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2025 Writing Workshop Series
Join us throughout 2025 for a series of writing workshops taught by guest instructors. Writers at all levels and stages of the process welcome.
Click any of the titles below to read more and register. All workshops are free, but space is limited, so please RSVP to attend.
Saturday, January 18 from 1 to 3pm
Do you feel sabotaged by self-doubt? Have you struggled to finish long-term writing projects? Do you want to feel more confident in your writing process? Through some gentle and fun exercises, we will explore roadblocks to writing and learn how to overcome them.
Wednesday, February 5 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
Writing feels hard if you really don’t want to write the thing in front of you. So, don’t do it. Don’t write unless you really want to sink your teeth into a story. You need to be seduced by something calling to you. Write because you need to find out something you can only dig out by writing. It’s not going to come another way, this thing you are after. The digging is part of the pleasure.
Tuesday, February 25 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
Join award-winning journalist Alex Hannaford for a transformative two-hour workshop on “Trauma-Informed Writing.” Drawing from over 25 years of experience covering traumatic events and sensitive topics, Alex will share invaluable tools and insights to empower writers of all levels. Whether you’re a working journalist, memoirist, novelist, or nonfiction writer, this workshop will equip you with the skills to approach hard-hitting subjects with sensitivity and respect.
Thursday, March 13 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
Sunday, March 23 from 1 to 3pm
We’ll explore ideas about landscape and poetry, using your own experience as a source for writing down memories, observations, thoughts and feelings. Come prepared with a creative spark and a willingness to share the work you make in class with workshop participants. Have a favorite landscape in mind to write about. Make some magic in assembling words, sounds and images. No experience necessary. Poets and writers at all levels are welcome!
Tuesday, April 15 from 5:30 to 8:30pm
Join Alexis Coe, a historian praised for her “form-shattering” and “myth-crushing” narrative nonfiction, for a dynamic workshop where you’ll learn how to break the mold, reinvigorate tired topics with bold narrative techniques, and experiment with writing across various platforms. In this session, Coe will teach you how to: weaponize irreverence against historical clichés; unearth the weird, wild, and woefully overlooked stories hiding in plain sight; write history that people actually want to read; and hop genres and platforms.
Saturday, April 5 from 1 to 3pm
Produce a comic from start to finish! Bring your idea to life by learning the basics of writing a comic script, drawing the story in sequential panels, and preparing finished files for print or online. We’ll also touch on options for crowdfunding and shipping.
Wednesday, April 23 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
In this workshop, we will discuss ways to make our writing immersive for the reader. We will talk about and practice multiple strategies including imagining place, following bodies in space, using all five senses, highlighting important details, and tailoring language to our story. Come with an idea of a scene you’d like to work on or choose from prompts provided by the instructor.
Thursday, May 1 & Tuesday, May 13 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
When it comes to writing stories that aren’t true, where do you start? How do you get the image in your head onto the paper? How do you craft a place from thin air, let alone a person? How do you bring a character to life, make them do and say things, have compassion for them as you render them in three dimensions? In this workshop, we’ll discuss the nuts and bolts of building a world on the page, engage in writing exercises that will help guide our stories through both craft and intuition, and uncover new ways to get excited (read: undaunted) by the invigorating practice of writing fiction.
Wednesday, May 7 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
In this workshop for writers at all levels, you’ll learn how to take a story about something you experienced and develop it into an essay that readers can identify with, whether or not their life experience has been the same as yours. This is a generative workshop, in which I’ll break the personal essay writing process down into doable steps, and share writing prompts and exercises to get participants going on a piece, or more than one, that they can keep working on after they leave. Those who wish to share bits of the writing generated in class will be invited to, but those who prefer not to share their work are under no obligation to.
Saturday, May 17 from 1 to 3pm
Calling all aspiring playwrights — join us for an exploration of how plays work. How are they different from prose? We’ll talk a bit, but mainly write and share (no pressure), and we’ll send you back into the world armed with some prompts, ideas, and new approaches to use on your writing journey.
Saturday, May 31 from 1 to 3pm
Join author/illustrator Kayla Miller to get a behind the scenes look at how graphic novels are made… and create your own one page comic story! Participants will learn techniques and practice skills for creating characters, generating ideas, writing scripts, and laying out comic panels. This workshop is geared toward elementary aged kids from 7-12 years old.
Saturday, June 7 from 1 to 3pm
Do you have a piece of family lore that haunts you? Are you obsessed with a particular place and time? Did something happen in real life that you just can’t get out of your head? Led by Wendy Chin-Tanner, author of the novel King of the Armadillos, this craft session will examine some of the elements of writing fiction inspired by true events.
Thursday, June 12 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
Point of view is one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s arsenal. Whose eyes are we seeing the action through? Is the story set in the past or present? Or even the future? Is there one narrator or many? In this two-hour workshop we will explore how to use point of view to create suspense, engage your reader from your first sentence, and keep them interested and engaged. Bring a notebook and come prepared to enjoy and share some fun and challenging writing prompts.
Wednesday, June 18 from 6:30 to 8:30pm
How does creating a three-dimensional character in nonfiction differ from creating a fully fleshed-out fictional character? Many of the same principles apply–gesture, detail, psychological insight–but what are the sources and methods an investigative journalist uses to make sure that their subjects come alive on the page and enthrall the reader from the start? Evan Hughes will lead participants in a workshop that illuminates this fascinating process using writing exercises and discussion.