Sackett Street Writers

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

Online Writing Classes

We are offering ONLINE CLASSES at a discounted rate in order to give writers the support, inspiration and creative community (albeit remotely) needed during this unpredictable time.

8-week workshops are limited to 9-10 writers (8-wk classes) and 8 writers (6-wk classes), and generative classes (Writing Sprints and Manuscript Generator) have no more than 12-15 writers. All workshops include opportunities to share work in class and receive feedback from both the instructor and classmates. To register, please complete an application and, if required, include a sample of work (1500-2000 words).

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir I/II – begins the week of 4.21.22

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Begins: April 21, 2022
Instructor: Sarah Herrington
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $575

A private conference with the instructor is included

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

Sarah Herrington is an essayist, poet, editor and teacher. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Modern Love, Anxiety, Solver Stories and OpEd columns, the LATimes, SFChronicle, Tin House, Slice, NYLON, Salon, Los Angeles Review of Books, Interview, Entropy, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Poets and Writers magazine, Oprah magazine and other publications. She holds an MFA from Lesley University, is currently a Goldwater Fellow at New York University, and teaches at Loyola Marymount University.

8-week Online Writing Speculative and Fantastical Fiction – begins 4.26.22

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Begins: April 26, 2022 
Instructor: Siobhan Adcock
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Mondays 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $575

A private conference with the instructor is included.

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 speculative and fantastical fiction. We will focus on some of the classic sticking points of writing in this genre: effective worldbuilding, balancing character against plot, maintaining consistent story logic, and making sure all elements of the writing serve the story. This class seeks to dispel the myths of the so-called differences between “genre” fiction and literary fiction: every story one writes, whether it’s a realistic family drama or a saga set on a spaceship, should be built upon good prose, complex characters, empathy and specificity. Fantasy, sci-fi, speculative fiction, or whatever label you choose can and should be well-written literary work, and in this class we will seek to give you the tools do just that.

APPLY NOW

Siobhan Adcock is a novelist, essayist, humor writer, and editor based in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She is the author of two novels, The Completionist (Simon & Schuster, 2018) and The Barter (Dutton, 2014), as well as two humor books. Her short fiction has been published in Triquarterly and The Massachusetts Review, and her essays and humor writing have appeared in Salon, Slate, The Daily Beast, Ms., Medium, and the Chicago Review of Books. She has taught writing classes and workshops at the Columbia Publishing Course, the Gotham Writers Workshop, Cornell University, and the Auburn Federal Correctional Facility, as well as for Voices from War, a nonprofit writing program serving military and service families. For many (many) years she has worked in digital and print publishing, putting in time at Random House, HarperCollins, Conde Nast, the XO Group, Time Inc., and most recently at Everyday Health Media.

8-week ONLINE Writing Sprints: A Generative Class (fiction & nonfiction) – begins 5.4.22

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Begins: May 4, 2022
Instructor: Elizabeth Weiss
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $550 

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‘s debut novel, The Sisters Sweet, was published by The Dial Press in November 2021. She earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. Her nonfiction has been published in The New Yorker online. She has taught for the University of Iowa, the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, and the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, and is a mentor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. She lives in Minneapolis with her spouse, daughter, and dog.

Young Adult & Middle Grade Novel-Writing Workshop II – begins 5.3.22

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Instructor: Anna Hecker
Dates: Begins May 3, 2022
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $575

A private conference with the instructor actor is included.

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

This course is for writers of young adult and middle grade fiction who have a specific project in mind and are ready to take their writing practice to the next level. Whether you’re unsnarling your outline, perpetually stuck on Chapter 5, neck-deep in revisions, or looking for final feedback before querying, you’ll find a supportive community and lots of personalized feedback.  In this class we’ll explore advanced fiction topics such as dialogue, scene structure, pacing, and the business of writing, including how to query agents and what happens once you get an offer. But first and foremost, this is a workshop. It’s all about getting more of your work read and critiqued, so be prepared to submit pages every other week, and to offer thoughtful and thorough feedback to your fellow writers.

Students will also have the opportunity to meet with a literary agent to pitch their project.

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. She is represented by Eric Smith of P.S. Literary.

8-week ONLINE Fiction Writing Workshop I/II – begins 5.2.22

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8-week ONLINE Fiction Writing I/II
Begins: May 2, 2022
Instructor: Melissa Ximena Golebiowski
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Mondays 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $575 (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.”

Melissa Ximena Golebiowski is a Latinx writer and editor based in Los Angeles, CA. She is the former National Assigning Editor for Literary Hub. Originally from NJ but the child of immigrants from different countries respectively, her mixed culture can often be found in her writing. Her work has been featured in Catapult, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, and Entropyamong others.

