructor at StoryStudio Chicago.

Lindsay Hunter - Characters as Cheat Codes (October 22, 2026)

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMT

“Plot grows out of character. If you focus on who the people in your story are, something is bound to happen.” – Anne Lamott

Readers pick up books because of a tantalizing blurb, a promise of action or romance or intrigue. But your book lingers in their hearts and minds because of the core of humanity inside it – even if it’s a novel set in a parallel universe where dogs walk humans. Deep character work is a portal, a cheat code, into making your novel feel whole. While you’re focused on plot or pacing or conflict, your characters are quietly building themselves, exhibiting motivations and backgrounds you can plumb for texture, choices, and access to the human wildness inside each of us. In this lecture, I’ll discuss strategies to create authentic, useful characters that linger long after the novel is done.

LINDSAY HUNTER is the author of two story collections and three novels, the most recent of which, Hot Springs Drive, won the Chicago Review of Books Fiction award and was named a top thriller of 2023 by the Washington Post. She teaches the Novel in a Year online program at StoryStudio and lives in Chicago with her family.

Steve Almond - Secrets & Lies: How to write about desire and deceit (October 29, 2026)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMT

In an ideal world, we would hold nothing back and tell each other the truth, and only the truth. But that's not how the real world works. Instead, we spend much of our time lying to others, and to ourselves. We lie about little things and big things. We lie to our parents and partners, our co-workers and kids. We also lie by omission, which is to say: we keep secrets. In this class, we'll examine how writers like Sally Rooney, Meg Wolitzer, and Audre Lorde confront these evasions, then confess to some of our own secrets and deceptions.

STEVE ALMOND is the author of a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His new novel, All the Secrets of the World, has been optioned for television by 20th Century Fox. He’s the recipient of an NEA grant for 2022 and teaches at Harvard and Wesleyan. His stories and essays have been published in venues ranging from the Best American Short Stories and the Best American Mysteries to the New York Times Magazine. He lives outside Boston with his wife, his three children, and his anxiety.

Diana Goetsch - This Thing Called Voice (November 05, 2026)

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Few terms are more bandied about in discussions of writing craft than “voice”—and no term is more elusive to define. Yet we all know voice when we read it, just as we know when writing lacks voice, or is derivative of another’s voice. And so it is understandable that new and emerging writers want to “find their voice.”

But what if, as the poet William Stafford once suggested, 'You already have a voice, and don’t need find it?' What if, instead of searching for your voice, you could develop, or train it? And who says we only have one voice?

This workshop, meant for writers of all genres, will explore what voice is and isn’t. There will be models, discussion, Q&A. There will be practical suggestions, and exercises, for how any writer might cultivate and expand their vocal capacity.

DIANA GOETSCH is a poet, essayist, and journalist, author of eight collections of poems, dozens of nonfiction features and columns, and the acclaimed memoir This Body I Wore, listed among Memoirs that Changed a Generation at Oprah Daily. She’s written for The New Yorker, The American Scholar, and the Los Angeles Times. Her work has also appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, The Iowa Review, NPR, LitHub, Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize. Goetsch is a renowned teacher of writing and sought after mentor, who has held faculty and Distinguished Visiting posts at dozens of colleges and conferences.

Douglas Post - Crash Course in Writing for the Theatre (and Other Genres) (November 12, 2026)

Thu, 12 Nov 2026 15:30:00 GMT

This workshop will focus on some of the tools writers can use when writing for the stage, as well as other genres such as short stories, novels, teleplays and screenplays. We'll be discussing plot, structure, language, theme and character. We'll then experiment with a few writing exercises in which we explore character, conflict, wants and needs; setting, action and dialogue. Please bring writing materials to this workshop. And please be willing to share your work with the other participants.

DOUGLAS POST is a playwright, composer and lyricist whose works for the stage have been produced in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Canada, England, Wales, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Russia, China and South Africa. He has also been commissioned to write screenplays for Warner Bros. and NBC, teleplays for WMAQ-TV, and several radio adaptations of his scripts. He has received the L. Arnold Weissberger Playwriting Award, the Midwestern Playwrights Festival Award, the Cunningham Commission Award, the Blue Ink Playwriting Award and three Playwriting Fellowship Awards from the Illinois Arts Council, and has been nominated for three Joseph Jefferson Awards, a Suzi Bass Award and an Emmy Award. Mr. Post lives in Chicago where he is President of Long River Records, has composed songs and incidental music for over twenty-five productions, teaches playwriting and theatre appreciation at the University of Chicago Graham School.

