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Top Writers Conferences to Attend in 2022

on Nov 29, 2021
in Writing Tips
Last update: January 3rd, 2024

Note: Be sure to check out the 2024 writing conferences list !

Being masters of words, writers tend to always be on the lookout for new tips and tricks to improve their skill. In writing, there’s always room to grow and bloom. That’s why we’ve compiled a huge list of writing conferences happening this year where writers of all stages get to meet and attend writing workshops, editor meetings, Q&A sessions and many other activities that can only be described as inspiring.

Writing and Well-Being

Pacific University Master of Fine Arts in Writing Residency Writers Conference

Key West Literary Seminar

Under the Volcano

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival

Key West Literary Seminar Writers’ Workshop Program

Blackbird Studio for Writers

Arisia 2022

Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway

Colrain Classic

Writers in Paradise Conference

Tupelo’s Online Manuscript Conference

Tupelo Truchas Poetry Conference

The Writer’s Hotel Virtual Pitching & Marketing Weekend

GET THE LEAD OUT!

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Todos Santos Writers Workshop

Sierra Writers Conference

Reading, Writing and Applied Linguistics In barcelona

West Coast Christian Writers Online Conference

San Francisco Writers Conference

Southern California Writers’ Conference

Asheville Christian Writers Conference

Southern California Writers Conference – San Diego

Coastal Magic Convention

California Creative Writers Conference

Dahlonega Literary Festival

NAWE Virtual Conference

New York Pitch Conference

Tucson Festival of Books

Scottish Association of Writers Conference

Writing By Writers

Authors’ Salon at Clockwork Alchemy

Let’s Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference

The AWP 2022 Conference & Bookfair

UND Writers Conference

The Write Stuff Writer’s Conference

Teen Author Boot Camp IN PERSON Conference

Teen Author Boot Camp VIRTUAL Conference

Kentucky Writers Conference

National Undergraduate Literature Conference

Tuscon Poetry and Imagination Conference

Chanticleer Authors Conference

The Las Vegas Writers Conference

Austin International Poetry Festival

Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference

A rally of writers conference, rally of writers conference.

Norwescon 43

Self Publishing Advice Conference

Independent Publishers Book Association University

Nebraska Writers Guild Conference

NWG Annual Conference and Writing Retreat

Malice Domestic Convention

Paris Cafe Writing

The Muse & the Marketplace

Northern Colorado Writers Conference

Pikes Peak Writers Conference

Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival

The Annual Gold Rush Writers Conference

American Society of Journalists and Authors Annual Conference

Nonfiction Writers Conference

The Lakefly Writers Conference

Atlanta Writers Conference

Bay Area Book Festival

A Weekend With The Authors

Storymakers Conference

Fiction Readers Summit

Pennwriters Annual Conference

Biographers International Organization Conference

Longleaf Writers Conference

Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference

Alderworks Alaska Writers

Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference

Bear River Writers’ Conference

Clarksville Writers Conference

Big Sur Children’s Writers Workshops

San Antonio Book Festival

Poetry by the Sea: A Global Poetry Conference

North Words Writers Symposium

Balticon 56

Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference

Thrillerfest XIV

Writing the Midwest: A Symposium of Scholars and Writers

Walker Percy Weekend

Yale Writers’ Conference

Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets

The Writer’s Hotel

Reader & Author Get Together

Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference

Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference

Write-to-Publish Conference

Pacific University Residency Writers Conference

The New York Pitch Conference

Colgate Writers Conference

Juniper Summer Writing Institute

Colgate Writers’ Conference

Stonecoast Writers’ Conference

Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference

Information, Medium & Society: Eighteenth International Conference on Publishing Studies

Western Writers of America Convention

Chautauqua Writers’ Festival

Oregon Christian Writers Virtual Summer

ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits

Jackson Hole Writers Conference

Bookstock Literary Festival

Chesapeake Writers’ Conference

Disquiet International Literary Program

Annual Philadelphia Writers’ Conference

The Creativity Workshop In Prague

Ledbury Poetry Festival

Southampton Writers Conference

Writing in Place conference

Book Bonanza 2022

Florida Writing Workshop

Imaginarium Convention

International Creative Writing Conference

The Creativity Workshop in Florence

Tin House Summer Writers’ Workshop

Canterbury Arts Conference

Sun Valley Writers’ Conference

The Creativity Workshop In Barcelona

Catamaran Writing Conference

The Leopardi Writing Conference

Napa Valley Writers Conference

Sitka Writing Adventure

Writer’s Digest Conference

Taos Writers Conference

Florida Authors and Publishers Association Annual Conference

Taylor University’s Professional Writers’ Conference

FAPA Conference

Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference

The Creativity Workshop in New York

AWP Nonfiction Intensive

Book Lovers Con 2022

When Words Collide

Swanwick Writers’ Summer School

Fernie Writers’ Conference

Reading, Writing and Applied Linguistics In Dubai

Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference

Nashville’s 16th Annual Writers’ Conference

Melbourne Writers Festival

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers

Milford Writer’s Workshop

Becoming a Master Writer

Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Con

Flathead River Writers Conference

The Black Authors & Readers Rock Conference (BARR)

Next Chapter Con

Bookgardan: A Year’s Sustenance for Women Writers

Write on the Sound Writers’ Conference

Omega Writers Conference

The DFW Writers Conference

The Heartland Fall Forum

Writing Sisters Summit in the Hills

Ozark Creative Writers Conference

Rocky Mountain Literary Festival

The Vancouver Writers Festival

Western Literature Association Conference

Moonlight & Magnolias Conference

Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

Women Writing the West Annual Conference

Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop

Writer’s Digest Novel Writing Conference

Emerald City Writers’ Conference

Surrey International Writers Conference

Florida Writers Conference

Indie Romance Convention

Medical Writing & Communication Conference

Sanibel Island Writers Conference

La Jolla Writers Conference

Kauai Writers Conference

International Conference on Reading, Writing and Applied Linguistics

The Belize Writers’ Conference

In your journey of becoming the next best selling author, engaging in writing conferences can be of great reward. Don’t miss out and sign up now!

19 Writing Conferences For Emerging and Established Writers

Reading Lists

Build connections, generate new work, and learn from the leading writers of today.

Writing conferences serve many purposes. They’re places to meet other writers and build community. They’re places to help polish up existing writing or generate new work. They’re places to reset and get inspired. They’re places to meet agent, editors, and other members of the publishing literati. They’re even places to party. Still, they can feel difficult to get into, mind-boggling to research, and like an insular club that only established writers seem to know about. Grown out of this short Twitter thread , here is a list of 19 writing conferences to consider applying to.

Two caveats:

1) Things are in flux because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which means many of these conferences could switch to an online format or choose to temporarily pause applications to because of a backlog of accepted attendees from 2020/21. Keep an eye on the application deadlines and updates.

2) Because many of these conferences, especially the older ones, come from a long tradition of upholding the supremacy of white, and often male writers, many writers from marginalized backgrounds, including myself, have faced discrimination and microaggressions at them over the years. However, like most institutions confronted with the ways they have failed people on the margins, these conferences are working to make changes.

The Historic

These conferences have been nurturing writers for many years, and typically attract a significant number of applicants.

Sewanee Writers Conference

Held on the campus of the University of the South, 90 minutes from Nashville, the Sewanee Writers Conference is a twelve-day conference that provides workshops across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting. The conference fee for “contributors” is $1,800, which covers food and lodging for twelve days. Financial aid is available for “Scholars” ($700 tuition, applicants should have a number of genre-specific publications) and “Fellows” (full scholarship, applicants should have a book published by an academic or commercial publisher). Past notable agents and editors who have attended and taken meetings with writers at Sewanee include Michelle Brower, Renee Zuckerbrot, Margaret Riley King, Sally Kim.

Bread Loaf Writers Conference

Held on the campus of Middlebury College in Vermont, Bread Loaf is an eleven-day conference with workshops for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The conference fee for “contributors” is $3,810 and includes tuition, room, and board. Substantial scholarships are available at three different levels—the contributor (earlier stage writers), scholar (has publications in journals, prizes, or other wards), and fellow (must have published their first or second book within the last four years) level. Bread Loaf in 2019 eliminated a controversial program called the “Wait Scholar” program where recipients of financial aid were expected to provide service at the conference as waiters to other attendees. Writer Alexander Chee is a known friend of Bread Loaf, as are the literary agents PJ Mark and Miriam Altshuler, among others.

Tin House Workshops

Held twice a year, the Tin House workshops include both summer and winter sessions, for short fiction, novel, nonfiction, and poetry. The larger summer conference is normally held over a week on the Reed College campus, while the smaller winter conference is held over four days at the Sylvia Beach Hotel on the Oregon coast. Anecdotally, the Tin House conferences are known for prioritizing diversity—both among attendees and among faculty and guests. Attendees meet one agent and one editor during the conference and are usually required to write a query letter and/or synopsis ahead of these meetings, which can be a helpful way to codify one’s writing project. The cost for the summer conference is about $1,600 which includes tuition, accommodation, and all meals; the cost for the winter conference is approximately $1,300 for tuition, accommodation, and some meals. Full scholarships are available, though an additional essay of up to 1,500 words is required in order to apply.

Kenyon Review Writers Workshop

Held on the campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, about 90 minutes from Columbus, the Kenyon conference distinguishes itself by being focused entirely on generating new work. For seven days, writers are expected to produce new work (fiction, nonfiction, poetry) daily to be shared in workshop. The environment is warm and welcoming, which makes the prospect of sharing new, raw work much less daunting. Scholarships are only available up to 50%, total fees are $2,295 for tuition, lodging, and food.