Melissa is currently at work on a short story collection entitled Blanket Girl & Other Storieswhich explores the spiritual & ancestral connection between intimacy and grief and how each manifests in both familial and romantic relationships. The collection will be illustrated by surrealist artist and sculptor, Jim McKenzie.

8-week Online Master Fiction Workshop – begins 5.3.22

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Instructor: Jensen Beach
Dates: Begins May 3, 2022
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $575 (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

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 Master Personal Essay & Memoir Writing – begins 5.5.22 – taught by Nancy Rawlinson

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Begins: May 5, 2022
Instructor: Nancy Rawlinson
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $575 

A private conference with the instructor is included.

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application.

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

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 Master Fiction Workshop – begins 5.5.22

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Instructor: Ted Thompson
Dates: Begins May 5, 2022
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $575

A private conference with the instructor is included.

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, a finalist for the Center for Fiction Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. The novel was adapted by Nicole Holofcener for a feature film starring Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco and Connie Britton, released in late 2017. Ted’s 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 ten 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 (fiction & nonfiction) – begins 5.10.22

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Begins: May 10, 2022
Instructor: Melissa Ximena Golebiowski
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $550 

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

Melissa Ximena Golebiowski is a Latinx writer and editor based in Los Angeles, CA. She is the former National Assigning Editor for Literary Hub. Originally from NJ but the child of immigrants from different countries respectively, her mixed culture can often be found in her writing. Her work has been featured in Catapult, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, and Entropy among others.

Melissa is currently at work on a short story collection entitled Blanket Girl & Other Stories which explores the spiritual & ancestral connection between intimacy and grief and how each manifests in both familial and romantic relationships. The collection will be illustrated by surrealist artist and sculptor, Jim McKenzie.

8-week ONLINE Creative Writing: Building an Intentional Community for Writers of Color (open to both fiction & nonfiction writers) – begins 5.24.22

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Instructor: Khaliah Williams
Dates: May 24, 2022
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $550 

A writing sample is not required (but recommended) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a brief 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 6.1.22 (this is a virtual class & video meetings are held every other week)

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Begins: June 1st, 2022
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.

APPLY NOW

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

6-week Personal Essay & Memoir Writing I/II – begins 6.2.22

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Begins: June 2, 2022
Instructor: Xeni Fragakis
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $450

A private conference with the instructor is included

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

Xeni Fragakis received her BA in English from Yale University and her MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa. At Iowa, she was awarded an Iowa Arts Fellowship and taught Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and Salon, and she is a winner of the Moth GrandSLAM Championship.

8-week Writing Speculative and Fantastical Fiction – begins 6.9.22

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Begins: June 9, 2022 
Instructor: Marissa Levien
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $575

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 speculative and fantastical fiction. We will focus on some of the classic sticking points of writing in this genre: effective worldbuilding, balancing character against plot, maintaining consistent story logic, and making sure all elements of the writing serve the story. This class seeks to dispel the myths of the so-called differences between “genre” fiction and literary fiction: every story one writes, whether it’s a realistic family drama or a saga set on a spaceship, should be built upon good prose, complex characters, empathy and specificity. Fantasy, sci-fi, speculative fiction, or whatever label you choose can and should be well-written literary work, and in this class we will seek to give you the tools do just that.

APPLY NOW

Marissa Levien received her MFA from Stony Brook University, where she also helped run the Southampton Writers Conference. Her debut novel The World Gives Way was released by Hachette in 2021, earning praise from The New York Times, Vulture, Literary Hub, Publishers Weekly, and a selection as an IndieNext Pick. Her work has been published in Writer’s Digest, Literary Hub, Publisher’s Weekly, Saint Ann’s Review, and Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. She has previously taught workshops for Stony Brook University, John Jermain Workshops, and Harlem Educational Activities Fund.

8-week ONLINE Writing Sprints: A Generative Class (fiction & nonfiction) – begins 6.8.22

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Begins: June 8, 2022
Instructor: Heidi Diehl
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Wednesdays 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $550 

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

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 Advanced Personal Essay & Memoir Writing – begins week of 6.13.22

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Begins: week of June 13, 2022
Instructor: Sarah Herrington
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up weeknight tbd 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $575 

A private conference with the instructor is included.

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application.

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

Sarah Herrington is an essayist, poet, editor and teacher. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Modern Love, Anxiety, Solver Stories and OpEd columns, the LATimes, SFChronicle, Tin House, Slice, NYLON, Salon, Los Angeles Review of Books, Interview, Entropy, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Poets and Writers magazine, Oprah magazine and other publications. She holds an MFA from Lesley University, is currently a Goldwater Fellow at New York University, and teaches at Loyola Marymount University.