Log in

In-person classes are held at our location.

Online classes are held via Zoom.

All class times listed are Eastern Time.

Upcoming Classes

  • Show and Tell: How to Make the Most of Your Story (Jim Seitz)

    • September 13, 2025
    • 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
    • WriterHouse
    Register

    This seminar will meet in person at WriterHouse on Saturday, September 13 from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM.

    Description:

    Writers are often told they should “show, don’t tell” their story, but in fact telling is as important as showing: it all depends on how you do it. In this workshop, we will explore how both to show and to tell our stories, for it turns out that both are equally important. Participants will learn how to distinguish between showing and telling in their own writing and discover ways to include both in a new scene for their short story, essay, novel, or memoir. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, this session will help you to compose and assess your work with greater insight.

    About the Instructor:

    James Seitz is an award-winning teacher of writing who has directed the writing programs at the University of Virginia, the University of Pittsburgh, and Long Island University-Brooklyn. Currently an associate professor of English at UVA, he teaches courses on memoir and personal narrative, and he recently completed a memoir entitled Fragments of a Father.

    Show details

  • Writing the Hardest Part: How Writers Bring Difficult Experience to the Page - Part II (Erin James)

    • September 15, 2025
    • 9:30 AM
    • November 03, 2025
    • 11:45 AM
    • WriterHouse
    • 3
    Register

    Class will meet in person at WriterHouse for 8 sessions on Mondays from 9:30-11:45 AM, September 15 through November 3.

    * Prerequisite for this class: completion of Writing the Hardest Part - Part I 

    Description:

    “Let’s face it. We’re undone by each other. And if we’re not, we’re missing something.” Judith Butler, Precarious Life

    Much has been written about the self-care that writers must practice if engaged in the art of transforming our most painful and difficult moments into story. This class will leave that up to our therapists, and focus instead on the justifications for doing so, and how to care for those on the receiving end of our stories. 

    Rooted in Maggie Nelson’s theory of art as “a place where all elements—even extremities—of what it feels like to be human can be heard and find place,” we will explore the techniques used by various nonfiction writers to handle difficult content, expand upon the craft archive of trauma we began to build in Part I of this course, and workshop our works-in-progress.

    In addition to exploring the creative struggles of other writers and drawing inspiration from what helped them put words to their experience, we will hold space for our own anxieties about writing difficult experience and engage in craft exercises meant to help us do so with care for and awareness of the self and the other.

    Participants will also receive feedback on their works-in-progress and provide feedback to others. In-class writing will be generative, and a variety of prompts will be offered each week. Participants will leave with a framework for bringing their difficult experiences to the page and feedback on their current work. 

    About the Instructor:

    Erin has taught English and Creative Writing for over a decade and received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in 2024. 

    In addition to working with students at WriterHouse for the past ten years, she has been a judge for the Writer‘s Eye Creative Writing Contest hosted by the University of Virginia’s Fralin Museum of Art. She has also been a student and teacher-counselor at UVA’s Young Writers Workshop. She has attended two week-long workshops for Teachers as Writers at Bard College’s Institute for Writing and Thinking in 2014 and 2016 and received an author fellowship to attend the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing in 2021. Before she began teaching, she studied Journalism and English at New York University and received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Virginia. In addition to writing, Erin loves reading, hiking, practicing and teaching yoga, cooking, being outside, traveling, and spending time with her sons Noah and Jacob, and friends.
    Show details

  • Start Writing Now: A Fiction Workshop (Tina Tocco)

    • September 15, 2025
    • 1:00 PM
    • November 03, 2025
    • 3:30 PM
    • Online via Zoom -- instructor will provide link
    • 2
    Register

    This class will meet online for 8 sessions on Mondays from 1:00-3:30 PM, September 15 through November 4.

    Description:

    Have you always wanted to try your hand at fiction writing, but never took the leap? Maybe you’ve put down your pen for a while and need a jumpstart. Come experiment in this low-stress, generative class! If you’re thinking, “But I don’t have any ideas,” don’t worry! We’ll use fun prompts — music, sounds, images, objects, etc. — to kindle your imagination. Expect to write to at least one prompt in every class and to comment on your classmates’ pieces. Since this workshop is generative, we’ll stick to positive feedback and optional sharing to keep everyone’s experience relaxed and fun. You’ll walk away each week with at least one new piece of writing and the tools to continue on this path. In addition, you’ll receive (completely optional) take-home exercises to keep you writing during the week, PDFs of all in-class prompts, and other resources to help you with your writing. Who knows? You might even start some pieces you’d like to turn into something more!