Juniper Institute

Held for a week at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Juniper offers fiction, poetry, and nonfiction workshops designed for sharing works-in-progress for feedback and for generating new work. Tuition is $2,000 and includes some meals. Accommodation on the campus is a separate cost. Five full scholarships are available and include tuition and accommodation.

The Genre-Inflected

Writers of speculative fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy should consider applying to workshops built to support genre fiction.

Clarion Writers’ Workshop

Held on the University of San Diego California’s campus, Clarion is a six-week intensive focused on fundamentals particular to the writing of science fiction and fantasy short stories. Tuition is typically $5,150 for the six weeks, including accommodation and meals. Partial scholarships are available and range between $150 and $4,000. Typically, 18 writers are accepted.

Odyssey Writing Workshop

Held on the campus of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Odyssey is a six-week intensive curriculum designed for both workshopping existing work and generating new work in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Tuition is $2,450 and includes a textbook and dinner; housing on campus apartments is an additional cost, as is additional meals. A handful of scholarships are available.

The Community-Driven

Founded in response to the challenges of white supremacy and cisheteropatriarchy in literature and publishing, these prestigious writers’ conferences help marginalized writers build community.

Lambda Literary Writers Retreat

For LGBTQ writers across genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young adult fiction, playwriting, screenwriting, and speculative fiction), the week-long conference is typically held at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, though the 2022 session will be held virtually. Tuition for the 2022 session is $950 and both full and partial scholarships are available.

For Asian American poets and fiction writers, the highly selective retreat is held at Fordham University’s campus in the Bronx, NYC. The conference fee, which is $375, covers tuition, room, and board for five days. Additional scholarships are sometimes provided to applicants after acceptance.

For Black poets, the week-long Cave Canem retreat is held at the University of Pittsburgh’s Greenburg, Pennsylvania campus.

For Black fiction writers, the week-long retreat is held at Southern Methodist University in Taos, New Mexico. Tuition is covered by Kimbilio, but room and board fees vary depending on the accommodation chosen.

For Latinx poets, the retreat accepts 25-30 poets a year and is currently held at University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson, Arizona (venue changes based on ongoing partnerships). Workshops are designed to be generative.

Founded in 1995 by Sandra Cisneros, the weeklong Macondo workshops, held in San Antonio, Texas, are open to Latinx writers across poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Participants pick between reading/response workshops and generative workshops held for three hours daily. Partial scholarships are available.

The Locales

At higher price points with limited financial aid, these conferences are more expensive than the others, but make up for it by providing beautiful surroundings or new cities to accompany your week of writing.

Disquiet International

Held in Lisbon, Portugal over two weeks, the conference brings writers from North America into conversation with Portuguese writers and features workshops in fiction, memoir, nonfiction, poetry, and writing the Luso experience. Tuition is $1,950 and does not include accommodation, food, or airfare. Disquiet holds an annual writing contest which provides conference scholarships to the winners of the contest.

Held at the luxury Le Sireneuse Hotel in Positano, Italy, the conference is six days, typically in April. Fees are $5,000 and cover accommodation and food. Workshops are mixed genre across fiction and memoir, and are taught by authors Jennifer Finney Boylan, Hannah Tinti, Dani Shapiro, and Jim Shepard.

Community of Writers

Held at Olympic Valley at the foot of the ski slopes at Lake Tahoe, California over six days, the conference is open to fiction, nonfiction, and poetry writers. Several scholarships are available across the genres.

Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference

Located in California’s Mendocino Coast, the conference is three days long and features workshops across fiction (novel and short fiction), nonfiction, poetry, and more, as well as agent pitching events. Financial aid is available to emerging writers in various categories.

Aspen Summer Words

Held in Aspen, Colorado, workshops are available for fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, middle grade, and book editing. Partial scholarships are offered on need and merit basis. The conference also provides a cohort of “Emerging Writer Fellows” with full scholarships to attend the conference. Fellows are nominated by writers, agents, editors, and other members of the Aspen Words community.

Napa Valley Writers Conference

Held at Napa Valley College over six days in the heart of California’s wine country, this conference holds fiction, poetry, and translation workshops. Tuition is approximately $1,000 and does not include accommodations, food, or travel. A small number of full and partial scholarships are available.

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Writing Workshop With Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Learning To Write Like A Nobel Laureate At The Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop.

A writing workshop is a great opportunity for budding writers to have their works subjected to peer review and critique. readers and writers workshops come in various models, but the goals are to teach writers to be better writers.

Every year, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie organizes the Purple Hibiscus Creative writing workshop. Various writers are selected to hone their crafts . Teaching the writing workshops are professional writers.

In 2018, Simbiat Haroun attended the writer’s workshop. In her essay, she shares everything she learned. From the writing workshop model to the writing tips. Simbiat bares it all. Ready to learn how to write like a noble laureate ? Keep reading.

The thing to know about acceptance letters is that they usually come when you least expect them. Most people are never ready for an official endorsement of their work.

Even if you send in your best, the moment the positive feedback comes is usually so euphoric that every thought flies out of your head no matter how prepared you thought you were to receive it.

You forget the certainty that made you send out the application in the first place. And then, you forget the fact that by getting this chance, you have robbed hundreds, maybe thousands of people of the opportunity .

You even forget people. And you forget where you are. Chances are that you even forget your body. Then, you condense as you become a mixture of air and euphoria.

This feeling enveloped me at five a.m. on the seventh of November, when I woke up to check my email. You must know that the day before, I had been looking up writing workshop attendees.

What had I been researching? Everything. I had been checking the number of people who are being accepted to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s creative writing workshop each year.

Also, I’d been sending pathetic messages to my younger brother, wailing to him about how I would never get into this h ighly selective writers’ workshop .

So in the morning, I woke up to go to work, and I checked my email because Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie would be sending out emails to the luck workshop participants that day.

When I saw the subject of the mail, my palms became clammy and my breath started to come out in puffs. Fear crawled through my body unknowing to me – the sneaky bastard – and sat firmly in my blood, planted itself on my chest.

With this choking feeling acting as a witness to one of the most euphoric moments of 2018 for me (it comfortably sits in the top five), I opened the mail.

“Dear Simbiat, thank you for applying to the P urple Hibiscus Trust Creative Writing Workshop ,”

it began. No clue of what was coming. After,

“I am pleased to let you know you’ve been accepted…”

and finally,

“I enjoyed reading your entry…”

My Reaction To The Acceptance Letter.

My body became one again and I flew up, down, up, down and the floor was shaking beneath my feet and I was vibrating with excitement, and my youngest brother, who had slept in my room that night, was jarred awake by my silent screaming . (I was dimly conscious of how early it was and I did try to keep it down). Unimpressed, he begged me to tone it down, and then he went back to sleep.

I continued to jump up and down, stopping at some points to try to let out excited tears – which never came out –and trying and failing to contain my excitement. That was probably my best day at work after I managed to calm down long enough to get ready.

After I told my brother, who at first couldn’t believe it and then I told my parents but they didn’t understand the gravity of what had happened . They correctly read the waves of excitement pouring from my body and extended their most hearty congratulations.

For the duration of the days it took between receiving that letter and going off to the writing workshop , I was buzzing with excitement, making plans, making, and canceling arrangements.

The Arrival To The Writing Workshop Venue.

Finally, the day came for me to leave home. I arrived at the hotel a day before the writing workshop was due to start (as did most of us, really).

I lived in Lagos, where the writer’s workshop was billed to take place, so I could have to the workshop early on the start date. But I was too excited to wait for a whole day.

The day I got there, it was if a rush of creative juices got emptied on my head. This is proof that the writing workshop still works. The conducive environment and the idea of collaborative learning simply make the writer more productive.

I sat at a very comfortable writing desk, with its bright lights, and its soft perfect chair and its distracting mirror. And I wrote two stories. Afterward, I ate and slept.

How To Write Like A Pro. Everything I Learned From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie On Day 1 Of The Writing Workshop.

The next day, the writing workshop kicked off. To prepare, I did nothing. It was all in the mind, I reasoned, and short of literally cracking my skull and parting it open, there was nothing I could do to fully get ready.

I had attended the writing workshop only to learn how to write like a nobel laureate . Some other participants hoped to learn about teaching writing workshops. I realized later on that the later was also a useful skill.

Don’t think about the audience when writing, think about the story. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

At the top of my mind was my decision to do my best. And hopefully not remain star-struck throughout the creative writing workshop!

Participants Of The Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop 2018

When I got downstairs, I was greeted by a congregation of eager students clustered in pockets of small groups. There, I met H. I joined her small cluster, which consisted of herself and G.

I remember that day and all the others that followed very vividly. We sat together and spoke about the things that connected us: our nervousness at meeting Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. We spoke about our uncertainty about being at the writing workshop , random things, mundane things.

Soon, it was time to eat and we proceeded to the dining room; I still miss the food. After, I quickly went to the room where we were to have classes.

Chairs were arranged in a U formation, with sweets, a bottle of water and a jotter and a biro. I walked in and I sat. Less than five minutes later, I walked out again and went back to the dining room.

The room was too cold and I had been the only one there, everybody else was too busy learning the patterns of other people’s mind s.

Many minutes later, we were ushered back into the room, into the freezing cold. It felt like stepping through the doorway from the summer into the winter. Somehow, in the minutes I had been away, it had become even colder. We sat there in the cold, waiting.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Comes To Teach The Creative Writers’ Workshop

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie walks into the writing workshop evenue

I didn’t notice when but eventually, I felt the strain in my cheeks that told me I was smiling widely. She came in and sat beside me, to my immediate right.

When editing, look at the first and last few sentences. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Here was a woman whose books I had read back to back and who I had loved for so many years and she was sitting so close that if I stretched my hand, I would have been able to touch her. She smiled at us many times and then she introduced herself to raucous, disbelieving laughter.

“We already know you!” Many of us wanted to shout. “We know everything there is to know about you.”