Goldie Goldbloom - A Loving Heart (November 19, 2026)

Thu, 19 Nov 2026 15:30:00 GMT

What is the role of writers' own compassion for their characters? How does a writer’s love for a character or preferably all of their characters impact the experience of the reader? This class will be an experimental examination of the ways in which our own capacity to love even very difficult people creates that most elusive of things : a beloved book.

GOLDIE GOLDBLOOM is a writer, teacher and editor, author of four internationally award-winning books of fiction, most recently On Division (winner of the Prix des Libraires in France), and many articles, short stories and essays that have appeared around the world. For more than fifteen years, she was on the faculty at Northwestern University and/or the University of Chicago. She currently runs a developmental editing service for best-selling authors, celebrities and talented writers from all walks of life. She is the mother of eight children and an LGBTQ activist.

Rachel Jamison Webster - Writing About Our Ancestors (December 03, 2026)

Thu, 03 Dec 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Our ancestors are an endless source of stories, and writing about them allows us to personalize history and observe how the patterns of the past persist in the present. Still, there are unique ethical and formal puzzles that arise when we write our ancestral stories. In this class, we will discuss the ethics and practices of turning our ancestral stories into creative writing. We will explore effective methods of research, then writing exercise that invites an ancestral story onto the page. This class will be open and relevant to writers of both prose and poetic forms. Please consider coming with curiosity and some information about a specific ancestor, so you can fully benefit from the practice.

RACHEL JAMISON WEBSTER is the author of Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family, which was chosen as a Best Book of 2023 by The New Yorker, and Editor's Pick by The New York Times. This book of ancestral nonfiction explores race, gender, and justice in American history. Rachel is also the author of four books of poetry and cross-genre writing, including Mary is a River, a book written in the voice of Mary Magdalene that was a finalist for the National Poetry Series. Rachel is a Professor of Creative Writing at Northwestern, and she teaches online classes in ancestral writing and intuitive writing; further information here.

Katherine Don - After the Draft is Done: On Editing and Pitching Your Manuscript (December 10, 2026)

Thu, 10 Dec 2026 15:30:00 GMT

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart. " – Stephen King

“Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.” – Raymond Chandler

“Edit your manuscript until your fingers bleed…” – C.K. Webb

Has anyone else noticed that quotes about manuscript editing tend to be…grotesque? There’s a reason for that. Editing can be brutal. Painful, even. It can also be joyful, creative, and revelatory. This session explores the types of manuscript revision (manuscript critiques, developmental editing, line editing, self-editing, workshopping) and how to avoid the common pits authors fall into when navigating the revision process. We’ll then review the pitching and querying stage, including query/cover letters, book proposals, and tips for researching agents and publishers.

KATHERINE DON is an author, journalist, and developmental book editor. Her essays and journalism have appeared in TIME magazine, The Atlantic, Salon, and HuffPost, among others, and she’s currently a contributing writer and editor at Inside Philanthropy. She’s written or co-written nearly a dozen traditionally published nonfiction books, including Dodge County, Incorporated, co-written with Sonja Trom Eayrs, which won the 2025 Midwest Book Award. As a book editor, Katherine has collaborated with authors on award-winning books in genres ranging from literary fiction to thriller, memoir, mystery, horror, journalism, and prescriptive nonfiction.

Juan Martinez - The End of the Ladder: A Weird History of Great Endings (December 17, 2026)

Thu, 17 Dec 2026 15:30:00 GMT

What's behind memorable endings? We'll talk about some big ideas and theories around narrative closure, and we'll figure out how we can apply them to our own work.

JUAN MARTINEZ is the author of the novel Extended Stay (2023) and the story collection Best Worst American (2017). He lives near Chicago and is an associate professor at Northwestern University. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, Huizache, Ecotone, The Sunday Morning Transport, NIGHTMARE, NPR's Selected Shorts, Mississippi Review and elsewhere.

