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Get connected to Charlottesville’s writing community.
Here’s what some of our students are saying about WriterHouse:
“WriterHouse is wonderful. I just recently moved here and WriterHouse is a fantastic resource, offering both community and an excellent range of classes.”
“What I enjoy most about my experience with WriterHouse is the support of a writing tribe.”
“Sunny and comfortable. Glad there’s coffee!”
“I like the space and time dedicated to the effort of writing. I like the quiet.”
“I am just so glad WriterHouse exists. I am grateful to have a place to come and write and be around writers.”
“I am a huge WriterHouse fan. Thank you for fostering this unique community; it’s completely revolutionized what has otherwise been a relatively lonely hobby for me.”
“Great institution. Love the camaraderie, the exchange of knowledge, the feedback. No way I would have started writing in this way without WriterHouse.”
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FEATURED EVENTS
November 2019
Submission Bootcamp, Part I: Getting Noticed – Submitting Your Work
Instructor: Liza Taylor $30 Members | $32.50 Nonmembers Saturday, 11/2/19 | 10:30 am - 12:00 pm Note: The Submission mini-seminars may be taken separately or together, but you must register for each one individually. Here at WriterHouse we’re taught to be better writers, but it’s up to us to get our work out there and learn how to be writers in the world. So, you might be wondering, how will I know if I’m ready to try submitting? Liza will…
Find out more »Submission Bootcamp, Part II: I’ve Finished Writing My Book, Now What?
Instructor: Liza Taylor $35 Members | $38 Nonmembers Sunday, 11/3/19 | 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Note: The Submission mini-seminars may be taken separately or together, but you must register for each one individually. As they say at the Publisher’s Clearinghouse, “If you don’t enter, you can’t win.” Finding an agent for your manuscript is tough. This seminar will discuss preparing book manuscripts for submission, researching literary agents, writing and formatting a query letter and synopsis, submission strategies, and dealing…
Find out more »Confessions of a Book Reviewer (Seminar has been canceled!)
Instructor: Bill Glose $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Sunday, 11/10/19 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm As the Books editor for Virginia Living for the past 16 years, Bill Glose has sifted through hundreds of book marketing campaigns. In this seminar, he will discuss how he chooses which books to review and the mistakes that many beginning authors do that harm their chances. He will also discuss the lifespan of a book and show participants how to make a publicity…
Find out more »WriterHouse Fall Class Reading and Open House
Join us for food and fun as we celebrate the writing created during the 2019 Fall Term. Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry will be represented. The event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served. Bring friends!
Find out more »January 2020
Fiction and the Craft of Character (This seminar is full!)
Instructor: Bruce Holsinger $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 1/25/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm This seminar will address the making of human characters in fiction. Characters--believable, authentic, sympathetic--are the lifeblood of story. Who wants to read or keep reading a novel if we don’t care about the fellow human beings inhabiting its setting and guiding its plot? We’ll look at several examples of great characters, learn about the relationship between character and story structure, and try out some…
Find out more »February 2020
The Short Long Poem
Instructor: Christopher Kondrich $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/1/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Long poems marvel us with their expansiveness, but many short poems seem to have this quality as well. Their brevity belies their extraordinary breadth and scope. In this seminar, we’ll explore how to harness the expansiveness of long poetry for our more concise work. We’ll consider four poems—one each by Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Louise Glück, Srikanth Reddy, and Robin Coste Lewis—as examples and guides,…
Find out more »First Fridays Art Opening, “What’s left” by Kiel Posner
Join us for food, wine, and lively conversation as we celebrate the artwork of Kiel Posner. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Posner's first solo exhibition, "What's left," is a series of epoxy-covered T-shirt paintings. The title recalls the work required to perpetually sustain the home, while also acknowledging the responsibility to maintain ourselves. Kiel Posner is a mixed media sculptor based out of Richmod, Virginia. He is currently a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts fellowship recipient…
Find out more »Navigating the Query Trenches: Pitches, Pitfalls, and PitMad
Instructor: Emily Thiede $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/15/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm There’s a reason many writers describe querying as “going into the trenches,” but like any battle, it’s easier to survive the fight if you start with the right tools in your armory. In this course, we’ll explore resources for building (and narrowing down) a list of agents to query, and the pros-and-cons of non-traditional paths like twitter pitch contests, mentorship competitions, and writing conferences.…
Find out more »Beyond the Banana Peel: A Workshop on Writing Humor (This workshop is full!)
Instructors: Lisa Ellison and Debby Prum $80 Members | $87 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/22/20 | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm NOTE: Maximum number of students - 8 Quote: “If heaven exists, to know there’s laughs, that would be a great thing.” Robin Williams During this four-hour workshop, we will discuss the elements of humor, use improv exercises and film clips to demonstrate those elements and then give participants opportunities to write short humorous pieces. NOTE: Lunch break from 12:00-1:00 PM. Participants…
Find out more »Utopia and Dystopia: Writing Heaven and Hell
Instructor: Warren Rochelle $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/29/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm Utopia, the perfect society? Or, a planned, better one? Dystopia, a warning, a cautionary tale: if we don't stop doing .... there'll be hell to pay. We'll talk about utopia and dystopia, past and present, outline a statement of beliefs, then start individual stories set in the alternate world of these beliefs in action. Warren Rochelle lives and works in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he…
Find out more »WRITERHOUSE NEWS
Watch the first virtual book launch co-sponsored by WriterHouse and New Dominion Bookshop!
The launch of "Half" by Sharon Harrigan was celebrated virtually on July 11, 2020. We as a writing community continue to adjust to the current situation. The success of the WriterHouse online classes (offered via Zoom) encouraged us to give a virtual book...
Read the Winning Entries from the 2020 JMRL and WriterHouse Poetry Contest
JMRL and WriterHouse Announce Poetry Contest Winner! The poem, “Play a Note,” by Fred Everett Maus has been selected as this year’s JMRL-WriterHouse Poetry Contest winner. Joan Mazza was named runner-up for the poem “Elinor White Frost." Congratulations to...
April Weekly writing prompt
As part of the #TheWrite2Heal series of events, for the month of April WriterHouse established a weekly prompt to help our community maintain a writing practice in these challenging times. We hope that these prompts helped you channel your feelings in a productive...