She told us bits about herself, declared the room a safe space, and invited us to share pieces of ourselves. It was like we were transported out of that freezing space by the sea to the safest place everyone could be. (For me, it was an island away from civilization).

It was like we had been transported and told that we could be our deepest truest selves. Some of us poked the change with sticks, and others embraced it wholeheartedly.

What is important is that one after the other, we shared pieces of ourselves . And in that room, we started to form bonds that I believe will endure. And this is what I found most fascinating about the writing workshop model Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie built.

Why Our Writing Samples Stood Out From The Other Applicants.

After our brief introduction, we began the business of the day. Chimamanda told us why she had selected the stories she did.

Use more detail so that your story is more believable. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

She didn’t pick perfect stories, she said. She added that It had been particularly hard that year, to select the stories she did. And then she began to critique our entry stories one after the other.

During the course of this session, which stretched into the next day, she shared a few gems. I’ll share a few of the writing tips Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shared while she was teaching the writing workshop :

Don’t think about the audience when writing, t hink about the story .
When writing out of your box (gender, nationality, etc.), it is important to come to it with humility.
When editing , look at the first and last few sentences.
Use more detail so that your story is more believable.
Allow your characters some vulnerability.
Be specific but don’t overdo it in order to write a more believable story.

Finally, she got to my story. And she told me something I will remember forever. Sorry, I will not share it with you.

The First Three Days Of The Writers’ Workshop and The Writing Prompts We Explored.

Guide to landing entry level and expert level writing jobs

We spent the first three days of the writing workshop with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

We wrote more stories. They can serve as a writing workshop idea or a writing prompt for you.

One assignment was to write a story using only dialogue,
Another prompt involved a story about what we like and dislike about ourselves . These exercises opened us up and forced us to confront parts of ourselves we had never dared to open up.

For many of us (myself included), we had never been able to write anything so personal. For many of us, it was like opening a can of worms.

The stories were so hard to write but eventually, the worms grew into butterflies. We found that we were better for the sleepless nights we had to endure to complete our writing assignments.

Writing Tip: There should always be layers in everything you write. — Lola Shoneyin.

So yes, the first three days of the writing workshop were daunting but absolutely worth it. Above all, they were fun as we had started to develop stronger relationships over fried fish, and chicken curry sauce, and salads, with sugary drinks to wash it all down.

The Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop With Lola Shoneyin, Author and Founder Of The Ake Festival.

The fourth day of the writing workshop saw us paired with Lola Shoneyin and brought what would become a fun, poetry session.

Writing Tip: Use symbolism to show how people are different. — Lola Shoneyin.

I definitely did not know before I met her that she had published at least three poetry collections. And that she’d published these before releasing her critically-acclaimed novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives.

During the writing workshop, Lola taught us about brevity and subtlety in writing. The workshop participants learned how to use writing as therapy.. And we learned about foreshadowing.

Specialization courses for creative writers

Some golden creative writing tips she shared with us are as follows:

There should always be layers in everything you write. This will help you build a great narrative arc.
To be able to tell overly personal experiences, learn to detach yourself.
The more you translate someone’s work into your language, the better your description will be.
Use symbolism to show how people are different.

She also discussed how to write from many perspectives when writing a novel . To make it all easier, here are some things to note when writing different voices:

Draw very clear lines.
Get to know each character intimately.
Write down a character bible.

To practice, we took a poem that Lola chose. After she’d separated us into groups of four, we translated it into pidgin.

This exercise was an illustration of how description can be more vivid when translated into your language. It showed how translation exercises can aid the writer in painting a clearer picture in a story.

The Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop With Tash Aw.

After Lola was Tash Aw with whom we learned to write about people who are close to us.

Write about things you’re more emotionally drawn to. — Tash Aw

Tash’s writing workshop model was slightly different from Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s model.

Tash Aw had us pair up. And for his assignment, we had to discuss parts of ourselves with our partners . From what each writer had learned of the other person, everyone had to write a story about their partner. It had to be something they could relate to.

Colour narratives of people with what you know about them. — Tash Aw

On the second day, my roommate, D, finally arrived. And it was with her that I completed this assignment. This was particularly hard for me, and I ended up doing a fairly decent job only on my second try.

Are you interested in trying this writing workshop idea? Here are some writing tips which I noted from Tash’s class:

Write about things you’re more emotionally drawn to.
Be able to say the things that they said, didn’t say, and could have said.
Stories can be used to antagonize the subject.
Writing is about going into their emotional space, about invading their personal lives.
Colour narratives of people with what you know about them.

Learning How To Write From Eghosa Imaseun.

Next, the workshop participants enjoyed a visit from Eghosa Imaseun. Before he showed up, he sent us stories to read. Short stories and articles that taught us a lot about the proper way to submit stories and how to maintain voices while we write.

We also got an assignment to re-write a chapter of a popular book . The winner took home the complete set of Chimamanda Adichie’s books (I’m still jealous, T).

Below are some things to note from Eghosa’s writing class. His tips focused on things to consider when submitting a book to a publisher:

Write a striking cover letter.

Write a letter of approach requesting publication. This should have three parts: why you write, what you write, who you are.

Include A Short Synopsis.

Summarize what you’ve written in two sentences. Include why you’re the best person to tell the story.

Include Samples Of Your Work.

Submit three chapters or 50 pages or 10,000 words of your novel, whichever is longer.

Don’t Hesitate To Send A Follow-Up Email To The Publisher.

Follow up on your submission after two months.

Follow The Publisher’s Submission Guidelines.

The safest thing is to go to their submissions page and check if they have a preferred format; it’s usually best to send a traditional format.

Eghosa was hard surfaces with soft tips. He asked questions and actually expected an answer. Again, he was self-critical and magnanimous. And he said things that shocked you but at the same time did not, because you knew he meant them.

You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.

He shared some tips about points of view with us and their specific differences. An important thing I learned during Eghosa’s session is that the best way to transport yourself to the time where you’re writing is to use music and things that are relevant to that place.

What Dave Eggers Taught At The Writing Workshop About Points Of View And Editing.

Dave Eggers was last to see us but in no way the least. With Dave, we discussed how to humanize a character , for writing about people we don’t particularly like.

Some of the ways a writer can humanize a character are:

Show vulnerability in the character.
Portray the character with someone or something they love.
Present their weakness in relatable ways.
Reveal their doubts, their internal struggles.
Show what they are like when they fail.
Reveal their inner justification for evil. In most cases, people who do evil think they have good reasons for their actions.
Take readers into the character’s head.

Dave took us through an invaluable editing class that is worth more than I can ever say. Gold, maybe? With Dave, we discussed experimental stories, stories that are told not from the typical points of view but strange ones.

Workshop participants had to think about possibly writing from the point of view of a housefly, of a dead woman, using different structures, and we did, with many of us producing stellar work.

For our assignment, Dave told us to pick a newspaper story and write a fictional story out of it. It was particularly boring as none of the stories seemingly had good material. We spun gold out of the ordinary thread after which we took the practical road to ‘editing’.

How To Edit Your Story: Tips From The Writing Workshop With Dave Eggers.

Never use so/then.
Do not put a semicolon in dialogue.
Analyze your story sentence by sentence and remove words that don’t do anything for the sentence.
Don’t overdo the dialogue tags.
Show more than you tell .

We were encouraged to share our work and until today, a quote rings in my head every time I think of holding back: “You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.”

The quote may be overused but it is no less important.

Other Interesting Extracurricular Activities We Participated In During The Writing Workshop .

It is crucial to note that we were not just props sitting in class, and trudging back to our rooms at the end of the day.

In the middle of the unending work, we found time to watch movies together in J’s room, have a dance party, go on long walks as a group during which I had a soul-moving talk with T.

We took our time to grow as writers as well as individuals as well as Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Trust Students.

Also, we spent nights staring at the sky, sitting in the bar downstairs discussing ourselves, peeling open wounds that had been long forgotten, and left buried under a bandage.

We talked and laughed and selfied among ourselves. Each day of those ten days is well documented.

The Final Days Of The Writers Workshop.

All too soon, it was the tenth day. We would spend the day getting ready, making ourselves up and stuffing beautiful outfits, shoes, and gorgeous makeup into the gaping holes our oncoming departure would leave within us.

At the oriental hotel, I floated through the day. It was finally the day we would have our long-awaited selfies with Chimamanda who had to travel and couldn’t make it on our previously scheduled date.

One by one, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie , with our certificates in hand, called our names. And one after the other we climbed onto the stage, to hear her say the things about us that she had liked best, things we had thought she would have forgotten.

Not Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; She had a sharp memory and remembered the most important things about each one of us, gave us words we each held to our chests, and as we went back to our hotel, one sentence played over in my mind which she had said at a point during the writing workshop, “ I can’t wait to read your books.”

Author’s Bio:

Simbiat Haroun lives in her head and when she is not writing, she is silently watching, thinking about what next she will turn into a story. She is a graduate of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Trust Workshop.

We’ll be publishing more feature stories from other writers. Keep visiting CWN. Or better still, subscribe for our newsletter and you’ll get updates right in your inbox.

Want to write for us? Great! Read the submissions guidelines on our Write for Us Page

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The 2024 Writing Workshop of Chicago

Get your writing published: june 22, 2024, the 2024 writing workshop of chicago: june 22, 2024.

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This writing event is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. Note that there are limited seats at the event (200 total). All questions about the event regarding schedule, details and registration are answered below. Thank you for your interest in the 2024 Writing Workshop of Chicago! We are very proud of our many success stories where attendees sign with agents following events — see our growing list of success stories here .

(Please note that this is an in-person event. We at Writing Day Workshops plan both online/virtual as well as in-person events. This next WWOC is an in-person event happening in Chicago on June 22, 2024. See you there.)

