Sackett Street Writers

8,000+ creative writers since 2002 in NYC & ONLINE

1-day Publishing Intensive: Perfecting Your Nonfiction Book Proposal – 6.18

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A writing sample is not necessary to apply for this workshop.

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51ocLHHmaQL._AA160_Writers participating in this 3-hour workshop will bring in a short section of prose to revise on-site at a microlevel, zoning in on the paragraph, line, and words utilized to propel a piece forward. Examples in various genres will be supplied and reviewed for word choices and structure before critiquing each participant’s material as a group. Time will be spent on in-class revision based on feedback and sharing revised portions. This class is intended to help those with work that may need a closer edit for consistency and voice.

Begins: June 18, 2016
Day/Time: Saturday 2pm – 5pm
Instructor: Brian Gresko
Location: Bookcourt Bookstore (Cobble Hill)
Fee: $75.00 (includes 10% coupon for an 8-week class)

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8-week ONLINE Advanced Personal Essay & Memoir – begins wk of 1.26.26

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Instructor: Ly Tran
Dates: begins wk of Jan 26, 2026
Location: Online (wkly video meetup wknight coming soon | 7:30-9:30pm ET)
Fee: $850 ($800 for returning writers)

A writing sample is not required but recommended for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a 3-5 page sample.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of creative nonfiction. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling nonfiction story. Topics such as the use of dialogue, the creation of scene, attention to style and how to craft structure from true events will be discussed. Participants will also spend time talking about the particular responsibilities that come with writing creative nonfiction.

This workshop is open to writers working on memoir and personal essays, and writers should have writing experience.

Our online class platform includes thoughtful craft lessons to inform and inspire writers, a class homepage for discussions, book recommendations and more, and an in-line commenting tool that allows for supportive and constructive feedback.

APPLY NOW

Ly Tran is the author of the memoir, House of Sticks, chosen as “Best Book of the Year” by NPR and Vogue, and won the New York City Book Awards Hornblower Award. She has been awarded fellowships from MacDowell, Art Omi, Yaddo, and Millay Arts.

7-week ONLINE Master Fiction Writing – begins 1.27.26

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Instructor: Julia Fierro
Begins: January 27, 2026
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up TUES 6:30-9pm ET)
Fee: $1100 (returning writers receive a $50)

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a sample of your writing.

Our Advanced Fiction Workshop is aimed at writers who have mastered the essentials and are looking for a community of peers ready to offer insightful, impartial feedback on works in progress. Whether you’re a writer looking to polish work for publication, looking for a fresh perspective, looking to climb the next hurdle, or simply missing the motivation and comradery only a small workshop can offer, our Fiction Workshop is designed to get you writing. Come geek out with your fellow lit nerds and walk away with a renewed sense of purpose.

Writers have two opportunities to share work with the class and receive detailed feedback and a class discussion dedicated to their writing. Class includes access to our online platform where weekly craft lessons, recommended readings and optional writing exercises are provided.

Writers should have both writing and writing class experience.

Includes in-line comments by the instructor and a private conference.

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Julia Fierro is the author of the novels The Gypsy Moth Summer and Cutting Teeth. She is one half of Cassidy Lucas, pen name of writing duo Julia Fierro and Caeli Wolfson Widger. Santa Monica, their first book together, was published by Harper in October 2020. Their second novel, The Last Party, set in Topanga Canyon on the westside of Los Angeles, was published in April 2022.

A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Julia founded The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop in 2002, now a creative home to over 10,000 writers and named “New York City’s best writing class” by Time Out New York, the L Magazine, and Brooklyn Magazine; and a “Top Alternative to MFA programs” by Poets & Writers. Workshops are offered throughout NYC and online. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Buzzfeed, Glamour, Psychology Today, and other publications, and she has been profiled in The Observer and The Economist.