    NOTE: Returning students are welcome, as there will be new material used in this class.

    About the Instructor: 

    Tina Tocco is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has appeared in New Ohio Review, River Styx, Crab Creek Review, Roanoke Review, Hobart, Passages North, Potomac Review, Portland Review, Harpur Palate, and Italian Americana, among others. Tina’s writing has also been featured in various anthologies, including The Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press, 2019), Best Nonfiction Food (Woodhall Press, 2020), and The Haunted States of America (SCBWI-Henry Holt, 2024). A recipient of multiple awards, Tina was a finalist in CALYX’s Flash Fiction Contest and longlisted in The SmokeLong Quarterly Grand Micro Competition. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Manhattanville University, where she was editor-in-chief of Inkwell, the university’s national literary journal.
    Show details

  • Writing Family Narratives Using Research (Brendan Wolfe)

    • September 16, 2025
    • 1:00 PM
    • November 04, 2025
    • 3:30 PM
    • WriterHouse
    • 4
    Register

    This class will meet in person at WriterHouse for 8 sessions on Tuesdays from 1:00 PM-3:30 PM, September 16 through November 4th.

    Description:

    This class is part genealogy seminar, part traditional nonfiction workshop. We’ll focus on integrating storytelling with research in ways that make it impossible to separate one from the other. In the process you will learn some basic family history–research skills and then see how what you uncover can not only deepen your storytelling but guide it as well.

    Come to class with one or more projects in mind. Be thinking about what story you are trying to tell and how research might help. What questions do you have that it might answer? You might be interested in writing a memoir about you and your immediate family, or investigating something further back in time. The title of this class notwithstanding, you’re also welcome to pursue a story outside of your family but that you nevertheless find yourself drawn to.

    We will read and discuss published examples, present our research, and then workshop drafts of our narratives.

    About the Instructor:

    Brendan Wolfe is a professional genealogist and the author of three books, including Finding Bix: The Life and Afterlife of a Jazz Legend and Wolfe’s History. His personal essays and reviews have been published in Colorado Review, The Morning News, VQR, and Mud Season Review, among others. For twelve years Wolfe edited Encyclopedia Virginia, and has written numerous historical essays, including “The Train at Wood’s Crossing.” Honored as the best historical narrative of 2019 by Bunk magazine, it is included in Lynching in Virginia: Racial Terror and Its Legacy, edited by Gianluca De Fazio and published by the University of Virginia Press in August. Wolfe lives in Charlottesville with his daughter, Beatrix.
    Show details

  • Tell Your Story: A Creative Writing Workshop (Deborah Harris)

    • September 16, 2025
    • 5:00 PM
    • November 04, 2025
    • 7:00 PM
    • Online via Zoom — link will be shared by instructor
    • 4
    Register

    Description: 

    This class will meet online for 8 sessions on Tuesdays from 5:00 PM-7:00 PM, September 16 through November 4th.

    Whether you’re just beginning a memoir or deep into your novel, this class will help you generate new work while practicing the fundamentals of creative writing that draw readers deeply into your story.

    Each week, we’ll exercise our writing muscles with the help of a generative prompt. We’ll talk about published work we’ve read, considering story, character development, structure, and style. Finally, we’ll respond to shared student work in a generous and supportive spirit.

     

    About the Instructor:

    Deborah’s work has appeared in Dissent Magazine, The Southampton Review, and Five on the Fifth. She earned her MALS in literature from Wesleyan University and MFA in fiction writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She teaches here at WriterHouse, and at Hudson River Community Education, in New York.


    Show details

  • Evening Poetry (John Most)

    • September 17, 2025
    • 6:30 PM
    • November 05, 2025
    • 9:00 PM
    • WriterHouse
    • 2
    Register

    Description:

    This class will meet in person at WriterHouse for 8 sessions on Wednesdays from 6:30 PM-9:00 PM, September 17 through November 5th.