Courtney Maum - Time Management: Improving accountability, productivity and smashing goals in the new year (January 07, 2027)

Thu, 07 Jan 2027 15:30:00 GMT

In this class, we’ll build a list of strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and short and long-term wishes to help you create the writing version of a business plan to bring more ease and pleasure into your writing life. We’ll look at different kinds of working schedules to suit the creative that you are. A great way to jumpstart those New Year Resolutions or improve your focus and productivity at any time of year.

COURTNEY MAUM is the author of Alan Opts Out and five previous books, including the romantic comedy Touch (A New York Times Editors’ Choice) and the memoir The Year of the Horses, chosen by the Today show as one of the best reads for mental health awareness. Creator of the groundbreaking publishing guidebook and bestselling Substack newsletter Before and After the Book Deal, Maum is an educator and writing coach hellbent on preserving the joy of art-making in a culture obsessed with turning artists into brands. In addition to her advocacy work for writers at The Author’s Guild, Courtney runs a workshop in New Mexico where she combines twenty years of experience in advertising with a deep love of craft to help writers boost their confidence and industry know-how.

Judyth Hill - From the Page to the Stage: Learn Dynamic Literary Stagecraft that SELLS (January 14, 2027)

Thu, 14 Jan 2027 15:30:00 GMT

“Joy is the Voice” ~ e. e. cummings

You’ve given your writing your best—now learn to perform your poetry or prose with passion and verve! This interactive workshop will share powerful tools to design your reading and develop a signature style that captures the audience’s attention – and hearts. Learn to read the room, engage the expressive powers of your voice and gestures and connect with your audience and sell more books!

ATTENTION POETS: Judyth will perform the three winning entries. DEADLINE TO ENTER: DECEMBER 11. Visit Manuscripts/Contest Page for submission instructions. Contests are free to members in good standing.

Poetry Contest Entry Guidelines: Please use Times New Roman or Arial 12 pt font, one inch margins. Two poems, single spaced, up to three pages of your best work. Each poem must begin on a fresh page. All poems must be unpublished, please.

JUDYTH HILL, poet, maestra, publisher, is the author of nine poetry collections and the internationally acclaimed poem, Wage Peace. Chair of the PEN International Women Writers Committee, Managing Editor of hybrid publishing company Wild Rising Press, Special Projects Director for the San Miguel Writers Conference, and Anusara Yoga Special Subjects instructor, Hill conducts poetry and memoir workshops at conferences worldwide and on Zoom. Hill has received grants from the Witter Bynner Poetry Foundation, McCune Foundation and New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, and authored the poetry curriculum for O’Keeffe and Folk Art Museums in Santa Fe, NM, serving from1994 to 2000 as Literary Projects Coordinator for New Mexico Arts, a division of the NM State Office of Cultural Affairs.

Robert Anthony Siegel - Voice: Create Distinctive, Compelling Voice in Narrative (January 21, 2027)

Thu, 21 Jan 2027 15:30:00 GMT

Why is it that some narrators feel real to us—as if they were sitting across the table, telling us their story? And why do we feel so utterly compelled to listen to them? The sense of a narrator’s deeply individual presence starts with what we like to call voice, the linguistic expression of character. Voice is why your mother can call you up and start talking without ever stopping to identify herself. You know it’s her because of her voice. Voice is the feeling of the person behind the words. But how does voice work? And how do we create it in our own writing? We will look at a series of examples of voice from great works of fiction, consider what makes them effective, and then do in-class exercises, putting what we’ve learned to work in our own writing, whether it

ROBERT ANTHONY SIEGEL is the author of a memoir, Criminals, and two novels, All Will Be Revealed, and All the Money in the World. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Smithsonian, The Paris Review, The Drift, The Oxford American, and Ploughshares, among other publications, and has been anthologized in Best American Essays 2023, O. Henry Stories 2014, and Pushcart Prize XXXVI. He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan, a Mombukagakusho Fellow in Japan, a Writing Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and a Paul Engle Fellow at the Iowa Writers Workshop. Robert taught creative writing at UNC Wilmington for 22 years, as well as Hollins University in Virginia, Tunghai University in Taiwan, and the LaSalle College of the Arts in Singapore. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and a BA from Harvard.

