Sackett Street Writers

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

8-week ONLINE Fiction II/III Writing – begins 5.20.21 – taught by Josh Rolnick

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Instructor: Josh Rolnick
Dates: Begins May 20, 2021
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Our Fiction Workshop is aimed at writers with a regular practice, those 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 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.

APPLY NOW

Josh Rolnick’s short story collection, Pulp and Paper, won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, selected by Yiyun Li (University of Iowa Press). His most recent story appeared in Meridian (spring 2020), and his latest story is forthcoming in Boulevard (spring 2021). Previous short stories have won the Arts & Letters Fiction Prize and The Florida Review Editors’ Choice Prize. His stories have also been published in Harvard Review, Western Humanities Review, Bellingham Review, and Gulf Coast, and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best New American Voices. He is a faculty lecturer at the Johns Hopkins MA in Writing Program and fiction editor at Paper Brigade, the literary annual of the Jewish Book Council.

8-week ONLINE Writing for Young Adult and Middle-Grade Workshop – begins 5.17.21 – taught by Anna Godbersen

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Begins: May 17, 2021
Instructor: Anna Godbersen
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Start, finish, or polish your YA or MG novel in this supportive, proactive workshop. Brief lectures, tailored to students’ needs and interests, cover topics such as character development, voice and tone, plot, world-building, dialogue, romance, pacing, scene structure, querying agents, the business of publishing, and time management for writers.

Students will have opportunities to workshop writing with the class and receive written feedback from the instructor and fellow students. This course is intended for students with some writing experience.

All YA or MG genres are welcome.

APPLY NOW

Anna Godbersen is the author of numerous books for young adults, including The New York Times Bestselling series THE LUXE and the BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS series. THE BLONDE was her first book for the adult market. She has worked in the literary department of ESQUIRE, where she vetted short story submissions and wrote weekly book reviews for the magazine’s website. Her most recent book is WHEN WE CAUGHT FIRE, a young adult novel set during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, published by HarperTeen.

8-week ONLINE Master Fiction Writing – begins 5.25.21 – taught by Maisy Card

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Instructor: Maisy Card
Dates: Begins May 25, 2021
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Our Fiction Workshop is aimed at writers with a regular practice, those 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 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.

APPLY NOW

Maisy Card is the author of the debut novel These Ghosts are Family which was published by Simon & Schuster in March 2020 and has been nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Award. Her writing has appeared in Lenny Letter, School Library Journal, Agni, Sycamore Review, Liars’ League NYC, and Ampersand Review. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Maisy was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, but was raised in Queens, New York. She earned an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College, an MLIS from Rutgers University and a BA in English and American Studies from Wesleyan University. She currently lives in Newark, NJ where she works as a public librarian.

8-week ONLINE Advanced Personal Essay & Memoir Writing – begins 5.24.21 – taught by Michele Filgate

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Begins: May 24, 2021 (no class 5.31 and 7.5)
Instructor: Michele Filgate
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Monday nights 6-7pm ET)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

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, personal essays or in-depth journalism, and students should have writing and writing class experience.

Apply Now

Michele Filgate is a contributing editor at Literary Hub. Her work has appeared in Longreads, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Refinery29, Slice, The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, Salon, Interview Magazine, Buzzfeed, The Barnes & Noble Review, Poets & Writers, CNN.com, Fine Books & Collections Magazine, DAME Magazine, The Brooklyn Quarterly, Time Out New York, People, The Daily Beast, O, The Oprah Magazine, Men’s Journal, Vulture, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Star Tribune, The Quarterly Conversation, The Brooklyn Rail, and other publications. She is the founder of the Red Ink series. In 2016, Brooklyn Magazine named her one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture.” Michele is the editor of the anthology What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About published by Simon & Schuster in 2019.

8-week Online MFA Application Prep Workshop (open to fiction & nonfiction writers) – begins week of 6.7.21 – taught by Jensen Beach

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Instructor: Jensen Beach
Dates: Begins week of June 6, 2021
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Wednesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $550 (usually $625)

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

The workshop in intended for writers who are applying to (or considering applying to) MFA graduate programs in creative writing and uses in-class discussion, handouts and instructor advice to help students decide what programs are a good fit. Additionally, the course features plenty of advice on the personal essay, recommendation letters, choosing work for manuscripts, and discussion of the pros and cons of various programs. The stories/essays/excerpts students intend on including in their applications will be workshopped, and feedback from the instructor and class participants will help polish application manuscripts. This course is open to story-writers, novelists and nonfiction writers.