Julia has been an editor and writing coach since 2003, providing in-depth developmental feedback for authors of literary and commercial fiction. Books that she has worked on include books published by Penguin Random House, Riverhead, Simon and Schuster, Viking, Scribner, Harper Collins, Little A, Houghton Mifflin and more. She has traveled nationwide to give talks about writing, the teaching of writing, crafting creative communities, and publishing. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children, and her father/gardening partner. She is at work on her fifth novel, a literary genre-bender set in Southern Italy during the WWII liberation.

7-week Master Personal Essay & Memoir – begins 1.22.26 – Dumbo

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Instructor: Nancy Rawlinson
Dates: begins January 22, 2026 | meets once a week | Thurs 7-9pm
Location: Dumbo – 45 Main Street
Fee: $1000 | $900 for returning writers

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a 3-5 page sample.

Our Master Personal Essay & Memoir Workshop is a selective class aimed at writers looking to polish their work for publication. Class is taught by our most experienced nonfiction instructor whose students have gone on to attend top MFA programs, win prestigious awards and publish with both commercial and independent presses. Class time is spent on in-depth discussion of student work and typed feedback from the instructor is included, as well as a private conference.

Writers should have extensive writing and writing class/workshop experience.

A private conference with the instructor is included.

APPLY NOW

Nancy Rawlinson has been working as a freelance editor and writing coach since 2003, providing in-depth developmental feedback for authors of literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and memoir. Recent books that she has worked on include books published by Harper, Picador, Scribner, Atria, Simon and Schuster, Knopf, Houghton Mifflin, Liveright, Chicago Review Press, Crown, and more.

Nancy started her life as an editor and writer working for magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, The Sun, Time Out London, and Madison magazine. She has an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. From 2006-2008 she was a nonfiction editor at Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics. As a writer she has been awarded residencies and fellowships from the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, the Ragdale Foundation, Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Jentel Artist Residency Program. She trained as a coach at the NLP Center of New York and lives in Brooklyn with her two sons.

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir I/II – begins 2.4.26

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Instructor: Sarah Herrington
Dates: begins February 4, 2026
Location: Online (wkly video meetup Wed | 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $750 ($700 for returning writers)

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a 3-5 page sample.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of creative nonfiction. A portion of in-class time will be spent on writing via prompts to help students produce new work. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling nonfiction story. Topics such as the use of dialogue, the creation of scene, attention to style and how to craft structure from true events will be discussed. Participants will also spend time talking about the particular responsibilities that come with writing creative nonfiction.

This workshop is open to writers working on memoir and personal essays.

Our online class platform includes thoughtful craft lessons and writing exercises to inform and inspire writers, a class homepage for discussions, book recommendations and more, and an in-line commenting tool that allows for supportive and constructive feedback.

APPLY NOW

Sarah Herrington is a writer, poet, editor, writing instructor and longtime yoga and meditation teacher. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times (Modern Love, Opinion, Anxiety, Solver Stories), the Los Angeles Times, Poets & Writers, Salon, Interview Magazine, Slice, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other outlets. She’s the author of four books on yoga (Penguin, Rodale/Random House) and is a regular contributor to Yoga Journal. Sarah holds MFAs from New York University, where she was a Goldwater Fellow in Creative Nonfiction, and Lesley University. Her nonfiction has been supported by the Community of Writers, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and NYU’s Graduate Research Initiative. She currently teaches writing at Fordham University and leads private workshops and mentorships for writers. Her work on yoga and ethics has been featured on NPR, CNN, and The New York Times.

6-week ONLINE Writing Autofiction – begins wk of 2.9.26

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Begins week of February 9, 2026
Instructor: Amy Shearn
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up tbd 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $625

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info.

A private conference with the instructor is included.