WHAT IS IT?

This is a special one-day “How to Get Published” writing workshop on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at the Congress Plaza Hotel. In other words, it’s one day full of classes and advice designed to give you the best instruction concerning how to get your writing & books published. We’ll discuss your publishing opportunities today, how to write queries & pitches, how to market yourself and your books, what makes an agent/editor stop reading your manuscript, and more. No matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — the day’s classes will help point you in the right direction. Writers of all genres are welcome.

This event is designed to squeeze as much into one day of learning as possible. You can ask any questions you like during the classes, and get your specific concerns addressed. We will have literary agents onsite to give feedback and take pitches from writers, as well. This year’s agent and editor faculty so far includes:

literary agent Abby Saul (The Lark Group)
literary agent Miriam Cortinovis (Arthouse Literary Agency)
literary agent Jenna Satterthwaite (Storm Literary)
literary agent Christine Goss (The Purcell Agency)
literary agent Leah Moss (Steven Literary)
editor Stacy Abrams (Entangled Books)
literary agent Marcy Posner (Folio Literary)
literary agent Tina Schwartz (The Purcell Agency)
literary agent Dan Cramer (Page Turner Literary Agency)
literary agent Elisa Moles (Painted Fire Literary)
literary agent Lindsey Smith (Speilburg Literary)
editor Josh Gregory (Albert Whitman & Company)
literary agent Vicky Weber (The Purcell Agency)
literary agent Lori Colvin (Birch Literary)
and more to come.

By the end of the day, you will have all the tools you need to move forward on your writing journey. This independent event is organized by coordinator Brian Klems of Writing Day Workshops . E-mail him to register for the event at [email protected].

EVENT LOCATION & DETAILS:

9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday, June 22, 2024 — at the Congress Plaza Hotel.

THIS YEAR’S SESSIONS & WORKSHOPS (JUNE 22, 2024):

What you see below is a quick layout of the day’s events. The topics below are mostly set, but subject to change. You can see a more detailed layout of the day’s classes on the Schedule Page here .

Please Note: There will be 2-3 classes/workshops going at all times during the day, so you will have your choice of what class you attend at any time. The final schedule of topics is subject to change, but here is the current layout:

8:30 – 9:30: Check-in and registration at the event location.

BLOCK ONE: 9:30 – 10:30

1. Understanding the Publishing Industry in 2024 — From Hybrid Publishing to Artificial Intelligence and Everything in Between. How are traditional publishing and self-publishing changing? What kind of writer is attractive to an agent currently? What is hybrid publishing? How will A.I. (artificial intelligence) help or hurt writers in the years to come? All these questions, and more, will be addressed during the speech.

2. Book Marketing from Your Couch: Social Media 101 . Analyze your audience and ascertain the best social media vehicle to dominate. This class is for veteran authors as well as writers seeking to grow their platforms in the hopes of landing an agent or publishing deal.

BLOCK TWO: 10:45 – 11:50

1. Everything You Need to Know About Literary Agents and Writing an Awesome Query Letter. This workshop is a thorough crash course in dealing with literary agents and writing an amazing query that gets attention.

2. How to Improve Your Novel With Scintillating Dialogue. Learn techniques to change narrative into dialogue, and how to avoid bland conversations and turn them into conversations that leap off the page.

(What you see here is a quick layout of the day’s events. See a full layout of the day’s sessions, with detailed descriptions, on the official Schedule Page here .)

LUNCH ON YOUR OWN: 11:50 – 1:15

Lunch is on your own during these 85 minutes.

BLOCK THREE: 1:15 – 2:30

1. “Writers Got Talent”—a Page 1 Critique Fest (room) . This is a chance to get your first page read (anonymously — no bylines given) with attending agents commenting on what was liked or not liked about the submission.

2. Picture Book Tips & Trends. A workshop that highlights and examines current trends in the general trade picture book market, and where those trends might be heading.

BLOCK FOUR: 2:45 – 3:45

1. Open Agent Q&A Panel. Several attending literary agents will open themselves up to open Q&A from WWOC attendees. Bring your questions and get them answered in this popular session.

2. Twenty Questions You Need Answered Before You Seek an Agent or Self-Publish Your Book. Before you publish your work or query an agent, there are plenty of things you need to know to give yourself the best chances at success.

BLOCK FIVE: 4:00 – 5:00

1. Getting Published in Today’s World: 10 Tips to Make You the Writer Agents and Publishers Want , taught by Brian Klems . If you want to land an agent and a book deal in today’s market, you’re going to have to do a lot more than just write a great book (though that’s a good start). In this session, former Writer’s Digest editor Brian A. Klems discusses the challenges writers face in publishing today and offers up 10 practical tips to help you break through the barriers and find success.

2. Ponder, List, Outline, Plot: The Four Keys To Outlining Your Book. Are you a Plotter or a Pantser? Plotters sometimes find that intricate outlines kill their muse. Pantsers often waste time writing dead-end chapters. Discover a hybrid approach for plotting that makes it easy to sketch out the hook, character, and story structure of your next kidlit book.

SESSIONS END: 5:00

At 5 p.m., the day is done. Speakers will make themselves available by the workshop’s bookstore for a short while to sign any books for attendees.

Agent & Editor Pitching: All throughout the day.

————-

PITCH AN AGENT OR EDITOR:

Elisa Moles is a literary agent with Painted Fire Literary Agency. She is seeking: Especially interested in upmarket fiction. “In one word, what defines fantastic fiction narrative? Consequences. Consequences give structure. And stories with cohesive and creative structures, true to each writer’s background and voice, stand the test of time beyond the trendy topics and gimmicks of the day. I especially love psychologically complex characters. I’m looking for distinctive and compassionate voices who are telling organically unexpected stories in a wide variety of styles and genres. Surprise me.” Please do not pitch: nonfiction, poetry, children’s books, middle grade, YA, graphic novels, screenplays, westerns, horror, nihilist, or erotic work. No previously self-published works please. Learn more about Elisa here.

ADDED ONLINE PITCHING : To ensure that writers have a robust and diverse lineup of agents & editors to pitch, 2024 Writing Workshop of Chicago attendees will have the ability to also pitch literary agents at the Writing Day Workshops *online* event that follows the 2024 WWOC on our calendar.

That event is the Texas Writing Workshop , July 26-27, 2024, which will have 30-40 agents taking one-on-one Zoom virtual pitches.

This means that 2024 Chicago attendees can have access to pitching all those online TWW agents — pitches still at $29 each — without being a formal registrant for the online July 2024 event. (That said, if you want to formally register for the Texas conference and have access to all classes and panels, let us know, as there is a discount for confirmed Chicago attendees.)

If you are interested in this added pitching opportunity, the first step is to get formally registered for Chicago. Following the Chicago conference on June 22, 2024, we will be in touch with all Chicago attendees and ask them if they want to partake in pitching online agents at the 2024 TWW (July 26-27) . At that time, you can communicate your pitch requests and purchase meeting time.

More 2024 agents to be announced as they are confirmed. You can sign up for pitches at any time, or switch pitches at any time, so long as the agent in question still has appointments open.

These one-on-one meetings are an amazing chance to pitch your book face-to-face with an agent, and get personal, individual feedback on your pitch/concept. If the agent likes your pitch, they’ll request to see part/all of your book — sending you straight past the slush pile. It also gives you an intimate chance to meet with an agent and pick their brain with any questions on your mind.

(Please note that Agent/Editor Pitching is an add-on, separate aspect of the day, for only those who sign up. Spaces are limited for these premium meetings, and pricing/detail is explained below.)

$199 — EARLY BIRD base price for registration to the 2024 WWOC and access to all workshops, all day. As of fall 2023, registration is now OPEN. To register, just email coordinator Brian Klems at [email protected] and tell him you’re interested in the Chicago event.

Add $29 — to secure a 10-minute one-on-one meeting with any of our literary agents or editors in attendance. Use this special meeting as a chance to pitch your work and get professional feedback on your pitch. (Spaces limited.) If they wish, attendees are free to sign up for multiple 10-minute pitch sessions at $29/session — pitching multiple individuals, or securing 20 minutes to pitch one person rather than the usual 10. Here are four quick testimonials regarding writers who have signed with literary agents after pitching them at prior Writing Day Workshops events. (Our bigger, growing list of success stories an be seen here .)

Add $69 — for an in-depth, personal critique of your one-page query letter from Brian Klems, one of the day’s instructors. (This rate is a special event value for Writing Workshop of Chicago attendees only.) Registrants are encouraged to take advantage of the specially-priced critique, so they can send out their query letter with confidence following the workshop. Also, if you are meeting with an agent at the event, you’re essentially speaking your query letter aloud to them. Wouldn’t it be wise to give that query letter (i.e., your pitch) one great edit before that meeting?

Add $89 — for an in-depth personal critique of the first 10 pages of your novel. Spaces with faculty for these critiques are very limited, and participating attendees will either 1) get an in-person meeting at the workshop, if the faculty member is attending the live event, or 2) get a 10-minute phone call with the faculty member, and have notes passed along via email, if the critiquer is not attending the live event. Options:

Young adult (contemporary, thriller, romance only), romance/romcoms, mysteries/thrillers, general/literary fiction, book club fiction, women’s fiction (in-person critiques) : Faculty member Jilly Gagnon , a published author, will get your work in advance, critique the first 10 double-spaced pages of your book, meet with you in person at the event for 15 minutes sometime during the workshop to discuss her thoughts, and pass along written critique notes before or after the meeting.
More options possibly forthcoming.

How to pay/register — Registration is now open. Reach out to workshop organizer Brian Klems via email: [email protected] , and he will provide specific instructions for payment and registration to get you a reserved seat at the event. Payment is by credit card, PayPal, or check. Because Brian plans different workshops, make sure you note that you’re inquiring about the Chicago workshop specifically.