    In this class, which is open to all poets, we will spend most of our time writing and workshopping new poems. In addition to writing new poems, we will look at what different poets do in addition to writing the poem, whether it is writing about poetry, taking notes, thinking, researching, or reading.

    About the Instructor:

    John Most earned his PhD in media philosophy from the European Graduate School. His work has appeared in Jacket, Lungfull!, The Continental Review, Coconut, and Big Bridge. He is the author of Persephone, Atelier, and Field.


    Show details

  • Daytime Combo: Fiction and Creative Nonfiction (Christina Ward-Niven)

    • September 18, 2025
    • 1:00 PM
    • November 06, 2025
    • 3:30 PM
    • WriterHouse
    • 2
    Register

    This class will meet in person at WriterHouse for 8 sessions on Thursdays from 1:00 PM-3:30 PM, September 18 through November 6th.

    Description:

    In this MFA-style workshop, we will read one story or essay by a published author each week and discuss what makes it tick. How exactly does the piece work? We’ll dig into a wide range of craft topics, as they come up—point of view, characterization, pacing, clarity, mystery, and more. Next, we’ll turn the same lens to our own work, reading and responding to two participants’ pieces per week. Short stories, essays, and/or memoir are welcome. Links to online reading assignments will be provided weekly by the instructor, via email.

    About the Instructor:

    Christina Ward-Niven holds an MFA in Fiction from Warren Wilson College’s Program for Writers. She also earned a BA in English from William and Mary and an MS in Journalism from Boston University. She worked as a nonfiction writer and editor for several organizations in Washington, D.C., before moving to Charlottesville and shifting her focus to fiction. Her recent work has appeared in Husk Zine, Antioch Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Fiction Writers Review, CRAFT Literary, and elsewhere.


    Show details

  • Time, Craft, & Culture

    • September 18, 2025
    • 6:30 PM
    • November 06, 2025
    • 9:00 PM
    • WriterHouse
    Register

    This class meets in person at WriterHouse on Thursdays, September 18 through November 6, from 6:30 to 9 PM.

    Description:

    As writers, we craft our readers' experience of time, creating suspense and adding meaning through such elements as pace and rhythm. We also—inevitably, if unconsciously—engage with cultural models of time through the forms we choose. In this eight-week workshop we'll consider how time operates in prose through readings, discussion, experiments, and workshopping your writing. Topics will include lyric and narrative modes, various shapes for story plots, understanding sentence-level choices, and more. Writers of any genre and experience level are welcome. Join us to spark new ideas and fuel your creativity!

     

    About the Instructor:

    Jenn Gibbs is a writer, editor, and communication Swiss Army knife specializing in prose forms and the creative process. Her stories and essays have appeared in literary journals and anthologies including The Gettysburg Review, Ocean State Review, The Chattahoochee Review, and Literature and Racial Ambiguity. Her obsession with the enigma of time has led her to study ways that narratives shape and are shaped by individual and collective identities. She holds a BFA in Writing Arts from the State University of New York College at Oswego, an MFA in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University, and a PhD in English and American Literature with Creative Writing Emphasis from the University of Utah.


    Show details

  • Revising Prose: Seeing Your Work Anew (Kristie Smeltzer)

    • October 11, 2025
    • 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
    • WriterHouse
    • 8
    Register

    This seminar will meet in person at WriterHouse for 1 session on Saturday, October11th from 1:00-4:00 PM. 

    Note: This seminar will be also be offered online on Saturday, November 1 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The content will be the same in each session/format.

    Description:

    Sometimes what makes or breaks the success of a story is how well a writer sets and manages readers expectations. The first few paragraphs, pages, or chapters of a piece, depending on its length, establish its voice, tone, characters, and structure. Carefully building that foundation helps readers to trust you as the writer.

    In this seminar, we'll discuss essential elements that writers need to set up early in their work to gain that reader trust and buy-in, in addition to grabbing their interest. Then we'll read some examples of published work to analyze how the writers' choices affect the readers' experience. Finally, we'll have time for participants to do activities with their own writing to identify existing strengths in terms of their promises to readers as well as identifying opportunities for additions and changes. 

