Course Catalog

Music, hip-hop, and poetry are all part of the same family. Participants will play with rhythm in their writing, and write a collection of performable poems.

Crossing nature and writing has the unique power to help us understand both in a different, exciting light. We’ll create our own picture books, write haikus, and observe the presence of nature in unexpected places all around us! The goal of this course is to plant the seed of love for both writing and the natural world.

Over the course of this workshop, participants will create their own fables, and use a combination of writing and drawing to bring them to life! Budding graphic novelists: this one is for you.

From baseball to bowling, sports have the power to create special moments that we can all connect with. We will explore the power of sport in this workshop for young athletes and writers.

Yes... and?! Combining the fundamentals of poetic writing and improvisational acting, we'll learn how to write and perform spoken word poetry. Each session will consist of improvisational acting games, mini-lessons on elements of spoken word, and exercises for kids to hone their craft.

In this course, we’ll be using our creativity to pull stories from everyday objects and occurrences. Music, places, and common phrases can all hold the key to your next great story idea.

Lots of stories are told by people, but what about all the not-people that have stories? Animals, plants, toys, rocks, computers, cities, planets! In this workshop, we'll read stories and write about what nonhumans do, see, don't see, and think about. Each writer will create multiple story ideas and one finished story over the course of the workshop.

Crossing nature and writing has the unique power to help us understand both in a different, exciting light. We’ll create our own picture books, write haikus, and observe the presence of nature in unexpected places all around us! The goal of this course is to plant the seed of love for both writing and the natural world.

A cool story idea is nothing without characters to tell it! In this course, we will practice creating deep, realistic characters: writing their memories, thoughts, motivations, and more. Participants will leave this course with multiple vivid character sketches, with the option to write all-new stories or to refresh their old ones.

From Little Red Riding Hood to Koschei the Deathless, there is much to be learned about the inner workings of fairy and folk tales. But how can we take these stories one step further? In this workshop, participants will learn how to retell a tale with their own unique spins on it!

Have you ever wanted to create your own world? Go on a quest with your friends? Fly through the sky, or cast a spell? In this workshop, we'll be going on our own adventures, and learning how to make our own lives feel like fantasy stories.

Calling all secret agents back to base! If you’re someone with a knack for disguises, a thirst for adventure, or the creativity to solve any problem thrown at you, we’ll need you for our newest mission — the toughest one yet. Throughout the workshop, we will work on our spy-identities, craft characters primed for perilous action, and take on our very own top-secret missions.

Do you like both fiction and nonfiction? Have you ever thought about combining the two? Join us in an adventure to write stories that are both real and fake, leaving the readers to guess for themselves what is true!

There are monsters lurking inside us all, begging for us to tell their stories. In this workshop, participants will use writing and illustration to create our own unique monster characters.

Have you ever wanted to get inside the mind of a villain? Or wondered what it would be like to do bad things? In this workshop, we will create our very own villain characters and drop them into various villainous situations. By the end of the course, each writer will choose one specific circumstance they'd like to explore in-depth and write a piece — in any genre! — about their character in that situation.

"Wakanda Forever!" The famous phrase from Marvel's "Black Panther" franchise points to the enduring impact of the film and its message of Black empowerment. In this workshop, we will think about how and why artists create technological and futuristic worlds, and how those Afrofuturist themes can help us envision our own hopes for the future.

It's poetry like you've never seen it before! We'll explore how poetry can take on many different visual forms. We'll also learn how to use font, word patterns, and color to enhance the meaning of a poem.

Have you ever wanted to create a monster? In this workshop, we'll get to know science fiction classics, link science fiction to real life events and anxieties, and unlock our full creative potential through a mixture of collaborative and independent writing activities.

In this workshop, we will explore the world of interactive fiction and write our own 'choose your own adventure' short stories! This genre is oft underappreciated, but tremendous fun to both write and read.

This workshop is all about having fun with the short story! We’ll cover the basic elements that make short stories work and then we’ll take those elements and make them our own through creative exercises. By the end of the course, each writer will have created their own piece of fiction.

What makes dystopian fiction so appealing? In this workshop, we will work together to learn about the worldbuilding, plot elements, and characters in the dystopian genre. Each writer will develop their own dystopian story throughout the workshop.

In this course, we will learn how to use a single moment to reveal something broader about ourselves. Instead of writing full-length memoirs, we will focus on developing a particular scene or memory, learning how to bring it to life.

Do you love magical creatures and exciting adventures? We'll be reading about myths from around the world and writing our own!

Have you ever wanted to write a fantasy story but struggled to know where to begin? Enter: worldbuilding. In this workshop, we will learn about how to develop the elaborate worlds in which fantasies are set. Each participant will have the chance to create their own fantasy world survival guide and several short scenes.