REGISTRATION:

Because of limited space at the venue (Congress Plaza Hotel), the workshop can only allow 200 registrants, unless spacing issues change. For this reason, we encourage you to book sooner rather than later.

Are spaces still available? Yes, we still have spaces available. We will announce RIGHT HERE, at this point on this web page, when all spaces are taken. If you do not see a note right here saying how all spaces are booked, then yes, we still have room, and you are encouraged to register.

How to Register : The easy first step is simply to reach out to workshop organizer Brian Klems via email: [email protected] . Brian will pass along registration information to you, and give instructions on how to pay by credit card, PayPal, or check. Once payment is complete, you will have a reserved seat at the event. The WWOC will send out periodic e-mail updates to all registered attendees with any & all news about the event. Because Brian plans different workshops, make sure you note that you’re inquiring about the Chicago workshop specifically.

Refunds : If you sign up for the event and have to cancel for any reason at any time, you will receive 50% of your total payment back [sent by check or PayPal]. The other 50% is nonrefundable and will not be returned, and helps the workshop ensure that only those truly interested in the limited spacing sign up for the event. (Please note that query editing payments and manuscript editing payments are completely non-refundable if the instructor has already edited your work.)

Thank you for your interest in the 2024 Writing Workshop of Chicago.

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Lindsey Smith of Speilburg Literary

Lindsey Smith got her start in the publishing industry as an author. After her own publishing success, she started working with other writers to help launch their books and shape their careers. To date, Lindsey has worked with over 1,000 authors and negotiated book deals even before becoming an agent. Her unique perspective helps shape her passion for the industry and her role as an advocate for her clients.

Formerly a publicist and hailing from the world of self-publishing, Lindsey understands the importance of branding, and she works with each client not only to sell a book but to build a career.

Lindsey is excited to work with first-time authors as well as those who are established. She is seeking nonfiction only, specifically prescriptive nonfiction that is compelling, and voice-driven, with the ability to shed light on a topic that might be unknown. She especially loves projects and people that bring humor to serious situations.

Lindsey is interested in cookbooks, lifestyle, health, pop culture, gender issues, self-help, true crime, and current events. She is especially interested in podcast-to-book ideas, journalists who specialize in specific research, and cookbooks that have a niche and/or narrative voice. Please do not send diet books.

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Miriam Cortinovis of Arthouse Literary Agency

Born and raised in Italy, Miriam (they/she) moved to Chicago as a teenager and has since earned a BA in Creative Writing and an MA in Writing & Publishing from DePaul University. After an excellent internship at Aevitas Creative Management, for which she also freelance read, she landed at ArtHouse Literary as an intern. They became Associate Agent through intense months of professional growth and supported learning. When not reading or writing SFF fiction of their own, Miriam enjoys playing videogames with their partner and scheming on Dungeons & Dragons with her friends. Their MSWL is inspired by all these speculative passions on top of their non-binary, bisexual, and chronically ill identity.

She is seeking:

In general, Miriam is eagerly looking for everything and anything speculative (fantasy and science fiction) across most age ranges — adult, young adult, and middle grade.

For fantasy, Miriam seeks intersectional diverse stories that make of magic—whatever its definition—an instrument of identity and/or social discovery. They want portal trilogies like A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC, D&D-inspired adventures like TIL DEATH DO US BARD, alluring paranormal glimpses like TOGETHER WE ROT, and the triumphal return of urban fantasy through the likes of LEGENDBORN. They would love epic tales set in worlds similar yet different from ours like THE JASMINE THRONE, coming-of-age powerhouses like WITCHLINGS & PERCY JACKSON, riveting academia plots like CURIOUS TIDES, and retellings that deviate from the Western canon—with a special interest in medieval romance & the Arthurian cycle. Above all, Miriam is on the frontlines of championing queer perspectives, especially trans, non-binary, and asexual voices, through all human facets: rage, joy, healing, and messy glory. Think, HELL FOLLOWED WITH US and VESUVIUS.

For science fiction, Miriam is eager to have their brains teased and blown. While not keen on hard sci-fi, they relentlessly chase the necromantic high of GIDEON THE NINTH. They would also love space shenanigans à la TREASURE PLANET and JUNKER SEVEN. On earth or otherwise, Miriam awaits dystopian novels that fearlessly interrogate and exaggerate modern society with the timeless insight of THE HUNGER GAMES, the cutting genius of PARABLE OF THE SOWER, and the ruthlessness of HBO’s WESTWORLD.

Similarly—for horror, thriller, gothic, and historical, they would love to champion manuscripts that utilize the speculative to challenge, endanger, and transform the psyche anew. Less splatter, more mind metamorphosis. To note that Miriam isn’t looking for historical novels set during or after WWI-WWII unless told from a non-Western perspective.

Miriam takes an interest in young adult contemporary novels that draw on their fascination with American high school from immigrant perspectives and with summer camps/adventures, in the veins of YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN. They’re also looking for queer YA horror & thriller the likes of HOW TO FIND A MISSING GIRL and HOLLOW.

Miriam is also on the lookout for selective works of literary fiction and creative nonfiction. For everything listed above, they’re also highly interested in novellas.

What they don’t want : Poetry. Picture Books. Trade Nonfiction. Contemporary Mafia Fiction. Contemporary Adult Romance. Erotica.

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Jenna Satterthwaite of Storm Literary Agency

In Adult Fiction , she’s especially looking for:

Psychological and domestic suspense full of twists. Think: Lucy Foley, Vera Kurian, Andrea Bartz, May Cobb, Eliza Jane Brazier, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, Jeneva Rose, Jessica Strawser
Murder mystery, cozy or traditional, contemporary or historical, serious or humorous, hijinks welcome and big family drama very welcome. Think: Louise Penny, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Lucy Foley, Tana French, Before She Disappeared , Dial A for Aunties , Rhys Bowen, Knives Out, Only Murders in the Building.
Fantasy – cozy with low stakes, high/epic, portal and romantasy. Think: Legends & Lattes, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Every Heart a Doorway , Sarah J Maass, Leigh Bardugo.
Rom-coms and romance – in particular I’m interested in POC voices in romance, body-positive romance, LGBTQ+ romance, and adventure romance (think The Lost City ). If you can give me a strong hook, an ‘impossible’ situation, and real, quirky characters I can root for, I’m sold. Think: Tia Williams, Emily Henry, Angie Hockman.
Women’s fiction: give me that heartfelt beach read. Bonus points for sister relationships, complex family dynamics, intergenerational tensions, and upmarket writing.
Sci fi – I don’t want my sci-fi cold; give me human connection, make me cry, give me that high concept worldbuilding and heartache that lasts for a week. Think: This Is How You Lose the Time War.
Speculative – give me speculative twists on rom-coms, thrillers, mysteries, etc. Give me time loops, robots, parallel worlds, fantastical creatures, etc. Give me a story rooted in the present that has that one, addictive speculative twist. Think: The Rehearsals, Groundhog Day, Bone Gap, Stranger Things.
Upmarket and book club fiction. Think: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Britt Marie Was Here, Great Kitchens of the Midwest, Taylor Jenkins Reid.

In Adult Nonfiction , Jenna is selective. She’s especially looking for:

Voicey memoir (solid platform is a huge plus)
The next big ex-evangelical voice, and both feminist and LGBTQ+ voices in the Christian context. Think: Rachel Held Evans, Matthew Vines, or Beth Allison Barr’s The Making of Biblical Womanhood.
Spiritual deconstruction / reconstruction. Think: Kate Bowler’s Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved.
Self-help from an “expert” millennial or Gen Z voice on topics such as divorce, sexuality, pregnancy, parenting.
Books highlighting alternative approaches to death (living funerals, death doulas, at-home body care, etc.)

In Young Adul t, she’s especially looking for:

Fantasy, cozy or epic, contemporary or infused with sci-fi. Think: Iron Widow, Only a Monster, Where Dreams Descend, Caraval , Sarah J. Maass, Girl of Fire and Thorns , Leigh Bardugo, Brigid Kemmerer’s A Curse So Dark and Lonely.
Sci-fi that makes me feel as much as it makes me think; bonus if you can make me cry. Think: The Ones We’re Meant to Find.
Thriller/suspense and mystery. Think: One of Us Is Lying, Come Find Me.
Speculative. Think: The Grace Year.
Atmospheric horror or extravagantly satirical horror. Think: House of Hollow, Wilder Girls, Bodies Bodies Bodies.

In Middle Grade , she’s looking for:

Graphic Novel – mostly interested in author-illustrators; fantasy or contemporary. If my ten-year-old would love it, we’re on to something! Think: Amulet, Smile, Drama.
Fantasy with series potential. Think: Chris Colfer, The School for Good and Evil, Wings of Fire.
Contemporary stories that explore the multicultural / multilingual experience

In Picture Books , she’s only looking for author/illustrators and the following very specific projects:

Books that explore neurodiversity, in particular, high sensitivity/sensory processing
If you have What Happens on Wednesdays but set in Chicago, please send that my way!
Books that celebrate the joy, grittiness and diversity of urban living
Books highlighting the multicultural experience (bilingual books English/Spanish), especially from the point of view of a refugee child

She is not currently looking for :

Picture books (unless it’s a referral/request or fits the above)
Chapter books
Hardcore/gory horror
Military Science Fiction
Anything with child abuse or gruesome child death described in detail on the page (okay to refer to it as part of a character’s backstory, but I can’t take it on the page; exceptions made if you are Tana French) … my heart can’t take it!
Poetry or screenplays

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Tina P. Schwartz of The Purcell Agency

She is seeking : middle grade, young adult, some Women’s Fiction (mostly book club), contemporary realistic fiction, romance, coming of age stories, #ownvoices, and LGBTQ.