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Jensen Beach is the author of two story collections, the forthcoming SWALLOWED BY THE COLD (Graywolf), and FOR OUT OF THE HEART PROCEED (Dzanc Books 2012, 2nd Edition; 1st Edition: Dark Sky Books). He holds an MFA in fiction from the Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as an MA and BA in English from Stockholm University. He teaches in the BFA program at Johnson State College, where he also is the fiction editor of Green Mountains Review. He’s also a faculty member in the MFA Program in Writing & Publishing at VCFA. His writing has appeared recently in A Public Space, Cincinnati Review, Fifty-Two Stories, Ninth Letter, Sou’wester, Witness, and The New Yorker, and online at Tin House, N+1, Kenyon Review, and American Short Fiction, among others. He’s received scholarships from the Napa and Sewanee Writers’ conferences, and is one of the webeditors at Hobart. He lives in Vermont.

8-week ONLINE Fiction Writing I/II: Building an Intentional Community for Writers of Color – begins 6.3.21 – taught by Khaliah Williams

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Instructor: Khaliah Williams
Dates: Begins June 3, 2021
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Over the course of this workshop, writers will gain skills in fiction writing while engaging in a community of fellow writers of color. During in-class instruction, writers will gain technical skills in character development, language, and style. The combination of an intentional community coupled with thoughtful writing exercises allows participants to immerse themselves in a unique workshop experience.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of fiction. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling story.

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

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Khaliah Williams is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her fiction has been published in Hawaii Women’s Journal, Frontier Psychiatrist, and Day One, and her non-fiction at Buzzfeed, American Short Fiction and Book Country. She is a current fellow at the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction and an Instructor and Advisory Board member of Writers in Baltimore School. Originally from Philadelphia, she lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  She is at work on a novel and collection of short stories.

8-week ONLINE Creative Writing II/III: Building an Intentional Community for Writers of Color (open to both fiction & nonfiction writers) – begins 6.7.21 – taught by Khaliah Williams

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Instructor: Khaliah Williams
Dates: Begins June 7, 2021
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Mondays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Over the course of this workshop, writers will gain skills in fiction and non-fiction writing while engaging in a community of fellow writers of color. During in-class instruction, writers will gain technical skills in character development, language, and style. The combination of an intentional community coupled with thoughtful writing exercises allows participants to immerse themselves in a unique workshop experience.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of both fiction and 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 story.

This workshop is open to writers of color working on fiction (short stories and novels) and creative nonfiction (memoir, personal essays or in-depth journalism) and students should have writing and writing class experience.

APPLY NOW

Khaliah Williams is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her fiction has been published in Hawaii Women’s Journal, Frontier Psychiatrist, and Day One, and her non-fiction at Buzzfeed, American Short Fiction and Book Country. She is a current fellow at the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction and an Instructor and Advisory Board member of Writers in Baltimore School. Originally from Philadelphia, she lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  She is at work on a novel and collection of short stories.

12-wk VIRTUAL Manuscript Generator I* : a generative class open to novelists, memoirists, and writers working on story and essay collections – begins week of 6.14.21 (this is a virtual class & video meetings are held every other week) 

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Begins: Week of June 14, 2021
Instructor: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Location: Meetings via video every other Wednesday 7-9pm EST
Fee: $875.00

A private conference with the instructor is included.

*This section of Manuscript Generator is intended for writers who have not participated in a previous Manuscript Generator class.

A writing sample is not required but recommended for this class.

Every other week you will submit up to 5,000 words of your manuscript to the instructor and she will provide you with written feedback. You’ll also have the opportunity to receive feedback from your fellow writers on your project synopsis or outline, scene exercises, and your manuscript’s opening paragraphs. The two-hour bi-weekly meetings will be the chance for you to discuss your projects and engage with writing prompts in shared group writing time. The instructor also offers a 30-minute one-on-one consultation at the end of the course to discuss your manuscript in depth.

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 some experience writing and workshopping.

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Heather Aimee O’Neill has worked with hundreds of writers in Sackett Street’s popular Manuscript Intensive Workshop (online and in Brooklyn). Her most recent collection of poetry, Obliterations, was co-authored with Jessica Piazza and published by Red Hen Press. A recent Lambda Literary Poetry Fellow, her poetry chapbook, Memory Future, won the University of Southern California’s Gold Line Press Award, chosen by judge Carol Muske-Dukes. She is a freelance writer for publications such as Time Out New York, Parents Magazine and Salon.com

8-week ONLINE Master Fiction Writing – begins 6.22.21 – taught by Ted Thompson

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Instructor: Ted Thompson
Dates: Begins June 22, 2021
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Our Fiction Workshop is aimed at writers with a regular practice, those 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 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.

APPLY NOW

Ted Thompson is the author of The Land of Steady Habits, which was published by Little, Brown in 2014 and was a finalist for the Center for Fiction Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. The novel is being adapted by Nicole Holofcener for a feature film starring Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco and Connie Britton, to be released in late 2017. His short stories have been published in Tin House, American Short Fiction, One Teen Story and Best New American Voices, and he’s had fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the MacDowell Colony. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Ted has proudly taught for Sackett for over six years, as well as at Amherst College and in the Brooklyn College MFA program. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.