Lit Journal Panel - Creative Nonfiction Litmag Panel with Anne Beall, PhD, Rachel Kramer Bussel, and Angela M. Giles (January 28, 2027)

Thu, 28 Jan 2027 15:30:00 GMT

Join editors from three creative nonfiction literary magazines for a discussion about publishing personal essays and true stories. Learn how submissions work, what makes a piece stand out, common reasons for rejection, and why literary magazines are an excellent place for both emerging and established writers to publish their work.

ANNE E. BEALL, Ph.D., is an award-winning author and social psychologist who is the founder and editor of Chicago Story Press Literary Journal. She has written nine nonfiction books and published essays in numerous literary journals. Anne has been featured in People, NPR, NBC, and the Chicago Tribune. She is passionate about publishing pieces that help people see something differently.

RACHEL KRAMER BUSSEL is an essayist, journalist, editor-in-chief of personal essay magazine Open Secrets, which covers topics we’re taught to keep “secret,” and organizer of personal storytelling summit Open Secrets Live. Rachel hosts the podcast Finders and Keepers, about our emotional attachments to our belongings, also the subject of an anthology Rachel is working on.

ANGELA M. GILES is the editor of The ManifestStation, a literary home for writing about the hard, beautiful parts of being human. She is currently working on a book about stroke and the unmaking of memory. Her essays have appeared in The Coachella Review, The Healing Muse, and the Seal Press anthology Shades of Blue. She lives in Massachusetts.

Sue Brown Moore - Write without Resistance: The 4 Emotional Patterns that Hold Writers Back (February 04, 2027)

Thu, 04 Feb 2027 15:30:00 GMT

When writing starts to feel like a fight, it’s rarely about discipline. It’s about protection. We writers develop emotional patterns that keep us feeling safe but often hold our stories back. In this interactive session, developmental editor and story coach Sue Brown-Moore helps writers identify four specific patterns that shape creative resistance and shows how to gently redirect them into habits that support your writing instead of sabotaging it. You’ll learn which pattern most often appears in your own process, and how it shows up in drafting and revision. You'll draft a personalized Resistance Rewrite statement to help you recognize your pattern of resistance and discover your creative rhythm again. Then we’ll take the framework further by exploring how these same emotional patterns appear in your characters. You’ll learn how a hero’s “protective instincts” can drive believable motivation, deepen internal conflict, and create more authentic emotional arcs, leaving with practical tools to rebuild trust with your work, and renewed confidence in your ability to show up for your stories.

SUE BROWN MOORE helps romance authors bridge the gap between raw creative intuition and the polished craft required for a long-term career. Named one of LA Weekly's 15 Book Coaches to Watch, Sue is known for a "tough editor, soft touch" approach that puts your storytelling instincts ahead of rigid plot templates. She specializes in guiding writers through deep emotional revisions that bring the story to life so readers feel every memorable moment. As the founder of the Story Sorcery® Society and host of the Wanna Write Romance™ conference, Sue has spent her career helping authors escape the rewrite trap. Her editorial work has been featured in Publishers Weekly and has contributed to manuscripts recognized by the Vivian, Lambda, and Golden Heart awards. Above all, Sue is passionate about helping writers nurture their creative spark while building a sustainable, soul-satisfying professional Happily Ever After. Learn more at suebrownmoore.com.

Sarah Stone - The Art and Craft of the Inner Life; or, Gripping Interiority (February 11, 2027)

Thu, 11 Feb 2027 15:30:00 GMT

Fiction makes use of all the ways we can know another person: dialogue, physicality (appearance and gestures), what others say about them, action, and so on. But it’s interiority that can reveal the deepest and most illuminating sense of their histories and secrets, what they’re obsessed with and excited about, how they see the world and everyone around them, their moments of brilliance, and also the logic behind their bad decisions and impulsive moves. Interiority can also give the reader insight into aspects of the characters’ lives that they may not fully understand themselves. In this session, we’ll do some close craft-based reading, including selections from Hilary Mantel and Edward P. Jones. We’ll have a sequence of writing prompts to help us add narrative tension to interiority, manage time/proportion, and show unexpected, believable discrepancies and complexities that deepen both the characters and the story or novel.