Tina admits to being a reluctant reader as a child. In fact, she says she is still very picky when it comes to choosing a book, and isn’t afraid to judge one (at first) by its cover!

Ask her kids, and they won’t believe you! They’ll tell you her nose is constantly in a book, or staring at her Kindle Fire, her iPad mini, or even reading mss on her phone! When not reading manuscripts, marketing website, social media, or industry blogs, you can find Schwartz on her laptop enjoying her own writing time. (She’s written 10 traditionally published books.)

Schwartz is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI).

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Vicky Weber of The Purcell Agency

Vicky is a former elementary school teacher turned children’s book author. In addition to her own publications, she runs At Home Author, a coaching and consulting company that teaches current and aspiring authors how to get their books published and marketed for success.

1. PICTURE BOOKS: Anything heartfelt, educational, or lighthearted. 2. YOUNG ADULT: Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, Thriller, Suspense, 3. MIDDLE GRADE: Fantasy, Mystery, Magic 4. ADULT: Fantasy and Thrillers.

Vicky specializes in picture books. She wants to be dropped into the moment and experience the story alongside the characters.

Picture Book Wishlist:

Stories by underrepresented authors, both fiction and nonfiction. I especially love bilingual books.
Books that are educational (fiction or nonfiction) in a way that makes learning fun, especially if they are musical in some way.
Lighthearted, playful humor with heart.
Familiar storylines with a fresh twist or perspective
Rhyming stories must be exceptionally well written with perfect meter.

She also loves Young Adult and Fantasy.

ALWAYS SEEKING: Underrepresented authors, BIPOC, LGBTQ+

No erotica, romance, or memoirs please. Vicky is not the best fit for potty humor, graphic novels, or nonfiction adult books.

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Elisa Moles of Painted Fire Literary Agency

She is seeking : Especially interested in upmarket fiction. “In one word, what defines fantastic fiction narrative? Consequences. Consequences give structure. And stories with cohesive and creative structures, true to each writer’s background and voice, stand the test of time beyond the trendy topics and gimmicks of the day. I especially love psychologically complex characters. I’m looking for distinctive and compassionate voices who are telling organically unexpected stories in a wide variety of styles and genres. Surprise me.”

Please do not send: nonfiction, poetry, children’s books, middle grade, YA, graphic novels, screenplays, westerns, horror, nihilist, or erotic work.

A graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute, Elisa has fifteen years of distinctive experience coaching, developing, and elevating artists of all types. Her background in academia (with a doctorate in music performance and literature) has given her a comfort with diverse settings and voices, a critical eye, and an ability to “find the gap” in the marketplace for the written word. An agent must come to each writer on an individual basis, dependent upon their particular skills, personalities, needs, and aspirations. Working on art demands a tailored experience. This methodical process requires a true love for the hero’s journey that every artist travels. Elisa has a long history of editing and developing writers; currently, in the nonfiction sphere, she is an editor at The Collective, an online quarterly publication for musicians and artists that prizes critical writing, diverse thinking, and underrepresented voices. As a classical musician, Elisa has always understood what it takes for artist professionals to succeed; she has built Painted Fire to be an agency whose goal is not only to sell books, but to provide writers with the tools and community they need to maintain a lifestyle of creative productivity. There is a cacophony of content — a creative and empathetic representative acts to make sure the right work is heard above the noise.

“Needless to say, we are an equal opportunity agency and welcome submissions from all backgrounds, walks of life, and experience paradigms.”

No previously self-published works please.

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Dan Cramer of Page Turner Literary Agency

He specializes in representing children’s picture books — both fiction and nonfiction.

“My love of reading started when I was young with The Chronicles of Narnia. I loved that I could escape into a world where magic and adventure existed. That love of books grew and has followed me into adulthood. Some of my best friends and greatest loves, through the years, have been fictional characters. They have inspired and motivated me in almost every facet of my life, from my first career as a Forensic Scientist with the FBI to owning and operating Page Turner Literary Agency.

“While I love all books, my heart beats for children’s literature for many reasons, but the main reason is children’s literature is fearless. These books and their authors are not afraid to tackle tough topics, to celebrate diversity, or bring awareness to issues that others would turn their backs on. Children’s literature never ceases to surprise me with its fortitude.

“I live in Burr Ridge, Illinois with my husband and our rescue dog, Henry. When I’m not reading, I enjoy the outdoors, horror movies, and baking (and I’m definitely not imagining I’m on the Great British Bake Off… ok, I’m totally doing that.)

“I have two undergraduate degrees from West Virginia University: Forensic and Investigative Sciences and Psychology. I have two graduate degrees from Benedictine University: MBA and MS Management and Organizational Behavior. Prior to starting my own agency, I was an Associate Literary Agent with Flannery Literary.”

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Christine Goss of The Purcell Agency

Christine is a graduate of Lake Forest College with a BA in communications. Formerly a sales representative, she has skills that pair well with her love of reading and story development. As an author herself, she is aware of what it requires and the hard work it takes to get to the final product of a completed book. Christine is drawn to stories with high stakes and tension. The first pages need to draw her in with action. She wants to be sucked into the world on the pages through a unique voice. When she’s not working, reading, or writing, she’s usually chasing her two boys who are likely chasing her fur baby (dog).

I am always looking for LGBTQ+ and stories by underrepresented authors

Adult fiction:

– Upmarket Fiction/Commercial -Romance: -Fantasy/Romantasy – Dystopian or utopian

Young Adult / New Adult:

– Upmarket Fiction/Commercial Fiction -Romance -Fantasy/Romantasy – Dystopian or utopian

Middle Grade through Adult:

-Graphic Novels

Nonfiction:

– Cookbooks: Original family recipes with anecdotes sprinkled throughout. A true story of cooking. – Stories about motherhood, unspoken troubles and hardships of new motherhood. – A story that would compel readers to take care of themselves or expand sympathy/understanding for themselves (Re: YOU SHOULD REALLY TALK TO SOMEONE).

——–

Christine would love to see books about approachable ways for a sustainable lifestyle. With work resuming and people going back to the office, how can the environment still be top of mind? Anything exposing fast fashion and how fashion is detrimental to the environment, and not only that but how to practice “slow fashion”.

Favorite Authors: Ali Hazelwood, Talia Hibbert, Isabel Cañas, Chloe Liese, Jessica Joyce, Meryl Wilsner, Ashley Poston, Rebecca Ross, Amy Lea, K.A. Tucker

What I’m NOT looking for at this time: Picture Books, children’s book, Middle grade chapter books (though would take graphic novels), religious, police procedural, anything including the death of a small child.

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Leah Moss of Steven Literary

Leah graduated from Lake Forest College in 2020, where she studied Creative Writing, Publishing, and Digital Media Design. A lifelong reader, she’s spent the past few years working at libraries and has always dreamed of working in the book publishing industry. When she isn’t being a professional bookworm, Leah can probably be found playing her harp or tending to her Stardew Valley farm.

Across the board, I am looking for:

Stories from marginalized writers. I’m particularly interested in uplifting BIPOC voices, but I also really want to see work from LGBTQ+, disabled, neurodivergent, and other marginalized writers as well.
Lush, spellbinding storytelling. I love prose that is lyrical, beautiful, and can really evoke the senses. If your writing can draw me into your world and make me want to stay there, I want to read it. Strange the Dreamer, Caraval, and Kingdom of the Wicked are great examples of stories that completely sucked me in.
High-stakes conflict. I love it when stories have a sense of urgency, as they keep me on the edge of my seat flipping pages. Even if there isn’t something huge at stake, I’d still love to see a core driving force that keeps the story steadily moving forward throughout.
Unique, out-of-the-box content! I love being surprised by new concepts and ideas.
Stories featuring self love and acceptance.
Anything that can capture the cozy, peaceful vibe of Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon.

In Picture/Board Books, I am looking for:

Stories about self-love/acceptance for young Black children. I especially love stories that explore natural hair, like Stella’s Stellar Hair, Magic Like That, and Hair Love.
Stories that teach kids about topics like mental health and neurodiversity.
An introduction to fantasy tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons.
Alphabet books with unique concepts like P is for Pterodactyl or M is for Melanin.
Fun, wacky, and borderline absurd stories like Creepy Pair of Underwear, I Want My Hat Back, and Have You Ever Seen a Flower?
Stories about space, like 7 Little Planets and Moon’s First Friend. Bonus points if it explores the topic in a fun and innovative way, like Stella’s Stellar Hair.

In YA, I am looking for:

Retellings of traditional fairytales, mythology, folklore, and fables, as well as classics like Les Miserables, and The Phantom of the Opera. I’m a big fan of retellings that have vastly different settings, explore side characters, or completely recontextualize the original story.
Stories that fit trendy aesthetics. Give me cottagecore, dark academia, fairycore, piratecore, balletcore, and princesscore, please!
Faeries. I love faerie stories like The Cruel Prince and These Hollow Vows and want to see more of them in the YA space.
Stories with tough/taboo subjects and themes.
Stories told from the POV of the villain. I love Breaking Bad and find it so interesting how it was framed in a way that made me root for and empathize with Walter White throughout the show, despite the fact that he’s objectively a terrible person.
Stories that show a character’s journey to the dark side, like in Give the Dark my Love.
Morally grey characters.
Mystery stories across all genres. As long as the mystery is properly developed and set in a place with concrete and understandable worldbuilding, I’d look at a good mystery in any genre, from contemporary (like One of Us is Lying) to sci-fi (This Splintered Silence.)
Stories about cults
Lesser explored fantasy/paranormal beings. As much as I love faeries, vampires, werewolves, and witches, I’d love to see other beings get their time in the spotlight. If your story features elves, angels, mermaids, selkies, goblins, or any other lesser-seen creature, I’d love to see it.
Cute romcoms!