Start, finish, or polish your autofiction story in this supportive, genre-defying workshop in which we’ll explore the blurry space between novel and memoir that is autofiction. This popular modern sub-genre houses work from writers as varied as Sherman Alexie, James Baldwin, Elif Batuman, Alexander Chee, Teju Cole, Annie Ernaux, Sheila Heti, Ernest Hemingway, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Ben Lerner, and Ocean Vuong, many of whom we’ll read in this workshop. Open to writers both new to autofiction and long familiar with it, this course will explore the origins and merits of this at-times contentious sub-genre and examine the craft unique to it. Students will read published examples, write to autofiction prompts, and workshop each other’s writing.

This workshop is open to writers working in autofiction, fiction and nonfiction, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

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Amy Shearn is the award-winning author of the novels Animal Instinct, Dear Edna Sloane, Unseen City, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, and How Far Is the Ocean From Here.
She teaches creative writing at the Yale Writers’ Workshop, Sackett Street Writers Workshop, and Writing Co-Lab, an experimental cooperative she co-founded. Amy’s work has appeared in many publications including The New York Times Modern Love column, Slate, Poets & Writers, and O: The Oprah Magazine. Amy lives in Brooklyn and, alongside her own writing, she works with writers as a developmental editor, book coach, and retreat-leader.

8-week writing Sprints generative class (all genres) – begins 2.18.26

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Begins: February 18, 2026
Instructor: Erin Crosby Eckstine
Location: Online (wkly video meet-up Wed 7-9pm ET) 
Fee: $650 | returning writers receive a $50 discount

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info. 

Writing Sprints is an exercise-intensive course designed to “unstick” writers struggling to start or continue new projects, boosting writing productivity.  The course relies heavily on writing exercises (for both fiction & nonfiction writers).  Students will produce a ton of new work in this class, and receive feedback on that work from the instructor and his or her classmates. This class is for writers of all levels looking for inspiration and motivation.

This workshop is open to writers working in all genres, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Erin Crosby Eckstine is the author of Junie which was published by Ballantine Books in January 2025 and was a Good Morning America Book Club pick. Born in Montgomery, AL, Erin grew up between the South and Los Angeles before moving to New York City to attend Barnard College. Eckstine worked in a variety of digital media internships and jobs before pivoting to education and earning a master’s in secondary English education from Stanford University.

Eckstine went on to teach high school English in Brooklyn, NY for six years before becoming a full-time writer. She writes speculative historical fiction, personal essays, and anything else she’s in the mood for. When she’s not writing, she’s usually making pottery, reading, cooking, or playing The Sims. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and cats.

20-week Online Manuscript Generator (open to fiction & nonfiction writers) – begins 2.18.26

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Begins: February 18, 2026
Instructor: Monica West
Location: Meetings via video ten times every other week Wed 7-9pm ET
Fee: $2300 (writers returning to Sackett Street – $2100) 

This is a virtual class & video meetings are held every other week.

*This section of Manuscript Generator is intended for writers who have participated in a previous MG class but new writers are welcome to apply.

In this generative workshop, students have the opportunity to hand in chapters (up to 5000 words pages) every other week, and receive feedback from the instructor on these pages. The workshop is open to writers who have completed one or more chapters of a novel or memoir, as well as writers working on short story and/or essay collections. Writers participating in this course will learn how to recognize the successful techniques in their writing – what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. Carefully planned lessons and online discussions will focus on analyzing the many choices (point-of-view, tone, characterizing details, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. This course is intended for writers who have experience writing and workshopping.

A private conference with the instructor is included.

A writing sample is recommended to apply for this class.

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Monica West is the author of the novel Revival Season which was a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick and a finalist for the 2022 Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she received her MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow. She has received fellowships and residencies from Kimbilio Fiction, Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Bread Loaf. She earned her B.A. in English Literature from Duke University and her M.A. in English and American Literature from New York University. She currently lives in Seattle where she teaches at the University of San Francisco.

