GrubStreet’s Contemporary Craft Series brings you low-cost opportunities to learn directly from some of the most influential voices in contemporary literature. Each live, online seminar focuses on a unique craft topic, includes Q&A, and offers fresh insights you can apply to your writing right away.
These special sessions will not be recorded, so each is truly a one-time opportunity. Whether you’re brand new to GrubStreet or have been writing with us for years, these 90-minute seminars will fuel your creative inspiration and deepen your craft.
Upcoming Seminars
Date: Jan 27, 2026, 6:00pm–7:30pm | $35 for Non-Members, $25 for Members
Lyricism, diction, intellectualism, and image should be of great concern to the prose writer. All of these become irrelevant, however, if you bore your reader with a surplus of abstraction, interiority, exposition, and description. In this workshop, we will break down the recipe for dramatic tension and consider ways to subvert traditional narrative plot structure without losing your reader. We can be artful, intellectual, introspective and compelling. We will focus primarily on examples in memoir and essays, but this seminar is open to writers of all genres.
Instructor:
Melissa Febos is the national bestselling author of five books, including Girlhood—winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative, and a new memoir, The Dry Season. She is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, LAMBDA Literary, the Black Mountain Institute, the British Library, the Bogliasco Foundation, and others.
Date: Feb 26, 2026, 6:00pm–7:30pm | $35 for Non-Members, $25 for Members
What does it mean to write critically about art in fiction or creative non-fiction? How can writing about art allow us to write more deeply about character and world? How can it allow us to explore ideas in ways we might not otherwise have access to? We will look at a number of examples in both fiction and non-fiction, from authors ranging from John Berger to Sheena Patel. Please note, this talk will include close reading and generative exercises.
Instructor:
Katie Kitamura’s most recent novel is Audition. A finalist for the Booker Prize, it was one of President Obama’s 2025 Summer Reads. She is also the author of Intimacies. One of The New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2021, it was longlisted for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and was also one of President Obama’s Favorite Books of 2021.
Date: April 4, 2026, 2:30pm–4:00pm | $35 for Non-Members, $25 for Members
To write a novel is to make a million decisions, large and small, emotional and logical, aesthetic and practical. What tools, practices, tricks, or habits might a writer keep at their disposal in order to survive the wilderness between inspiration and completion? In this hybrid workshop and craft talk, we will look at a group of tools that could benefit fiction writers as they work. We will closely examine a few excerpts, and do a few in-class exercises during our time together. This class is appropriate for writers of all levels, but may be the best fit for writers serious about writing their first (or second or third) novel.
Instructor:
Catherine Lacey is author of The Möbius Book, a hybrid work of fiction and memoir, as well as four novels: Biography of X, Pew, Nobody Is Ever Missing, and The Answers; and one story collection, Certain American States. Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, a fellowship from The Cullman Center, the Young Lions Fiction Award, an O. Henry, and the Brooklyn Public Library Book Award.
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More seminars in the Contemporary Craft Series will become available throughout the year. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive announcements about:
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About GrubStreet
Want writing to be a bigger part of your life? GrubStreet, the nation’s leading creative writing center, helps you stay inspired, motivated, and connected. We offer classes, events, and community for writers of all backgrounds, both in person and online, and we’re on a mission to make creative writing accessible to people across all genres, backgrounds, and career stages.
Explore our upcoming workshops and learn more about becoming a member of our supportive writing community.