SARAH STONE is the author or co-author of four books, including Marriage to the Sea (March 2026); Hungry Ghost Theater, a finalist for the 38th annual Northern California Book Awards; and, with Ron Nyren, Deepening Fiction: A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Writers. Her work has appeared in Image, Ploughshares, StoryQuarterly, The Millions, Scoundrel Time, The Believer, 100 Word Story, CRAFT, and Alta Online, among other places. Sarah has taught for UC Berkeley, the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers, and Stanford Continuing Studies, and has written for Korean public television, reported on human rights in Burundi, and looked after orphan chimpanzees at the Jane Goodall Institute.

Brooke Warner - Reflection and Takeaway: The Heart and Soul of Memoir (February 18, 2027)

Thu, 18 Feb 2027 15:30:00 GMT

Memoir is more than just a story of what happened to you. Its heart and soul lies in two elements of craft that every memoirist needs to have a firm handle on: reflection and takeaway. Most beginning memoirists are so focused on the plot of their story that they forget that readers love memoir for what it says about the human condition, for its capacity to help us understand something about the world we live in or about ourselves. Reflection requires you to stop your narrative and answer the question, “What sense do I make of this part of my story?” Takeaway asks you write about your thoughts and impressions on your subject matter, to delve deeper into your experience and your message and to be a wise voice for your reader. In this session, Brooke Warner will show you exactly how to implement this kind of writing into your memoir, complete with examples from published works. You’ll leave knowing how to tap into the heart of your memoir and to connect with your reader on a whole new level.

BROOKE WARNER is publisher of She Writes Press, an imprint of The Stable Book Group. She is a memoir coach and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What's Your Book?, and three books on memoir. She’s also a TEDx speaker (“Green-light Revolution”), weekly podcaster (of “Memoir Nation” with co-host Grant Faulkner), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things, on Substack.

Michelle Hoover - Conflict for the Conflict Avoidant (February 25, 2027)

Thu, 25 Feb 2027 15:30:00 GMT

Conflict is the heart of any narrative; breaking open our characters—or our other selves?—on the page so they achieve change and “the mystery of the character has been revealed.” (Flannery O’Connor) Still, most writers avoid conflict like the plague, putting the main drama of a story in backstory or writing an observer protagonist who doesn’t have much at stake. Through examples and writing exercises, this course will highlight other ways in which your avoidance is messing with your narrative choices, how to think about conflict differently, the necessary steps of conflict in a scene, and how a story demands conflict even if you’d rather not get your hands dirty.

MICHELLE HOOVER is co-founder and current leader of the GrubStreet Novel Incubator program. She is a 2014 NEA Fellow and has been a Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University, a fellow at MacDowell, Bread Loaf, and Sewanee Writers Conferences, and a winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award. Her debut, The Quickening, was a 2010 Massachusetts Book Award "Must Read," a finalist for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and one of Susan Straight's 1001 "Library of America" Novels featured in the L.A. Times. Her second novel, Bottomland, was the 2017 All Iowa Reads selection and a 2016 Mass Book "Must Read." She is the creator of the popular 7am Novelist podcast and its dedicated morning writing group, The Sevens.

Bonny Reichert - Hello and Goodbye: Dynamic strategies for chapter beginnings and endings in memoir (March 04, 2027)

Thu, 04 Mar 2027 15:30:00 GMT

How long should a memoir chapter be? Where should it start, and how should it end? Knowing how to open and close chapters is an essential skill —one that craft talks often overlook. Through examples and analysis, we'll examine what makes a great opening, how to construct a strong closing, and how much should happen in between. Writers of fiction and memoir alike will learn to think of their chapters almost as short stories, and to pace them accordingly. Through casual workshopping, we'll gather feedback on some of our own openings and closing, and learn from the discussion about others' work, as well as our own.

