Teaching
Variety and flexibility drive my approach to teaching writing. This comes in many forms: variety of materials and activities, as well as flexibility in response to my students’ learning styles, needs, and desires. I am committed to bringing students a range of practical tools and creative stimuli.
Upcoming classes:
Second Helping: How Food Improves Your Fiction Writing, a one-day seminar with the Newberry Library (via Zoom), Saturday, July 27, 11 am-2 pm CT / 12 pm-3 pm ET / 9 am-12 pm PT. Registration opens May 22.
Previous courses:
I have developed courses for and taught at the following institutions.
Atlas Obscura
Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tale Writing, a four-week seminar.
Transforming Fairy Tales, a four-week seminar.
Orion Magazine Workshops
Memory & Imagination, an eight-week creative nonfiction workshop.
The Newberry Library
Fairy Tale Archetypes & Motifs, a one-day class.
Contemporary Fairy Tales, a one-day class.
Second Helping: How Food Improves Fiction, a one-day class.
Visual Inspiration: Writing with Art, a four-week class.
All Talk: Dialogue Intensive, a one-day class.
Beginning Fiction, a six-week class.
StoryStudio Chicago
Creating Complex Characters, a one-day class.
Character, Emotion, Suspense, a one-day class.
Place in Fiction, a six-week class.
Writing the Senses, a one-day class.
Wall-to-Wall Writing Prompts, a one-day class.
Writing Contemporary Fairy Tales, a one-day class.
Write on the Sound Conference
Powerful Objects: Character, Plot and Resonance, a 75-minute presentation.
Seattle Writes at the Seattle Public Library
Contemporary Fairy Tales, a free class at the Seattle Public Library.
Literary Arts
Writing Contemporary Fairy Tales , a one-day class.
Inked Voices
Research in Fiction, a 75-minute webinar.
Contemporary Fairy Tales, a 75-minute webinar.
OneRoom
Writing the Senses: Touch, a 30-minute micro class.
Writing the Senses: Smell, a 30-minute micro class.
Writing the Senses: Taste, a 30-minute micro class.
The Living Room Workshops
Tale: A Two Day Moveable (Writing) Feast, In collaboration with Corinne Manning and Anne Bean.
Richard Hugo House
Memory & Imagination Online, an eight-week online class.
Architectural Stories, a two-day class.
Fiction III, a ten-week class.
Fiction II Online via Hugo House, an eight-week class.
Wall-to-Wall Writing Prompts, a one-day class.
Fiction I at Hugo House – a six-week class.
Writing about Place, a six-week class.
Contemporary Fairy Tales, a six-week class.
Memory and Imagination, a one-day class.
1000 Words a Week, a six-week class.
All Talk: Dialogue Intensive, a one-day class.
Second Helping: How Food Improves Your Fiction, a one-day class.
The Chekhovian Story, a six-week class exploring Chekhov and his influence.
Intro to Fiction: Writing the Short Story, a six-week class covering essential craft elements in short stories, with readings, discussion, and exercises.
Hugo at the Henry: The Senses in Reading and Writing, a one-day Hugo House class co-presented with the Henry Art Gallery, drawing on the exhibit Ann Hamilton: the common S E N S E.
The Fiction Workshop, a six-week class
Visual Inspiration, a six-week class co-presented with the Henry Art Gallery. Fiction written in the summer 2012 class, beautifully laid out by the Henry here; fiction and poetry written in the winter 2013 class beautifully laid out here.
Found Stories, a one-day class.
Looking & Seeing: Generating Prose with Paintings, a one-day class.
University of Washington
Beginning Short Story Writing
Expository Writing
Pace University
Critical Reading & Composition for speakers of English as a second language
Academic Writing, a developmental class for speakers of English as a second language
Community English Program at Teachers College, Columbia University
Advanced English as a Second Language
Xincon Technology School
International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) preparation