Nonfiction

An introduction to archival research through narrative writing and experimentation. Learn how to work with and historical resources, interpret gaps, and reconstruct your own story as a public history tool. The workshop will include a presentation of examples from the instructor's current research process, featuring archival imagery, documents and story iterations. Participants will engage in exercises to think and write through their own narrative projects, whether meant for personal memoir or public scholarship. Designed for emerging scholars, writers, and community members interested in recovering underrepresented histories.

This workshop considers how big the genre of creative nonfiction can be by looking at the ways writers expand, explore, and break open different forms and sub-genres. We'll read a few short samples of contemporary writers who are pushing boundaries, then get into some prompts that lead us toward our own innovations in telling true stories.

In this two-part workshop series, you'll first explore how to build a restorative, sustainable writing practice rooted in your values, interests, and natural creative rhythms. Then on day two, you'll learn how to thoughtfully shape your writing into a creative offering, identifying the messages you want to share, the audience you hope to reach, and the platforms or projects that best align with your goals. Whether you're beginning your writing journey, returning after time away, or looking for fresh direction, you'll leave with practical tools, greater creative clarity, and a deeper sense of purpose for both your writing practice and your creative life. Please note: If you've previously taken GG's standalone workshop, Writing as a Restorative Practice, the first day of this series covers much of that same material. The second day offers new content focused on shaping your writing into a creative offering and sharing it with intention.

"The histories of families cannot be separated from the histories of nations," writes Susan Griffin at the beginning of a book that sets her family's story into the context of the Second World War. Workshop participants will learn about different nonfiction forms that feature robust, compelling family narratives. Each session will include writing prompts and in-class time to respond to the prompts.By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to identify and use narrative elements that render a story vivid, concerned, and fulfilled.

More and more, popular culture has been fascinated by narratives that depict coming of age from the perspective of the child in the form of memoir, often demonstrating cultural diversity. This workshop will focus stories drawn from participants’ own life experiences that have certain fictional elements and are structured like fiction. During each week of the course, we will write short pieces of memoir, based on the following: certain places and individuals you remember, certain traditions and even collective traumas that predate the first-person narrator, certain positive events as well as troubling events, with the liberty to fictionalize and embellish the autobiographical story. We will develop a foundation for the elements of fiction: plot, character, internal monologue, and dialogue while studying published works in the genre.

How do we turn the fragments of memory into writing that resonates? In this workshop guided by award-winning poet Chioma Urama, you’ll learn the techniques of lyrical memoir writing—using image, rhythm, and voice to shape personal experience into powerful narratives. Through guided exercises and discussion, we’ll explore how to access subconscious thought and emotion, and how to find the deeper story hidden in everyday moments. With in-class prompts, shared readings, guided reflection, and a workshop, you’ll practice transforming raw memory into evocative writing that moves both you and your reader. You’ll leave with 2-3 new pieces of writing, a workshopped lyric essay, and inspiration to continue exploring your inner landscape.

Write your memoir with award-winning author Edgar Gomez! In this intensive ten-month course, you will learn about the art of creative nonfiction and be given the tools to ready your memoir or memoir-in-essays for publication. Watch the Virtual Info Session Meet Edgar Gomez, instructor for our yearlong memoir workshop, and have all your questions about […]

This class is designed for writers of all levels to help them find the story tapping them on the shoulder right now so they can put it on the page and begin the process of getting it out in the world where it belongs. The first session will focus on germinating new ideas or further exploring existing ones through prompts and discussion. The second is finding joy and harnessing the power of revision. The third and final session focuses on next steps and sharing your work. Writers will leave the class with a start of a new piece of creative nonfiction, memoir, or hybrid work.

Everyone has a food history. Learn to write yours in this short, two-week beginner course. In week one, students will learn the basics about what food history is and the different ways that they can write about it. They will also delve into how to write and publish food history blogs and articles. In week two, learners will explore the ins and outs of writing and publishing books and memoirs on food history. Students will finish the class with the knowledge and confidence to write and publish these four types of prose online and in print.

Traditional writing advice doesn't work for every writer. Created with neurodivergent writers in mind, this workshop is also for anyone whose writing process is shaped by a busy mind, limited time or energy, or the competing demands of everyday life. If you think in loops and layers, struggle with focus, overwhelm, or organizing ideas, or find yourself caught between bursts of inspiration and periods of resistance, you're not alone. Drawing from lived experience and years of teaching writers, we'll explore writing practices that honor the way different minds create. You'll learn to recognize your unique attention patterns, work with rather than against your creative process, and develop strategies for navigating common challenges such as idea overwhelm, perfectionism, non-linear thinking, executive dysfunction, and wavering motivation. You'll leave with practical techniques to support each phase of the writing process—from prewriting and drafting to revisin —in ways that are flexible and sustainable. Whether you're navigating ADHD or another form of neurodivergence, living with chronic illness, balancing caregiving responsibilities, experiencing burnout, or simply finding that traditional writing advice doesn't fit your life, this workshop offers adaptable tools that help you build a writing practice that works with your mind and circumstances, not against them.

This advanced class will go beyond the basics of nonfiction writing to provide an extra focus on fleshing out characters, incorporating a narrative voice, and developing more sophisticated tools for narrative storytelling.

Whether you are writing short pieces or are embarking on a full-length memoir, you need a roadmap. Over the course of four weeks, we will cover the tools you need to write a memoir from start to finish. We will discuss methods for starting a piece and getting content on the page. We’ll explore memoir structures and the relationship of form and content. We will learn editing techniques on both the sentence and big picture levels. Finally, we will talk about publishing options for memoir projects large and small. Participants will leave with the tools and confidence to start and complete a memoir project.

In this one-night introduction, historian/biographer Ken Ackerman shares the tricks of the trade for investigating our family roots, going back generations, using archives, interviews, internet sources, family records, and memories - and ideas to organize and share our heritage with children and grandchildren.

In this one-night introduction, historian/biographer Ken Ackerman shares the tricks of the trade for investigating our family roots, going back generations, using archives, interviews, internet sources, family records, and memories - and ideas to organize and share our heritage with children and grandchildren.

Everyone has stories worth telling, they just don't always recognize them. This interactive workshop helps participants uncover meaningful moments from their everyday lives and transform them into engaging pieces of writing. Through guided reflection, creative prompts, and interactive writing exercises, participants will explore memory, emotion, and observation to discover the stories hiding in ordinary experiences. Rather than focusing on perfect prose, this workshop encourages curiosity, authenticity, and play. Writers will experiment with different ways of approaching personal storytelling while gaining practical tools they can use long after the workshop ends. Participants will leave with new writing, a collection of prompts to inspire future work, and greater confidence in their ability to find stories wherever they go.