8-week Advanced Fiction Writing – begins 1.20.26  – Dumbo

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Instructor: Kristin Vukovic
Dates: begins January 20, 2026 | meets 1x/week | Tues 7-9pm *no class the week of Feb. 10
Location: Dumbo – 45 Main Street, BK
Class fee: $850 | returning writers receive a $50 discount

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a brief sample of your writing.

Our Advanced Fiction Workshop is aimed at writers looking to create a regular practice and master the essentials and are looking for a community of peers ready to offer insightful, impartial feedback on works in progress. Class time is spent on in-depth discussion of student work, and analysis of published writing to inspire and inform. Some class time is reserved for in-class writing to generate new work.

Writers should have writing and writing class/workshop experience.

APPLY NOW

Kristin Vukovic is the author of the novel The Cheesemaker’s Daughter, published in 2024. She has written for the New York Times, BBC Travel, Travel + Leisure, Coastal Living, Virtuoso, The Magazine, Hemispheres, the Daily Beast, AFAR, Connecticut Review, and Public Books, among others. An early excerpt of her novel was longlisted for the Cosmonauts Avenue Inaugural Fiction Prize. She was named a “40 Under 40” honoree by the National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation, and received a Zlatna Penkala (Golden Pen) award for her writing about Croatia. Kristin holds a BA in literature and writing and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and was Editor-in-Chief of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. She grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and currently resides in New York City with her husband and daughter.

8-week Writing Sprints (all genres) generative class – begins 1.22.26 – Park Slope

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Instructor: Erin Crosby Eckstine
Begins: January 22, 2026 | meets 1x/wk | Thurs 7-9pm
Location: Park Slope – 273 Prospect Park W
Fee: $725 | $675 for returning Sackett writers

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info.

Writing Sprints is an exercise-intensive course designed to “unstick” writers struggling to start or continue new projects, boosting writing productivity.  The course relies heavily on writing exercises (for both fiction & nonfiction writers).  Students will produce a ton of new work in this class, and receive feedback on that work from the instructor and his or her classmates. This class is for writers of all levels looking for inspiration and motivation.

This workshop is open to writers working in all genres, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Erin Crosby Eckstine is the author of Junie which was published by Ballantine Books in January 2025 and was a Good Morning America Book Club pick. Born in Montgomery, AL, Erin grew up between the South and Los Angeles before moving to New York City to attend Barnard College. Eckstine worked in a variety of digital media internships and jobs before pivoting to education and earning a master’s in secondary English education from Stanford University.

Eckstine went on to teach high school English in Brooklyn, NY for six years before becoming a full-time writer. She writes speculative historical fiction, personal essays, and anything else she’s in the mood for. When she’s not writing, she’s usually making pottery, reading, cooking, or playing The Sims. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and cats.

8-week Personal Essay & Memoir starting 1.15.26 – Carroll Gardens

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Instructor: Rax King
Begins January 15, 2026 | meets 1x/week| Thurs 7-9pm
Location: Carroll Gardens
Fee: $850 | returning writers receive a $50 discount

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of creative nonfiction. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling nonfiction story. Topics such as the use of dialogue, the creation of scene, attention to style and how to craft structure from true events will be discussed. Participants will also spend time talking about the particular responsibilities that come with writing creative nonfiction. In-class writing prompts will be used to inspire and motivate students to produce new work.

This workshop is open to writers working on memoir and personal essays, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Rax King is the James Beard award-nominated author of the essay collections Tacky (Vintage 2021) and Sloppy (Vintage 2025), and the co-host of Low Culture Boil. She lives in Brooklyn with her toothless pekingese.

8-week Fiction Writing I/II – starting 1.21.26 – Dumbo

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Instructor: Kyle McCarthy
Begins January 21, 2026 | meets 1x/wk| Wed* 7-9pm *no class wk of 2/4
Location: Dumbo
Fee: $850 | returning writers receive a $50 discount

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class.

Do you have an idea for a story but aren’t sure how to get it on the page? Our Fiction I/II class is perfect for writers looking to learn more about writing compelling fiction and generate new work.

