Sackett Street Writers

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

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

March 22, 2016 By Julia Fierro

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)

Apply Now

Filed Under: Uncategorized

8-week ONLINE Advanced Personal Essay & Memoir – begins 2.24.26

October 7, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Ly Tran
Dates: begins February 24, 2026

Location: Online (wkly video meetup Tues | 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.

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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.

Filed Under: Memoir, Online, Personal Essay

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir I/II – begins 2.11.26

November 3, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Sarah Herrington
Dates: begins February 11, 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.

Filed Under: Generative, Memoir, Online, Personal Essay

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir – starting 2.11.26

November 3, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Sarah Herrington
Dates: begins February 11, 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.

Filed Under: Memoir, Nonfiction, Online, Personal Essay, Upcoming Workshops

8-week ONLINE Writing Autofiction – begins 2.16.26

November 17, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Begins February 16, 2026
Instructor: Amy Shearn
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up MON 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $725 (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.

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.

APPLY NOW

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.

Filed Under: Autofiction, Fiction, Generative, Nonfiction, Online

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

November 18, 2025 By Julia Fierro

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.

Filed Under: All Genres, Fiction, Generative, Nonfiction, Online

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

November 18, 2025 By Julia Fierro

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.

APPLY NOW

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.

Filed Under: Generative, Manuscript generator, Online

8-week Writing Sprints: all genres generative class – begins 1.29.26 – Park Slope (accepting new writers)

December 3, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Erin Crosby Eckstine
Begins: January 29, 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.

Filed Under: All Genres, Brooklyn, Generative, In person

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

December 10, 2025 By Julia Fierro

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.

Filed Under: Brooklyn, Fiction, Generative, In person

8-week Fiction Writing I/II – begins 2.23.26 – Carroll Gardens

December 10, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Natalie Adler
Begins Feb 23, 2026 | meets 1x/wk| Mon 7-9pm 

Location: Carroll Gardens – 243 Smith Street, Brooklyn
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

Natalie Adler‘s novel, WAITING ON A FRIEND, will be published by Hogarth Books in 2026.
Natalie is an editor at ReadLux, was a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer in 2022-2023, earned her PhD at Brown in Comparative Literature, and her MFA at Brooklyn College. Her fiction and essays have been published widely.

Filed Under: Brooklyn, Fiction, Generative, In person

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

December 11, 2025 By Julia Fierro

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.

Filed Under: All Genres, Brooklyn, Generative, In person

8-week Writing Sprints (all genres) generative class – begins 3.10.26 – Park Slope

December 16, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Maddie Crum
Begins: March 10, 2026 | meets 1x/wk | Tues 7-9pm
Location: Park Slope – 273 Prospect Park W
Fee: $725 | $700 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

Madeleine Crum is a writer and editor. Her recent work can be found in The Washington Post, The Brooklyn Rail, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Baffler, Dirt, The Cleveland Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-editor of Joyland Editions, a small press. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Brooklyn College.

Filed Under: All Genres, Brooklyn, Generative, In person

8-week Personal Essay & Memoir starting 3.26.26 – Carroll Gardens

December 16, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Rax King
Begins March 26, 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.

Filed Under: Brooklyn, In person, Memoir, Personal Essay

8-week Fiction Writing I/II – begins 3.16.26 – Dumbo

December 16, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Kyle McCarthy
Begins March 16 | meets once a week| Mon 7-9pm

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.

Filed Under: Brooklyn, Fiction, In person

8-week Master Fiction – begins 3.11.26 – Park Slope

December 16, 2025 By Julia Fierro

Instructor: Beth Morgan
Dates: begins March 11, 2026 | Wed 7-9pm
Location: Park Slope – 273 Prospect Park W
Fee: $1150 / $1050 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 Master 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 instructor 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.

Filed Under: Brooklyn, Fiction, In person, Novel Writing, Short stories

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Upcoming Online Classes

8-week ONLINE Advanced Personal Essay & Memoir – begins 2.24.26

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir I/II – begins 2.11.26

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir – starting 2.11.26

8-week ONLINE Writing Autofiction – begins 2.16.26

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

Upcoming In-Person Classes

8-week Writing Sprints: all genres generative class – begins 1.29.26 – Park Slope (accepting new writers)

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

8-week Fiction Writing I/II – begins 2.23.26 – Carroll Gardens

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

8-week Writing Sprints (all genres) generative class – begins 3.10.26 – Park Slope

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