BIO: BONNY REICHERT is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist. She has been an editor at Today’s Parent and Chatelaine, and a columnist and regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. At forty, a now-or-never feeling in her bones compelled her to quit her job to enroll in culinary school. After that, she began to explore her relationship with food on the page, seeing her childhood in the restaurant business and her background as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor in a new light. Bonny holds a Master of Fine Art in creative nonfiction from the University of King’s College in Halifax and teaches writing at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. She was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and lives in Toronto with her husband Michael and little dog, Bruno. Her three almost-adult children come and go.

How to Share an Egg is a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (2025) an NPR Best Book of the Year (2025), a CBC Best Memoir and a national bestseller.

Tim Bascom - Formed by Family: Writing About Those Who Shape Us (March 11, 2027)

Thu, 11 Mar 2027 15:30:00 GMT

When we write memoirs, essays, or even fictional stories, we are likely to find ourselves depicting those who have had the most influence in our lives—our family members. To understand the self, we must understand them. Take a look at a shelf of memoirs, and you will see just how vital those relationships are—in Vivian Gornick’s Fierce Attachments or Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home or Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family. However, writing about family is risky, and there are legendary stories of family members who stopped speaking after a book was published. As a result, we don’t want to get it wrong, even if fictionalizing. During this craft presentation, we will consider how other authors have handled writing about mothers, fathers, spouses, and children. Using writing prompts, we will identify key relationships that might lend themselves to powerful narratives, discussing how we can write freely and honestly while honoring those we care about. Writers in all genres are welcome, since all have been formed by family.

Tim will accept up to 7 manuscripts up to 10 pages each. See Manuscripts/Contests for guidelines.

TIM BASCOM is author of seven nonfiction and fiction books, including the recent prize-winning story collection Continental Drift and an essay collection titled The Boundless Game, which celebrates how soccer brings the world together cross-culturally. His essays have been selected for the anthologies Best Creative Nonfiction and Best American Travel Writing, receiving editor prizes from The Missouri Review and Florida Review. His short fiction has appeared in journals such as Zone 3, Front Range Review, and Flint Hills Review. Bascom received his MFA from the University of Iowa and taught college creative writing before serving as Executive Director for the Kansas Book Festival.

Mary Kay Zuravleff - You Talking to Me? (March 18, 2027)

Thu, 18 Mar 2027 14:30:00 GMT

Effective dialogue advances the plot, increases the tension, and reveals character. In this class, I will take you through the five stages I moved through for learning how to write dialogue that does all that work, and we’ll write to two prompts. I’ll discuss dialogue as a way to introduce a new POV and how to stay in character. Our ultimate goal will be crafting dialogue that one character does rather than says to another.

MARY KAY ZURAVLEFF is the award-winning author of American Ending, chosen for Oprah's Spring Reading List and inspired by the fact that in 1908, her American-born grandmother lost her American citizenship for marrying her Russian-born grandfather. Her novel Man Alive! was a Washington Post Notable Book. She has taught at Johns Hopkins, George Mason, and American University graduate programs; workshops such as Chautauqua, Key West, and Interlochen. She lives in Washington, DC.

Kathleen Rooney - Delicious Delays: How to Build Tension, Compression, and Suspense (April 01, 2027)

Thu, 01 Apr 2027 14:30:00 GMT

Most writers know that suspense is the audience’s heightened anticipation about a work’s plot or conflict, particularly as it affects a character in whom the reader feels invested. But knowing is different than doing, and in this generative craft intensive, we’ll examine the techniques that will allow us not just to identify suspense, but also to create it in our own work. Through the discussion of terminology and the close reading of examples by such authors as Edward P. Jones, W.G. Sebald, and Muriel Barbery, we’ll explore how tension and compression tie not only to plot but also to character, and result in writing that makes the audience ravenous to keep reading.

KATHLEEN ROONEY is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press and a founding member of Poems While You Wait. She is the nationally bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, as well as Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey and From Dust to Stardust. Her most recent poetry collection, O Western Wind, won the New Measure Poetry Prize and has just been released by Parlor Press and Free Verse Editions, and her most recent novel, Man Overboard!, was published by Gallery Books in July of 2026. She lives in Chicago with her spouse, the writer Martin Seay, and teaches English and creative writing at DePaul University.