In Adult Fiction, I am looking for:

Books with YA crossover appeal. I’m mainly a kidlit reader, so I’m very selective with the adult titles I pick up. Stories with protagonists in their late teens/mid-early twenties appeal to me the most. If it could be categorized as “New Adult,” I’m interested.
Stories set at college. I’d love to see stories set at smaller campuses or community colleges in addition to larger schools.
Swoonworthy romances and rom-coms! Bonus points if they’re nerdy!
“Late bloomer” protagonists! Show me a protagonist who doesn’t have their first kiss until their 20s, or who still lives with their parents in their 20s. Coming of age doesn’t have to just be a YA trope.
Fantasy. As with the other categories, I am always looking for fantasy stories with lush worldbuilding and interesting magic systems. The Binding by Bridget Collins and The Wolf and the Woodsman are perfect examples of what I’d hope to find in an adult fantasy manuscript.
Romantasy! <3

I am not a good fit for:

Dragons (if they’re a main focus of the story. I’m not opposed to them being in the story, but I don’t care much for them as a big part of the plot.)
STEM Romances
Traditional high fantasy stories, especially male-led ones. (As much as I love The Lord of the Rings and The Name of the Wind, I’m just not the best person to work on that type of story.)
Stories about police brutality
Stories where racism, homophobia, transphobia, or the hatred toward marginalized communities is the main focus. I’m ok with these elements being part of the story if they are “necessary” and are handled in a respectful way, but just not as the main plot point.
War/Military Stories
Stories with intense on-page violence toward children
Historical fiction
Overtly religious themes

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Marcy Posner of Folio Literary

She is “looking for distinctive voices in the commercial space, but I am really not interested in genre or super literary fiction.”

She is seeking :

Psychological suspense
Women’s fiction
YA (contemporary, historical, romance, mystery)
Middle grade (contemporary, SFF, historical, mystery)
Narrative nonfiction
Cultural/social issues
Nature and ecology
Women’s issues

“I have spent a lifetime in books. I started out with a brief stint as a librarian, but found it a bit too staid, so moved on to publishing. My first job was at Pinnacle Books where as assistant to the President I was given a book to edit the third week of my employment. I then moved on to Rodale Press and then Salem House where I helped bring British books to the US, finally moving up the publishing ladder to Pantheon’s Associate Publisher, where I worked with some of the major cultural icons of our time. After fifteen years on the editorial side of the business, I made the jump to agenting – spending twelve years at the William Morris Agency as an agent and as Vice President and Director of Foreign Rights; five years as president of my own agency; five years at Sterling Lord Literistic as an agent and Director of Foreign Rights; and I’m now here – and very happy – at Folio. Editorial skill and a deep knowledge of the publishing industry sets me apart from many of my colleagues. When I work with my authors, I’ll focus editorially on how to make the book as strong as it could be – whether that book be terrific women’s fiction or an extraordinary YA debut (or any of the other categories I represent). During that process, I’m able to bring to bear all the institutional memory I possess, knowing which editors and which publishing houses have a penchant for a certain subject, or a different voice, or a particular kind of author.”

Her clients include : Lexie Elliott, Christina Clancy, Rachel J. Webster, Rebecca Stafford, Michael McGarrity, Erika J. Kendrick, Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Patricia Wood, New York Times bestselling author Sheri Reynolds and Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Kelly.

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Abby Saul of The Lark Group

Abby founded The Lark Group in 2016 after a decade in publishing at John Wiley & Sons, Sourcebooks, and Browne & Miller Literary Associates. She’s worked with and edited bestselling and award-winning authors as well as major brands. At each publishing group she’s been a part of, Abby also has helped to establish ebook standards, led company-wide forums to explore new digital possibilities for books, and created and managed numerous digital initiatives.

A zealous reader who loves her iPad and the ebooks on it, she still can’t resist the lure of a print book. Abby’s personal library of beloved titles runs the gamut from literary newbies and classics, to cozy mysteries, to sappy women’s fiction, to dark and twisted thrillers. She’s looking for great and engrossing adult commercial and literary fiction and is a member of the AALA.

She is seeking : Adult literary fiction and adult commercial fiction (including historical fiction, women’s fiction, mysteries, and thrillers)

She does NOT want: Science fiction, nonfiction, children’s books (including YA), or screenplays.

A magna cum laude graduate of Wellesley College, Abby spends her weekends—when she’s not reading—cooking and hiking with her husband and children. Find her @BookySaul on Twitter.

Get to Know an Editor in Attendance: Stacy Abrams of Entangled Publishing

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She’s been with the company since its inception in 2011, leaving the hustle and bustle of New York City and her job as an editor at Bloomsbury Children’s Books to dive into the world of romance. Stacy earned her bachelor’s in English at Northwestern University and currently resides in the frozen tundra of Chicago with her husband, three children, and too-cute puppy.

Though Stacy mostly runs the day-to-day operations of Entangled and edits a small list of existing authors, she is open to acquisitions in a limited capacity. Her current wish list includes high-concept “romantasy” for the breakout New Adult fantasy imprint Red Tower, commercial rom-coms/women’s fiction for the Amara imprint, all genres of Teen fiction, and picture book manuscripts with a social justice bend for the new Little Lark picture book imprint.

Get to Know an Editor in Attendance: Josh Gregory of Albert Whitman & Company

“I’m drawn to stories that encourage readers to push themselves in new directions, challenge preconceived notions, and pursue any goals they might have, no matter how seemingly out of reach. I want to read about characters who have unique perspectives, come from diverse backgrounds, think outside the box, and aren’t afraid to be different.

“Picture books are my main focus, and I especially like to see stories that approach social and emotional issues—even the most difficult ones—through a kid’s perspective. I’m also interested in stories that highlight underrepresented cultural traditions, historical tales about little-known figures whose accomplishments could resonate with a modern audience, and stories about kids making a difference in their communities or the world at large. Right now, I am also very interested in acquiring holiday stories and books about bullying.

“In chapter books, I’d like to see manuscripts with unique, relatable characters and a strong core concept that can be used to drive future stories in a potential series. For those who are comfortable working with established properties, I am also seeking potential writers for some of AW’s ongoing series.

“In middle grade and young adult novels, I mostly want to see realistic, contemporary stories where characters are dealing with issues that will be relatable to readers. I am open to genre elements, but they should not be the primary focus, and regardless of the setting, readers should be able to see themselves in the characters and situations depicted.”

Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Lori Colvin of Birch Literary

Lori has a special empathy for authors, having penned over 150 books herself, under a successful pen name. A fierce advocate for her fellow writers, Lori understands the publishing industry from many different viewpoints, and she does her absolute best to tailor her approach to meet each author’s needs.

If a book doesn’t grab Lori on the first page, she generally won’t read any further, so bring out your best right away. Lori’s looking for fresh viewpoints in multiple genres, including women’s fiction, Thriller, Book Club Fiction, Mystery (but no Cozy), and more.

Things she’s not seeking at the moment: Romance, MG, or PB.

If you can make Lori laugh, cry, gasp, or stay up all night reading, you may be a good match.

Automatic Summarization for Creative Writing

Hybrid-Mode Workshop at COLING 2022 at Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, October 17th, 2022 [email protected] --> here by August 21! -->

Proceedings

Proceedings of The Workshop on Automatic Summarization for Creative Writing

Program Schedule

October 17th, 2022, Korean Standard Time (GMT+9)

09:00–10:30 Session 1

09:00–09:30 Invited Talk: Modeling and Evaluating Faithful Generation across Modalities Mohit Bansal

09:30–10:00 Invited Talk: Controllable Content Creation With Planning Shashi Narayan

10:00–10:20 IDN-Sum: A New Dataset for Interactive Digital Narrative Extractive Text Summarisation Ashwathy T. Revi, Stuart E. Middleton and David E. Millard

10:50–12:30 Session 2

10:50–11:20 Invited Talk: Where did I read that? It was in a book. Challenges in Summarization of Book Chapters and Dialogues Miguel Ballesteros

11:20–11:50 Invited Talk: Long Document Summarization using Efficient Attentions and Document Structure Lu Wang

11:50–12:10 Summarization of Long Input Texts Using Multi-Layer Neural Network Niladri Chatterjee, Aadyant Khatri and Raksha Agarwal

12:10–12:30 LED Finteuning and Recursive Summary Generation for Automatic Summarization of Chapters from Novels Prerna Kashyap

13:50–15:40 Session 3

13:50–14:20 Invited Talk: Hierarchical 3D Adapters for Long Video-to-text Summarization Mirella Lapata

14:20–14:40 TEAM UFAL @ CreativeSumm 2022: BART and SamSum based few-shot approach for creative Summarization Rishu Kumar and Rudolf Rosa

14:40–15:00 Long Input Dialogue Summarization with Sketch Supervision for Summarization of Primetime Television Transcripts Nataliia Kees, Thien Nguyen, Tobias Eder and Georg Groh

15:00–15:20 AMRTVSumm: AMR-augmented Hierarchical Network for TV Transcript Summarization Yilun Hua, Zhaoyuan Deng and Zhijie Xu

15:20–15:40 Automatic Summarization for Creative Writing: BART based Pipeline Method for Generating Summary of Movie Scripts Aditya Upadhyay, Nidhir Bhavsar, Aakash Bhatnagar, Muskaan Singh and Petr Motlicek

16:00–18:10 Session 4

16:00–16:30 Invited Talk: Towards Figurative Language Generation Xiajun Wan

16:30–17:00 Invited Talk: Discourse Aware Text Summarization Asli Celikyilmaz

17:00–17:20 A Two-Stage Summarization Model using Scene Attributes Eunchong Kim, Taewoo Yoo, Gunhee Cho, Suyoung Bae and Yun-Gyung Cheong

17:20–17:40 Two-Stage Movie Script Summarization: An Efficient Method For Low-Resource Long Document Summarization Dongqi Pu, Xudong Hong, Pin-Jie Lin, Ernie Chang and Vera Demberg

17:40–18:10 Invited Talk: Summarizing Narratives with GPT-3: Measuring the next 5 years of progress Greg Durrett

Invited Speakers:

Mirella Lapata, Edinburgh
Asli Celikyilmaz, Meta AI
Shashi Narayan, Google AI
Greg Durrett, UT Austin
Mohit Bansal, UNC
Miguel Ballesteros, Amazon
Lu Wang, Michigan
Xiaojun Wan, Peking University

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The Home of Creative Writing

Festival of writing.