    Both fiction and creative nonfiction writers will benefit from participating in this seminar. Those of any skill level are welcome to participate but having at least a basic understanding of story structure and essential story components will help participants get the most out of the seminar. 

     About the Instructor:

    Kristie Smeltzer’s fiction has been published by Scribes*MICRO*Fiction, MonkeyBicycle, Atticus Review, and others. She is currently working on several novels. She earned her MFA in creative writing at the University of Central Florida. Kristie has taught at WriterHouse since 2016, and her students have gone on to publish their work in literary magazines, with small presses, and through large publishing houses. She also helps others tell their stories as a developmental editor and writing coach. Learn more at www.kristiesmeltzer.com.

    Show details

  • Looking and Seeing: Poems of Description and Observation (Margaret Mackinnon)

    • October 18, 2025
    • 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    • WriterHouse
    • 5
    Register

    This seminar will meet in person at WriterHouse for one session on Saturday, October 18 from 1:00 to 5:00 PM.

    Description:

    On some level, most poems rely on description, but in this one-day seminar, we’ll discuss poems that use description and observation as primary strategies. In his biography of Henry David Thoreau, Robert Richardson echoes Thoreau when he observes, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” How can poets move beyond looking to a space of actually seeing in their work? How can a poem that begins in description become an act of exploration? Members of the class will receive a packet of poems reflecting this theme, including some ekphrastic poems (poems written in response to works of art). We’ll use our time together to talk about some of the sample poems, but our primary focus will be on work written by seminar participants. This seminar is open to poets at all stages of developing their craft.

    About the Instructor:

    Margaret Mackinnon is the author of two collections of poetry, The Invented Child (Silverfish Review Press 2013), winner of the 2014 Literary Award in Poetry from the Library of Virginia, and Afternoon in Cartago (Ashland Poetry Press 2022), winner of the Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize. Her work has appeared in The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Image, Poetry, Blackbird, and other journals. She attended Vassar College and the University of North Carolina, and she received her MFA in poetry from the University of Florida. She lives with her family in Richmond.

    Show details

  • Revising Prose: Seeing Your Work Anew (Kristie Smeltzer)

    • November 01, 2025
    • 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
    • Online via Zoom -- instructor will provide Zoom link
    • 11
    Register

    This seminar will meet online for 1 session on Saturday, November 1st from 1:00-4:00 PM. 

    Note: This seminar will be also be offered in person at WriterHouse on Saturday, October 11 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The content will be the same in each session/format.

    Description:

    Sometimes what makes or breaks the success of a story is how well a writer sets and manages readers expectations. The first few paragraphs, pages, or chapters of a piece, depending on its length, establish its voice, tone, characters, and structure. Carefully building that foundation helps readers to trust you as the writer.

    In this seminar, we'll discuss essential elements that writers need to set up early in their work to gain that reader trust and buy-in, in addition to grabbing their interest. Then we'll read some examples of published work to analyze how the writers' choices affect the readers' experience. Finally, we'll have time for participants to do activities with their own writing to identify existing strengths in terms of their promises to readers as well as identifying opportunities for additions and changes. 

    Both fiction and creative nonfiction writers will benefit from participating in this seminar. Those of any skill level are welcome to participate but having at least a basic understanding of story structure and essential story components will help participants get the most out of the seminar. 

     About the Instructor:

    Kristie Smeltzer’s fiction has been published by Scribes*MICRO*Fiction, MonkeyBicycle, Atticus Review, and others. She is currently working on several novels. She earned her MFA in creative writing at the University of Central Florida. Kristie has taught at WriterHouse since 2016, and her students have gone on to publish their work in literary magazines, with small presses, and through large publishing houses. She also helps others tell their stories as a developmental editor and writing coach. Learn more at www.kristiesmeltzer.com.

    Show details


Navigation

WriterHouse, Inc. is a non-profit organization, exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code, and registered as a charitable organization with the Virginia State Office of Consumer Affairs. A financial statement is available from the State Office of Consumer Affairs in the the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services upon request. 

Contact Us

Mailing Address

WriterHouse
P.O. Box 222
Charlottesville, VA 22902


Physical Address

WriterHouse
508 Dale Avenue
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.282.6643
programs@writerhouse.org

Partially Sponsored By



Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software