Cyn Vargas - Writing the Unsaid: The Power of Subtext in Fiction (April 08, 2027)

Thu, 08 Apr 2027 14:30:00 GMT

What happens when two characters talk about everything except the thing that matters most? In this generative workshop, we'll explore how silence and subtext can do more work on the page than any direct statement. Through a short writing exercise, you'll practice one of fiction's most powerful tools: the scene in which nothing important is said — and everything is communicated. We'll look at how objects, gestures, and ordinary conversation can carry enormous emotional weight, and how restraint can create more tension than revelation. You'll leave with a fresh piece of writing and a new instinct for where the real story lives. This workshop is for fiction writers of all levels who want to write with more depth, more layering, and more trust in what the reader can feel without being told.

CYN VARGAS is the author of Nothing's Ever The Same, which received a starred review from Booklist, and On The Way, named one of Book Scrolling's Best Short Story Collections of All Time. Her fiction has appeared in Split Lip, Word Riot, the Chicago Reader's Fiction Issue, and other literary magazines, and one of her stories, Myran's Dad, has been performed three times at NPR's Selected Shorts. Of Mayan descent, she is a faculty member at StoryStudio Chicago, has led workshops at Ragdale and Interlochen Center for the Arts, and was voted Stories Matter Foundation's 2022 Instructor of the Year by her students. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago.

Steve Trumpeter - Narrative Distance: How it Serves Your Story (April 15, 2027)

Thu, 15 Apr 2027 14:30:00 GMT

Point of view is one of the first craft decisions we have to make when we put pen to paper, and often, we just do what feels natural. But POV is so much more than just 1st person versus 3rd person, and employing it effectively can have a huge impact on so many other craft elements, such as character, plot, setting, and even pacing. In this session, we'll learn how narrative distance and interiority might be the more important thing to consider in developing our narrative voice and explore how those choices can make our stories stronger. We'll look at examples from writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri, Don DeLillo, and Lauren Groff and see what lessons we can crib from their POV choices that can strengthen our own work.

STEVE TRUMPETER is a writer, artist, and musician from Chicago. His recent fiction has appeared in The Southern Review, Salamander, American Fiction, Chicago Quarterly Review and others. He was a finalist for the Chicago Tribune’s Nelson Algren Award and took 2nd place in Zoetrope: All-Story’s 2019 fiction contest. He teaches creative writing classes at StoryStudio Chicago. Discover his stories, paintings, music, and more here.

John McCarthy - Moving Beyond Description: Writing experiences that your readers remember (April 29, 2027)

Thu, 29 Apr 2027 14:30:00 GMT

This session will encourage writers to push past surface detail and into felt language. We'll look at how figurative tools like simile and metaphor turn familiar scenes into surprise and meaning. We will practice bending syntax through appositives and asyndeton, shaping rhythm and emphasis without adding clutter. We'll explore the sensorium of sensory experience to build immersive moments that readers can inhabit. Through lecture and short exercises, we'll translate observation into our own unique, imaginative voice. Leave with adaptable techniques for poems and short stories, plus a repeatable process for drafting lines that linger. This talk equips you to make language memorable.

JOHN McCARTHY is the author of Scared Violent Like Horses (Milkweed Editions, 2019), which was selected by Victoria Chang as the winner of the Jake Adam York Prize; and This Brutal Vanishing (Texas Review Press, forthcoming 2028). He is also the author of Ghost County (Midwestern Gothic Press, 2016), which was named a Best Book of Poetry in 2016 by The Chicago Review of Books; and the chapbook, The Wyeth Ekphrastics (Burnside Review, 2026), which won the Burnside Review Chapbook Prize. John’s poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including 32 Poems, Best New Poets, Cincinnati Review, Gettysburg Review, North American Review, Poetry Northwest, and Quarterly West. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has received writing residencies from creative centers in Croatia, Ecuador, France, and Iceland. John is the Managing Editor for RHINO, and he teaches poetry in Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies MFA program.

