First Look: Check Out Our New Spring 2025 Narratively Academy Classes!
Ready to workshop your memoir, break into the world of speechwriting or learn how to effectively revise your own work? Find all of that and more in our spring writing classes.
Wow, that was one exciting, whirlwind of a winter season at Narratively Academy. Almost every single seat in our 12 classes sold out and it’s been fascinating to see all the different projects this diverse community of writers are workshopping. On tap this spring we have new sessions of several sold-out faves, plus four brand-new classes, our first self-guided option and a FREE class. Keep reading to check it all out!
First up: We’ve been so blown away by the amount of interest in our 30 Days, 30 Prompts class that we’re bringing it back this April with an expanded twist. The new, self-guided version of this class is designed to let you go at your own pace — and allows us to lower the cost significantly so more of you can participate. Students in the first two sessions of this class have loved how the daily prompts sparked creativity, invigorated their daily writing practices and got them moving on new projects.
The number one thing I’ve heard from so many of you these past few weeks is that you want to find ways to use your writing to make a difference and impact in these…um, turbulent times. Steven Beschloss has built a following of nearly 100,000 readers at America America, the Substack publication where he publishes passionate essays of alarm and hope, on politics and society, democracy and justice. On Tuesday, April 8, Steven will be joining us for a lunchtime seminar about how he launched and grew his
publication, how he gets inspiration to write every day and how to maintain your perspective and frame of mind while doing that. I can’t wait for this one!
We’re so lucky to have Abeer Hoque back teaching another session of The Insider’s Guide to Writing Personal Statements and Applying for Grants & Residencies in April. This intimate, hands-on class has room for just eight students — seats have gone very quickly the last couple sessions, so if you’re interested, grab a spot ASAP.
One of my most rewarding teaching experiences last year was during my May Memoir Mentorship, so I’m going back for more. We have 15 slots available for one-on-one personal essay editing workshops. If you have a draft of a personal essay and you’re ready for professional feedback, I’ll review and critique your story, hop on a call to discuss edits with you, then review your revision and help you get it all polished up and ready to submit to publications.
If you’ve been inspired to write op-eds and articles about social issues this year (and how could you not be?), make sure to check out Kavita Das’s in-depth seminar, How to Write About Social Issues in Unprecedented Times. A Pushcart Prize-nominated writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, CNN and many other publications, Kavita also authored the book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues. Basically, she’s *the* expert on how to craft this type of writing.
Do you watch political rallies or reruns of The West Wing and think, I could have written that speech better? Have you thought about broadening your writing career to include speechwriting for yourself or clients? If so, this one’s for you. Henrietta Williams, founder of Speakeasy Speechwriting, has over a decade of experience writing speeches for leaders in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. In Talk Ain’t Cheap, her two-hour interactive seminar, Henrietta will walk you through the basics of what makes a speech sing — and how to break into the business of speechwriting.
We’ve very happy Caroline Rothstein will be teaching another session of her sold-out class, Deeply Personal: Writing First-Person Essays on Raw and Difficult Topics. It’s been so wonderful to see the writers in this small workshop class develop close relationships while they explore writing *those* kinds of pieces. You know, the ones you always want to write but that require a push to figure out how to tell them in the right way.
Another of our perennially popular classes, Katey Schultz’s The Fine Art of Deep Revision explores how revising your own writing can be efficient, productive and even fun — once you identify the concrete techniques that work best for you. Our two previous sessions of this class both sold out quickly, so grab a seat now if you want to get to work on revising your writing projects this spring. (And drop your guesses in the comments for how many times I had to revise the word “perennially” before I spelled it correctly 😂.)
At a time when too many voices in the LGBTQ+ community are being intimidated and silenced, we couldn’t be prouder to offer this very special class this spring. Bestselling author and New York Times essayist Claire Rudy Foster will lead a Pride Month queer writers memoir workshop, a generative class designed to help you dive into telling your own queer, gender-diverse or trans story with confidence, clarity and candor. This is a small class with just 10 seats.
Last but most certainly not least, the amazing Audrey Clare Farley is back to lead another brand-new offering for us: our first book study! In Reading Like a Writer, students will spend the month of June reading Matthew Pratt Guterl’s acclaimed and haunting memoir, Skinfolk, meeting up for deep analysis of the writing themes and approaches Guterl employs, plus craft exercises that will help you explore how to use these themes in your own writing. And the author will join the class for the last session!
Questions about any of these classes? Drop us a line: academy@narratively.com
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