A penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers

Upcoming Courses

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Writing Desire

Mondays: November 3 - December 1
7 - 9 p.m. EST

$400

How do we turn internal obsession into a narrative that resonates broadly? What's the role of restraint when writing with passion? Storytelling is neither a mystical pursuit, nor a technical one. It boils down to desire. The reader is asking two essential questions when they pick up a story. First: Who do I care about? And second: What do they care about? If you make the reader shoulder what Sarah Manguso calls “the burden of hope,” they will follow you anywhere.

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The Practice of Imagination

Tuesdays: November 4 - December 2
7 - 9 p.m. EST

$400

Imagination is at the heart of fiction—yet it’s often overlooked in serious discussions of writing. There’s something elusive about it, both abstract and a little kindergarten. What is imagination, exactly? What makes for a well-imagined story? And how can we nurture our own imaginations, in order to write the fiction that is the most specific and particular to us—fiction that is original and alive? 

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Past Courses

2025

 
 
  • WRITING HUMOR with GREG MARSHALL
    featuring Sloane Crosley, Ben Philippe, Parini Shroff, & Curtis Sittenfeld

  • WRITING THE BOOK PROPOSAL with RAKSHA VASUDEVAN
    featuring Elisa Gabbert, Lauren Markham, Noelle Falcis-Math, & Anni Liu

  • WRITING THE BODY with MARGO STEINES
    featuring Sarah Manguso, Krys Malcolm Belc, Porochista Khakpour, & Christina Cooke

  • RETHINKING TRAVEL WRITING with FAITH ADIELE
    featuring Carey Baraka, Bani Amor, Pier Nirandara, & Noo Saro-Wiwa

  • WRITING PICTURE BOOKS with KYO MACLEAR
    featuring Minh Lê, Matthew Burgess, X. Fang, & Jillian Tamaki

  • WRITING AUTOFICTION with AUBE REY LESCURE
    featuring Zinzi Clemmons, Laura van den Berg, Alexander Chee, & Andrew Sean Greer

2024

 
  • WRITING FOOD with ALI FRANCIS
    featuring Bettina Makalintal, Mayukh Sen, Jaya Saxena, & Alicia Kennedy

  • WRITING THE MODERN LOVE ESSAY with LAVINIA SPALDING
    featuring Susan Yoon, Kevin Renn, Staceyann Chin, & Miya Lee

  • WRITING MOTHERHOOD with RACHEL YODER
    featuring Angela Garbes, Louisa Hall, Sabrina Orah Mark, & Erika Morillo

  • WRITING TRAUMA with MARGO STEINES
    featuring Stacey Ramsower, Athena Dixon, T Kira Māhealani Madden, & Lacy M. Johnson

  • WRITING THIS WARMING WORLD with MEERA SUBRAMANIAN
    featuring Emily Raboteau, Helen Macdonald, Elizabeth Rush, & J. Drew Lanham

 

2023

  • HYBRID MEMOIR with LILLY DANCYGER
    featuring Melissa Febos, Esmé Weijun Wang, Jeannie Vanasco, & Tyrese L. Colemen

  • WRITING THE BODY with MARGO STEINES
    & featuring Aisha Sabatini Sloan, Melissa Febos, Natalie Lima, & Leslie Jamison

2022