About Sackett Street Writers

The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop was founded in 2002, and what began as eight writers meeting in the kitchen of a Brooklyn brownstone has developed into a creative home for over 15,000 short-story writers, novelists, memoirists, essayists and poets worldwide.

After graduating from the Iowa Writer's Workshop and teaching at multiple universities, Julia Fierro found herself looking for a community of writers outside academia. Weary of overcrowded New York City writing workshops, and disappointed by the lack of emphasis on craft in university creative writing classes, she placed an ad on Craigslist, accepted eight writers and the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop was born.

Each week, huddled around Julia’s small kitchen table, the writers discussed what makes fiction engaging, and how to incorporate these successes into their own work. As word of the workshop quickly spread, more writers applied and Julia assembled a faculty of instructors with an equal passion for teaching.

Sackett Street instructors are professional writers, teachers and editors, who have earned MFA degrees from prestigious writing programs and have taught at major universities. Just like that first workshop in Julia’s kitchen, some Sackett Street workshops are taught in the comfort of instructor’s homes and are limited to eight writers to insure individual attention. Classes are also held in private spaces at local independent community studios.

Today, Sackett Street writers live in all boroughs of New York City, and across the world, and many return to the workshops for multiple sessions. Alumni won and been nominated for the literary world’s most prestigious awards, including the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, and many more, and have been accepted at nearly every accredited MFA in Creative Writing program. Hundreds of Sackett Street writers have published short fiction, essay and poetry collections, novels, memoirs, and graphic novels with both commercial and independent presses, and write, teach, and edit in all branches of the literary world.

Read more about our outstanding ALUMNI accomplishments here.