Arvon is a charity that runs creative writing courses, events and retreats both in-person and online. Our courses are tutored by leading authors and include a powerful mix of workshops and individual tutorials, with time and space to write, free from distractions of everyday life. Grants and concessions are available to help with course fees.

ARVON COURSES & RETREATS

Totleigh Barton

Fiction , Non-Fiction

Residential Writing Week: Non-Fiction

Vital natures

Online Writing Week: Finishing Your Novel

Moving on with your work-in-progress

Fiction , Starting to Write

Residential Writing Week: Starting To Write Fiction

A way into writing

Masterclass: Using Social Media to Make Your Poems Fly

How to get your unique voice heard

How I Agent: Abi Fellows

Talk and Q&A

Residential Writing Week: Playwriting

Moving from ideas into scripts

Non-Fiction

Masterclass: Exploring Autofiction

Stealing content

Online Writing Day: Making Progress with your Novel in Progress

Dig deep and go forward

“Every time I’ve taught at Arvon - going back over fifteen years now - I’ve seen how much difference just a handful of days can make in the life of writers. There’s a perfect mix of tutorials, writing time, socializing, and discussion - all those elements come together to create an atmosphere in which writing projects move in that longed-for but often unattainable direction: forward.”

— Kamila Shamsie

ARVON AT HOME

Our online programme of courses, events and writing support

Virtual versions of our famous Writing Weeks, plus Masterclasses, free How I Write events, Online Writing Weekends, Writing Days and more . . . all accessible from the comfort of your sofa.

SUPPORT ARVON NORTH

Arvon North is an ambitious capital project to adapt Lumb Bank into a beacon of creativity for the North

Help us transform Lumb Bank into an engine-house for creative writing development in the North of England, connecting the rich literary collateral of the region with a community of writers locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

CLOCKHOUSE WRITERS' RETREAT

Give your writing the time and space it deserves with Arvon’s dedicated Writers Retreat at The Clockhouse

The Clockhouse is specifically designed for writers on retreat. It has four apartments for writers, each with bedroom, study-lounge and bathroom. All food is provided for you, so you can spend your time as you please.

DONATE TO ARVON

Do you believe that everyone should have the opportunity to unlock their creative potential?

Arvon is a charity that believes everyone deserves the freedom to imagine, write and explore ideas regardless of their age or financial background.

OUR SCHOOLS & GROUPS WORK

We offer residential weeks for schools, young people and adult groups.

Our weeks for schools and groups follow the same pattern as our adult course programme – led by two professional writers, with tutorials, group workshops, and time and space to write.

ARVON BLOGS

My Arvon Week: Jessica Eve Watkins

15 Apr 2024 / My Arvon Week

A preview of Jessica Eve Watkin’s experience on a week-long writing retreat at Arvon’s writing house, The Hurst. “ ‘The…

SI Leeds Literary Prize 2024

07 Mar 2024 / General

A writing prize that helps discover exciting new talent from underrepresented groups will be accepting entries again next month. The SI…

Arvon and Creative Minds Calderdale to Develop Writing for Change Project

28 Feb 2024 / News

Arvon and Creative Minds Charity, hosted by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, are embarking on an exciting project aimed…

My Arvon Journey: Gráinne O’Hare

27 Feb 2024 / My Arvon Journey

When I logged on to my first online Arvon workshop, it was autumn 2022 and already chilly at my writing desk;…

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Want to know what's coming up in the next week? Arvon’s newsletter is the best way to avoid missing out on anything - from new and upcoming courses, to Arvon giveaways and writing and self-development opportunities.

FIND A COURSE OR RETREAT

Inua Ellams' Spring Season
Residential Writing Week
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Masterclass Recording
How I Write
Online Five Week Course
Residential Tutored Retreat
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Children and Young People's Events
Starting to Write
Children & YA
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Privacy Overview

Virtual Creative Writing Workshops

Presented by community building art works in partnership with strathmore.

Monthly on Thursdays at 7pm Eastern Time

Register Below. Pay What You Can

Currently online. A Zoom link will be emailed to participants 30 minutes prior to the event. Please make sure you're subscribed to Strathmore emails. Learn more .

Register by 4pm

Registration closes at 4pm before each session so we can prepare.

Workshop Length

Pay what you can.

Enter any amount when you register. Learn more.

Creative writing is a tool for knowing yourself, understanding the world, and connecting with other people. Led by author Seema Reza and accomplished guest writers—including poets, memoirists, novelists, and storytellers—these community workshops follow the model developed by Community Building Art Works (CBAW) over the course of a decade of bringing people together in military and hospital settings. Each workshop is designed to help participants put their personal stories on paper in a supportive environment.

Whether you’re just starting out or have been writing for years, you are welcome; no experience is required. Bring a pen, a notebook, and an open mind!

Registration closes at 4pm Eastern Time before each session so we can prepare. Please make sure you're subscribed to Strathmore emails to receive the Zoom info.

Thu, May 16 | 7pm Eastern Time Poems of Celebration (for a World Upside Down) with Kevin Basl

It can be challenging to write about joy and wonder when it feels like our world is falling apart. How do we write celebratory poems that don't sound like they were made for store-bought greeting cards? How can writing about life's good things serve as an act of resistance against forces working to divide us?

Kevin Basl lives near Ithaca, New York, where he writes, records music, and enjoys the outdoors. For over a decade, he’s facilitated writing workshops for service members, veterans, and their communities with several arts nonprofits. He’s also taught writing at Temple University, where he completed his MFA in fiction. His most recent book is Midnight Cargo (2023, Illuminated Press), a collection of stories and poems inspired by events and epiphanies he experienced while serving in the US Army, in the Iraq War, and in the years after.

Hari Alluri Sketch Of The Author Wearing A Newscap With His Hands Behind His Head

Thu, June 20 | 7pm Eastern Time The Seasons Change Us: Calling to the Sun with Hari Alluri

The closing lines of Sanctificum by Chris Abani read: “They say you cannot say this in a poem. / That you cannot say love and mean anything. / That you cannot say soul and approach heaven. / But the sun is no fool, I tell you. / It will rise for nothing less.” In this Summer Solstice workshop we will look to poems that invoke the sun, ask ourselves what it means to be changed by the world around us, and write through the things we wish to change, towards the shifts within ourselves from which our writing connects back to the world.

Poet and editor Hari Alluri (he/him/siya) is author of The Flayed City (Kaya Press) and chapbook Our Echo of Sudden Mercy (NextPage Press). Recipient of the Vera Manuel Award for Poetry, among other awards, grants, fellowships, and residencies, siya is co-editor—with Seema Reza—of We Were Not Alone (Community Building Art Works) and co-founding editor at Locked Horn Press. With work that appears widely in print and online, his next collection is forthcoming from Brick Books in Spring 2025.

Thu, July 18 | 7pm Eastern Time Back Down Memory Lane with Teri Ellen Cross Davis

This generative workshop will explore family and ancestry through poetry. Using close readings of poems by Etheridge Knight, Rita Dove, Lucille Clifton, Linda Pastan, and more, we will consider how the use of persona can examine, celebrate, and/or reconsider history.

Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of a more perfect Union , winner of the 2019 Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize, and finalist for the 2022 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry. Her first collection, Haint, won the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. She is the recipient of a 2022 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award and the Poetry Society of America's Robert H. Winner Memorial Award. She has received grants from the Sustainable Arts Foundation and The Freya Project and has been awarded fellowships and scholarships to Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, the Community of Writers Poetry Workshop, and others. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies. She was the 2019–2020 HoCoPoLitSo Writer-in-Residence for Howard County, Maryland, and is the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series curator and Poetry Programs manager for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.

Registration closes at 4pm before each session so we can prepare. Please make sure you're subscribed to Strathmore emails to receive the Zoom info.

Check back soon for more information on instructors for the remaining dates.

Helpful Tips & Info

We want these workshops to be as accessible as possible, so they are priced as “pay what you can.” You will be prompted to enter an amount of your choice when you register. (If you are registering for free, please enter $0.)

If you are able to pay for these workshops, every dollar goes to support Strathmore’s education programs.

A Zoom link will be emailed to participants no later than 30 minutes prior to the event. Zoom can be accessed by any computer or tablet web browser, and iPhone or Android phones. A built-in web camera and microphone is recommended, but not necessary to participate. If you do not already have Zoom on your device, you will be prompted to download and install the Zoom desktop client on your computer, or download the app (iOS and Android) on mobile/tablet. We recommend doing this before the start of the session so you’re ready to go!

If you cannot locate our Zoom link email in your inbox or spam folder (30 minutes or less before the workshop), or if you have any other questions, please contact [email protected] .

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East Cobb Creative Writers’ Workshop

May 12, 2022 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm.

An event every month that begins at 2:00 pm on day Second of the month, repeating indefinitely

East Cobb’s Creative Writing Workshop meets the second Thursday of every month. Participants meet regularly to read, discuss, and critique each other’s work. Each class will offer free resources and information on various writing topics. No experience necessary. All writers welcome.

For more information please call 770-509-2730.