All Columns Letter to a Stranger No Equivalent What I Didn’t Say Under the Influence Witching Hour Goodbye to That Place
A penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers

Upcoming Courses

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Writing the Body

Mondays: August 11 - September 8
7 - 9 p.m. EST

$400

We talk a lot in literary spaces about “writing the body,” but what does this really mean, and how can we practice it at an advanced level? Writing the body is not just writing about the body, but it is also writing about the meaning of the body, and the ways it determines our experiences. How do we occupy our bodies, what do we do with them, how do we feel in them? What is the relationship between the body and the self? What skills, craft tools, literary instincts, and embodied practices can we use to support our body work as writers?

Rethinking Travel Writing

Saturdays: September 6 - October 4
1 - 3 p.m. EST

$400

Travel writing is transforming. We’re finally seeing narratives questioning the environmental and human impact of tourism and hearing from those who’ve been shut out for centuries—global majority, queer, and disabled voices. But publishing still privileges leisure travel, and narratives perpetuate imperialistic language and imagery. This class is suited for those with some experience writing personal or travel narratives who are looking to add to their tool belt and are excited at the prospect of engaging with these complications and/or those who have felt shut out of the travel writing world.

Writing Picture Books

Tuesdays: September 16 - October 14
7:30 - 9:30 p.m. EST

$400

The modern picture book has become one of the most popular and protean of literary forms, ranging from playful biographies to contemporary fables to arty concept books, captivating child and adult readers alike. Whether you’re a prose writer with your first picture book idea, or an illustrator hoping to pair your art with words, this course is a practical and inspirational plunge into the world of visual storytelling. Together, we will examine the picture book from every angle—formal, literary, allegorical, biographical, physical, and interactive—and engage with some of the leading storytellers in the picture book genre. 

Writing Autofiction

Mondays: September 29 - October 27
7 - 9 p.m. EST

$400

The old adage: Write what you know. But what if what you know is too sticky, too strange, too sacred? What is this form that isn’t autobiography, but carries the realism of lived experience more than most fiction? That’s where autofiction lives. In the murky, rich territory where memory blurs, and fiction steps in not to lie, but to reveal something even truer.

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.

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? 

Past Courses

2025

 
 

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

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