8-week ONLINE Writing Sprints: A Generative Class (open to fiction & nonfiction writers at all levels) – begins 6.24.21 – taught by Elizabeth Weiss

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Begins: June 24, 2021
Instructor: Elizabeth Weiss
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Elizabeth Weiss earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. She has written non-fiction for the New Yorker web site, and her debut novel is forthcoming from the Dial Press. She has taught writing at the University of Iowa and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.

8-week ONLINE Advanced Personal Essay & Memoir Writing – begins 6.23.21

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Begins: June 23, 2021 (no class July 7th)
Instructor: Michele Filgate
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Wednesdays nights 6-7pm ET)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

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, personal essays or in-depth journalism, and students should have writing and writing class experience.

Apply Now

Michele Filgate is a contributing editor at Literary Hub. Her work has appeared in Longreads, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Refinery29, Slice, The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, Salon, Interview Magazine, Buzzfeed, The Barnes & Noble Review, Poets & Writers, CNN.com, Fine Books & Collections Magazine, DAME Magazine, The Brooklyn Quarterly, Time Out New York, People, The Daily Beast, O, The Oprah Magazine, Men’s Journal, Vulture, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Star Tribune, The Quarterly Conversation, The Brooklyn Rail, and other publications. She is the founder of the Red Ink series. In 2016, Brooklyn Magazine named her one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture.” Michele is the editor of the anthology What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About published by Simon & Schuster in 2019.

 

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir Writing I/II – begins week of 6.29.21 – taught by Anna Qu

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Begins: June 29, 2021
Instructor: Anna Qu
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 6:30-8:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

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

Anna Qu is a Chinese-American writer. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Kartika Review, Kweli Journal, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, XOJane, Jezebel, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Anna currently serves as the Nonfiction Editor at Kweli, and formerly worked in the publishing on the agency side. Her memoir, MADE IN CHINA, will be published in 2021.

8-week ONLINE Master Fiction Writing – begins 7.6.21 – taught by Austin Ratner

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Instructor: Austin Ratner
Dates: Begins July 6, 2021
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up TUESDAYS 6-8pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Our Fiction Workshop is aimed at writers with a regular practice, those 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 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.

APPLY NOW

Austin Ratner is the author of the novels In the Land of the Living and The Jump Artist, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. His non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine andThe Wall Street Journal and his short fiction has been honored with the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize. He attended the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is co-author of the textbook Concepts in Medical Physiology.

8-week ONLINE Fiction Writing I/II – begins 7.6.21 – taught by Heidi Diehl

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8-week ONLINE Fiction Writing I/II
Begins: July 6, 2021
Instructor: Heidi Diehl
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up on Tuesdays 7-9 pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Please fill out an application with name, contact info, and writing/writing class experience.

In this workshop, writers will learn how to manipulate the tools of fiction-writing (point-of-view, plot, characterizing detail, tone, etc.) to craft complete and unique stories that engage the reader. In-class critiques and exercises, as well as lectures and feedback from the instructor, are used to help students further develop their writing. This course is intended for writers with some writing experience who are looking to learn more about what makes a story, “a story.”

Heidi Diehl’s debut novel, Lifelines, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June 2019. Her short fiction has appeared in Crazyhorse, Indiana Review, Mississippi Review, StoryQuarterly, Witness,and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Marble House Project, Norton Island/Eastern Frontier Foundation, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center; she holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. Since 2010, she has taught expository and creative writing at Brooklyn College, where she is also the assistant director of the freshman writing program.

8-week ONLINE Writing for Young Adult and Middle-Grade Workshop – begins 7.7.21

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Begins: July 7, 2021
Instructor: Anna Hecker
Location: Online (weekly video Wednesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $495 (usually $625)

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

Start, finish, or polish your YA or MG novel in this supportive, proactive workshop. Brief lectures, tailored to students’ needs and interests, cover topics such as character development, voice and tone, plot, world-building, dialogue, romance, pacing, scene structure, querying agents, the business of publishing, and time management for writers.

Students will have opportunities to workshop writing with the class and receive written feedback from the instructor and fellow students. This course is intended for students with some writing experience.

All YA or MG genres are welcome.

APPLY NOW

Anna Hecker holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from The New School. She is the author of When the Beat Drops (Sky Pony Press, May 2018) as well as several young adult ghostwriting projects for Penguin/Razorbill, Alloy Entertainment and HarperTeen. Her articles have appeared in Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Gawker, DailyCandy, Refinery29, and VICE Broadly.