​​What makes you who you are? How have your memories and experiences, and your social and cultural background, shaped your identity? In this workshop, we will explore "the self" through poetry. We will dive into our perceptions of ourselves and others, learn how to use poetic techniques to enhance our words, and deepen our connections with the writing we produce.

In this course, we will learn about the human side of storytelling. We will practice conducting interviews, and by the end of the course, each student will write their own feature story, either on someone in their life or a fictional character of their choice. The goal of this workshop is to celebrate how writing allows us to not only express our own voices but also give a voice to others.

Have you ever watched a movie or a play and wondered how it was written? In this workshop, we will dive into the art of scriptwriting. We will practice dialogue, scene-building, stage directions, and all the other components that work together to tell the story you envision. You will leave this workshop having written an original short play — and maybe even get to see your words come to life with the help of your peers.

You never know what’s lurking inside a dumpster or hovering inside a construction site. In this workshop, we’ll learn how to craft urban fantasy stories with brilliant characters and vivid settings. By the end of the workshop, each participant will have written a short fiction piece in a city of their own creation.

Explore possibility; create worlds ruled by joy, community, magic, revolution. In this workshop, we will explore some of the basics of speculative fiction and magical realism, drawing from our individual imaginations to create a world like our own but different, and unapologetically so.

Do you think you have what it takes to be a secret agent? In this workshop, we will learn how to create suspense in our writing by taking inspiration from famous spies — real and fictional. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to invent your own spy and craft a suspenseful scene.

We encounter informational forms of writing every day: recipes, quizzes, instruction manuals, encyclopedia entries, and more. In this workshop, we’ll take a closer look to figure out how we can co-opt these forms for emotional, memorial, and political purposes. Like hermit crabs adopt new homes, we’ll adopt these structures as vehicles for exploring lyrical vulnerability, merging the practical and the poetic.

Have you ever watched a stand-up special and thought "I could do that?" Or read a headline from The Onion that made you laugh out loud? In this workshop, participants will take a deep dive into both the history and the craft of humor and satire writing. They’ll work closely with peers to create a short piece in any style (and medium) of their choosing. Ultimately, participants will delve into what’s most important about satire and humor writing: finding your own unique writer's voice and shedding light on the issues that matter to you.

Tell me about yourself. What makes you… you? This workshop will help participants find their answers to these, and similar, questions. By the end of this workshop, participants will learn how to use language surrounding identity, as well as hone their abilities to reflect on and write about how identity manifests in themselves and others.

Spires of concrete entwined with vines like blue fairy lights in an alien sunset, carved runes pulsing with the heartbeat of a planet desperate for its story to unfold... Science fiction and fantasy allow us as writers to externalize the wildest parts of our storytelling imagination into worlds that reflect and challenge the reality we live in. In this workshop, we will dive into worldbuilding as research, escapism, and narrative, all culminating in a pseudo-nonfictional piece of writing that embeds the reader into a rich environment of your creation.

“Look Toward the Darkness” is a journey through various suspenseful and speculative genres of storytelling: horror, thriller, mystery, and paranormal fantasy. Be sure to hold onto your dagger, because this workshop is not for the faint of heart.

Can a playlist be a poem? What about a TikTok? We’ll experiment with multiple types of visual media to redefine how poetry can look. This workshop is an opportunity to explore poetry by thinking outside the box.

How can music, sound effects, and the human voice make stories come alive? In this workshop, we'll listen to podcasts, learn introductory audio editing techniques, and create audio stories about our lives for the final project. No previous editing experience needed!

Young Adult fiction is a genre that continues to evolve with new generations of readers and writers. In this workshop, participants will explore the coming-of-age narrative and write realistic fiction inspired by their lives. Ultimately, participants will work together to write timeless stories that are relatable to the world at large.

Calling all dungeoneers and dragon tamers! Want to learn how to conjure a world from scratch? Looking for an Elixir of Life to animate your characters with depth and personality? In this writing campaign, we will break down practical techniques for creating compelling characters, believable cities, and much more. Over the course of five sessions, we will explore the creative roles of both players and game masters. Participants will leave with a playable character and the beginnings of a world and game-worthy scenario.

Folklore and myths materialize at our doorsteps every Halloween. Trick-or-treaters dress up as vampires, ghosts, fairies, and skeletons — but where did these monsters come from? What makes a monster a monster? In this workshop, participants will explore monster lore and create their own monster-inspired stories.

“Making You the Main Character” is a narrative workshop in which participants will learn how to write about true personal narratives in different creative ways. This is a comprehensive creative writing workshop, with an emphasis on personal growth through writing.