In the first half of the session, students will generate new writing in and out of class with the aid of inspiring and informing writing prompts, then develop that work into “stories” or a section of a novel-in-progress. In the final weeks of the session, that work will be discussed in a supportive and craft-focused analysis that focuses on using a full range of literary techniques to engage the reader.

This workshop is open to writers working on short stories and/or novels and writers at all levels of skill and experience (and working on all genres of fiction) are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Kyle McCarthy is the author of the novels Everyone Knows How Much I Love You (Ballantine, 2020) and Immersions, forthcoming from Tin House in May 2026. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, American Short Fiction, n+1, and elsewhere.

6-week Advanced Fiction – begins 2.2.26 – Dumbo

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Instructor: Beth Morgan
Dates: begins February 2, 2026 | Mon 7-9pm
Location: Dumbo
Fee: $650 / $625 for returning Sackett writers

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a brief sample of your writing.

Our Advanced Fiction Workshop is a selective class aimed at writers looking to polish their work for publication. Class is taught by our most experienced advanced fiction instructors whose students have gone on to attend top MFA programs and win prestigious awards. Class time is spent on in-depth discussion of student work and typed feedback from the instructor is included, as well as a private conference.

Writers should have extensive writing and writing class/workshop experience.

A private conference with the instructor is included.

APPLY NOW

Beth Morgan is the author of A Touch of Jen, which she has also adapted for the screen. A Touch of Jen was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and named a best book of the year by The Rumpus. Her short fiction has been published in The Iowa Review, The Baffler, and The Kenyon Review online.

6-week Fiction Writing I/II – starting 2.10.26 – Prospect Heights

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Instructor: Sari Wilson
Begins February 10 | meets once a week| Tues 7-9pm
Location: Prospect Heights
Fee: $650 | returning writers receive a $25 discount

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class.

Do you have an idea for a story but aren’t sure how to get it on the page? Our Fiction I/II class is perfect for writers looking to learn more about writing compelling fiction and generate new work.

In the first half of the session, students will generate new writing in and out of class with the aid of inspiring and informing writing prompts, then develop that work into “stories” or a section of a novel-in-progress. In the final weeks of the session, that work will be discussed in a supportive and craft-focused analysis that focuses on using a full range of literary techniques to engage the reader.

This workshop is open to writers working on short stories and/or novels and writers at all levels of skill and experience (and working on all genres of fiction) are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Sari Wilson is the author of the acclaimed novel Girl Through Glass, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction debut novel prize, an Amazon Book of the Month, a The Millions Best seller, and featured on NPR and in The New York Times. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Catapult, Slice, AGNI, and other publications. She is the recipient of a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, a Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship, and residencies from The Corporation of Yaddo, Ragdale Foundation, and Byrdcliffe. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, the cartoonist Josh Neufeld. She and Josh co-edited Flashed, a linked collection of prose and comics, published by Butler University Press.

8-week Personal Essay & Memoir starting 3.3.26 – Carroll Gardens

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Instructor: Meg Charlton
Begins March 3, 2026 | meets 1x/week| Tues 7-9pm
Location: Carroll Gardens
Fee: $850 | returning writers receive a $50 discount

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of creative nonfiction. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling nonfiction story. Topics such as the use of dialogue, the creation of scene, attention to style and how to craft structure from true events will be discussed. Participants will also spend time talking about the particular responsibilities that come with writing creative nonfiction. In-class writing prompts will be used to inspire and motivate students to produce new work.

This workshop is open to writers working on memoir and personal essays, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Meg Charlton is a writer based in New York City. Her debut novel VOYAGERS is forthcoming from Harper. Meg’s work has appeared in The Yale Review, Slate, Lux, Atlas Obscura and Vice, and the anthology Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us. Her writing has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and covered in Indiewire, Above the Law, and Australian National Radio’s Future Tense. She holds an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College.