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Generating the Personal Essay

Mondays: January 12 - February 16
6 - 8:30 p.m. EST

$530

The hardest part of writing, often enough, is just getting started. And for those of us who write creative nonfiction, the problem is usually a glut, rather than a lack, of ideas. We essayists can choose to write about exactly everything we’ve ever done, thought, imagined, feared, regretted doing, celebrated not doing, etc. These limitless choices can be paralyzing. And whenever we’re feeling paralyzed, one of the best remedies is to simply reduce our choices. Constrain them. Channel them. This course is all about overcoming decision fatigue, getting words on the page, and getting surprised by what we produce. 

Writing Food

Tuesdays: January 20 - February 10
7 - 9:30 p.m. EST

$420

Everyone who writes can write about food—and this course will show you how. Food writing is often seen as a niche occupied exclusively by chefs and restaurant critics. But as Anthony Bourdain wrote, "food is everything we are." Writing about food means writing about identity, politics, culture, memory, and human connection. It's a lens for understanding the world, and it belongs to every writer. The ability to write evocatively about food strengthens any piece of writing, whether it's reportage, memoir, trend journalism, or fiction.

Writing Rage

Saturdays: February 21 - March 14
12 - 2:30 p.m. EST

$420

We’re writing in a time of collective rage. There’s an endless loop of desperate news cycles, an escalating risk to our bodies and our communities, an aching planet, and through it all, each of us is moving deeply personal mountains that no one else can see. How do we show up to the page when it feels like the world is on fire? How do we find language for the fury, the fear, the grief, the gutpunch, the thing we can’t put down? The writer Lidia Yuknavitch says our bodies can’t possibly hold everything we’ve been given to carry—but the page can.

Past Courses

2025

• GENERATING THE PERSONAL ESSAY with BRIAN BENSON

• BUSINESS OF FREELANCING with ALI FRANCIS
  featuring Jess Tran, Elyse Inamine, & Chloé Caldwell

• WRITING PEOPLE: THE ART OF PROFILE & BIOGRAPHY with MAYUKH SEN
  featuring Doreen St. Félix, Jiayang Fan, Julie Phillips, & Julianna Escobedo Shepherd

• NONFICTION RE-VISION INTENSIVE with MARGO STEINES

• WRITING MOTHERHOOD with RACHEL YODER
  featuring Lidia Yuknavitch, Michelle Tea, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson & Rivka Galchen

• MODERN LOVE SUBMISSION WORKSHOP with LAVINIA SPALDING

• WRITING GRIEF with MEGAN STIELSTRA
  featuring Samantha Irby, Lulu Miller, Matthew Salesses, & Vauhini Vara

• FUCK THE BIG FIVE with CHLOÉ CALDWELL
  featuring Mia Arias Tsang, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Christoph Paul, and Brian Gresko

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

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

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

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

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

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

• WRITING DESIRE with STEVE ALMOND
  featuring Camille Dungy, Megha Majumdar, Sarah Manguso, & Anthony Doerr

• THE PRACTICE OF IMAGINATION with RACHEL KHONG
  featuring Shruti Swamy, Ruben Reyes Jr., Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, & Hilary Leichter

2024

• HYBRID MEMOIR with LILLY DANCYGER
  featuring Nicole Chung, Elissa Washuta, Jeanna Kadlec, & Chelsea Biondolillo

• NAVIGATING LITERARY PUBLICITY with LAUREN CERAND
  featuring Dan Sinykin, Kathleen Schmidt, Sonya Chung, & Andre Banks

• RESEARCH FOR WRITERS with JULIA COOKE
  featuring Álvaro Enrigue, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, May Jeong, & Jerry Saltz

• SCRAPPY: HOW TO BUILD AN ALTERNATIVE LITERARY LIFE with CHLOÉ CALDWELL
  featuring Courtney Maum, Alex Alberto, M. M. Carrigan, & Lidia Yuknavitch

• WRITING ABOUT FAMILY with PRISCILLA GILMAN
  featuring Safiya Sinclair, Maggie Smith, Dani Shapiro, & Casey Gerald

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

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

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

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

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

2023

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

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

2022

• HOW TO BEGIN with LESLIE JAMISON & COLLEEN KINDER