Frances de Pontes Peebles - Building Fictional Worlds (May 06, 2027)

Thu, 06 May 2027 14:30:00 GMT

Whether you are creating a new universe, a land of fantasy, an important historical moment, or a suburban utopia, crafting and communicating setting to your reader is a vital element of fiction. In this lecture, we will discuss how to build worlds that transport readers. We will look at practical ways to make our settings play an active role in our novels rather than just serve as wallpaper.

FRANCES DE PONTES PEEBLES is the author of the novels The Seamstress and The Air You Breathe. From Pernambuco, Brazil, she is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is a 2020 Creative Writing Fellow in Literature from The National Endowment for the Arts, and has received a Fulbright grant and Brazil’s Sacatar Fellowship. Her short fiction has appeared in O. Henry Prize Stories, Zoetrope: All-Story, Ploughshares, Electric Literature, and Guernica. She is proud to serve on the Board of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.

Michael Zapata - The Magic of Research (May 13, 2027)

Thu, 13 May 2027 14:30:00 GMT

To research for a novel, Michael Zapata traveled to the Amazon rainforests in Brazil to shadow the work of entomologists. What followed was a deep dive inquiry not only into the strange and complex lives of ants, but also into the lives of indigenous scientists, revolutionaries, the mysteries of literary craft, and the writers of Latin America. In this session, Michael Zapata will guide writers through the critical and magical practice of real-world research that both layers writing and takes advantage of the wonderful discoveries and possibilities that research itself contains. The class will also include a Q&A.

MICHAEL ZAPATA is the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is a recipient of a Meier Foundation Artist Achievement Award and the DAG Prize for Literature. He is on the faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. As a public-school educator, he taught literature and writing in high schools servicing drop out students. He currently lives in Chicago with his family.

Abby Geni - Unputdownable (May 20, 2027)

Thu, 20 May 2027 14:30:00 GMT

What makes a story irresistible? Why do some books keep the reader turning pages late into the night while others languish half-finished on a bedside table? In this class, we will study the catalytic interactions between elements of fiction that make a story unputdownable. We will tease apart the different kinds of tension: life-or-death, slow burn, dramatic irony, horror, titillation, and more. We will look at characters who captivate and those who drift into forgettability. We will examine the internal narrative structures that maintain, build, or lose momentum and intensity. And, of course, we will discuss the ways we can apply these techniques to our own stories.

ABBY GENI is a novelist and short story writer. Children of the Wolf, her most recent novel, is forthcoming in September of 2026. She is the author of The Body Farm, longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the Story Prize; The Wildlands, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; The Lightkeepers, winner of the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Chicago Review of Books Awards; and The Last Animal, a finalist for the Orion Book Award. Her short stories and essays have appeared in dozens of literary publications, including Best American Mystery and Suspense, The Missouri Review, Epoch, Ninth Letter, and New Stories from the Midwest. Geni is a faculty member at StoryStudio Chicago and a recipient of the Iowa Fellowship.

Rachel Swearingen - Literary Adaptation and the Art of Exteriority (May 27, 2027)

Thu, 27 May 2027 14:30:00 GMT

One of the great enchantments of literature is a captivating narrator. Most of our favorite works have indelible voices and scenes. For those of us who write fiction and memoir, adapting stories to film and television seems like a natural transition. However, our skills can both help and work against us. We forget that scripts are meant to be collaborative, that we are limited by what can be seen and heard.

In this workshop, we'll examine several successful adaptations to see how writers and directors reinvent story, rather than merely translate. How do we externalize what is internal and leave space for actors and crew to work their magic? Whether you're adapting your own work or simply want to understand how stories transform across mediums, you'll leave with tools for rendering interiority through exterior action.

RACHEL SWEARINGEN is the author of the story collection How to Walk on Water and Other Stories, which received the New American Press Fiction Prize and was named the 2021 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year. In recent years, her work has expanded into film and visual forms. Her fiction and essays have appeared in Electric Lit, The Missouri Review, Kenyon Review, American Short Fiction, Off Assignment, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Berlin Writing Prize, the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize in Fiction, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, and the Mississippi Review Prize in Fiction. She lives in Chicago and teaches for the graduate writing program at Northwestern University in the School of Professional Studies.