StoryStudio Chicago

The next three Intensive Coaching Cohorts begin in early March. Writers, this is really a fantastic opportunity to spend six-months with personalized instruction on your work in a small group of like-minded writers. Over six months, you'll get 20 group meetings, 5 or more one-on-one meetings with your instructor, feedback on up to 25 pages per month, and more! You also get to free PJ Seminars, a Slack channel to share ideas, Writers Room access, and a free Pub Crawl ticket the year after your cohort. Instructors for the cohorts that start in March are Julia Fine, Michael Zapata, and for those writing memoir or other CNF, Jami Nakamura Lin. There is no application for Intensive Coaching Cohorts. You can simply register for the cohort of your choice. Payment plans are available, too. Hit the Intensive Coaching Cohorts link in the first comment to check out a short video info session. All the info you need to decide is there as well. #writersofinstagram #writers #amwriting #writingcommunity

We're delighted to announce our new Core Faculty for the next two-year term! These terrifically talented writers and instructors will help set the direction for our classes and programming, as well as serve as trusted advisors to our staff and writing community. As we continue to build our writing community, two of our most important long-term goals are nurturing writers and providing those writers with expert instructors. These six individuals nail both of those goals, and we’re excited for the ideas, energy, and connections they’ll bring to the studio! For the 2025-2026 term, our Core Faculty include: ✒️ Ananda Lima – Short Fiction (@anandalima ✒️ Faylita Hicks – Poetry ✒️ Lindsay Hunter – Novel ✒️ Lara Ehrlich – Speculative ✒️ Denise Santomauro – YA/Middle Grade ✒️ Ploi Pirapokin – Nonfiction Please join us in congratulating (and THANKING!) these writers/instructors.

Today, let's talk about a bunch of fantastic multi-week online classes beginning in early February. We have a TON going on right now (Pub Crawl, Novel In A Year applications, Intensive Coaching Cohorts open for registration, and more!), but don't forget about our amazing creative writing classes. Winter term is in full swing right now, and these four classes (and dozens of others) are just waiting for your registration! ✍️ Novel Support Group, with Joseph Scapellato (4 sessions, starts Feb 3) ✍️ Muscle Memory: Writing About the Body in Nonfiction with Negesti Kaudo (4 sessions, starts Feb 5) ✍️ Get the Grant: Grant Writing and Personal Development for Writers with Faylita Hicks (four sessions, starts Feb 6) ✍️ Alternative Points of View with Meghan Lamb (six sessions, starts Feb 11) Register for these and all our winter term classes at the Classes catalog link in the first comment. #writers #writersoflinkedin #creativewritingclasses

HUGE EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT! Gillian Flynn will be the keynote speaker for Pub Crawl 2025!!!! You know her as the author of the stratospheric hit novel Gone Girl, as well as the unsettlingly brilliant novels Sharp Objects and Dark Places. Gillian is also the publisher of Gillian Flynn Books, an imprint of Zando Projects. Like Flynn's books themselves, Gillian Flynn Books endeavors to publish books that are "propulsive and culturally incisive." Gillian's keynote is part of a whole month of online learning and networking at Pub Crawl 2025. All Pub Crawl classes and panels, including the keynote, will be recorded so you can either learn live, or later at your convenience. Come learn, pitch, publish with us! The full Pub Crawl schedule, including panels with agents and editors, classes, and genre lunches, is now available. Register now! https://lnkd.in/gb3-GAq4

Exciting announcement! FOUR more classes are now available in our StoryStudio On Demand library. Did you miss one of these great four classes in 2024? No you didn't! Grab one or all of them now and learn at your convenience. The four new classes available are: ✍️ The Researched Memoir with Melissa Febos (4 classes, 2 hours each) ✍️ The Short Story Toolkit with Rebecca Makkai (4 classes, 2+ hours each) ✍️ Navigating the Artists Statement with Ines Bellina (1 class, 90 minutes) ✍️ Form & Content: Experimenting with Prose Structures with Ploi Pirapokin (1 class, 90 minutes) Together with the three existing, our creative writing classes on demand library is now up to SEVEN classes. Hit the link in the first comment to grab one now! #creativewritingclasses #writersoflinkedin #writers

We are so excited for the next Writers on Writing event. Join us online or in person at the Newberry Library on January 23 for Hernan Diaz in conversation with Ananda Lima. https://lnkd.in/gnV6BZ3E

This Giving Tuesday, support Stories Matter Foundation! Stories have the power to connect us, bridge divides, and inspire change. Your donation to Stories Matter Foundation’s Scholarship Fund will help to amplify voices and nurture creativity, ensuring people from all backgrounds can access our transformative programming. Together we can create a community where storytelling celebrates diversity, promotes mutual respect, and enriches the culture and shared experiences that connect us all. https://lnkd.in/gqhjFSV7

Today, we are launching a new series of classes happening over the next two months. Writing Your Resistance is seven online classes aimed to support writers struggling to find a voice and keep writing in these harrowing times. Taught by some of the most socially and politically engaged writers, these classes will cover topics such as using your anger as fuel, writing for with joy, writing into fear, and much more. Here are the seven classes:  ✍️ The Personal is Political with Lyz Lenz, December 16 ✍️ Remember There is Joy with Megan Stielstra, December 18 ✍️ Writing Into Fear with R.O. Kwon, January 9 ✍️ Against Complicity: Radical Honesty in Literary Fiction with Isle McElroy, January 14 ✍️ This Scene Kills Fascism – How to Write Politically not Polemically with Peter Ho Davies, January 15 ✍️ Politics as Seeing with Dinaw Mengestu, January 22 ✍️ Writing Strong Emotion with Cristina Henriquez, January 28 These classes are all online and priced at $25 each. (You can also purchase a bundle of all seven classes for $150 -- it's like getting one free.) A limited number of scholarship spots are available for these classes for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and financial need students. All of the proceeds will go toward Stories Matter Foundation's community partnership program, the Chicago Stories Project, which brings free classes to underserved communities. Register for these classes or the bundle of all of them here: https://lnkd.in/gwCAN_v8

ANNOUNCING: Come learn, pitch, publish with us in 2025! Registration for Pub Crawl -- our month-long virtual publishing intensive with classes, panels, and events centered on the publishing world -- is now open! Pub Crawl takes place February 1-28, 2025. In addition to the invaluable information from online classes and panels, you also have the opportunity to book add-on agent, editor, and query letter feedback meetings. Registering early helps assure you can book the agent or editor of your choice. Much more info and how to register is in the first comment. #writers #writersoflinkedin #publishing #amwriting

We can't thank the KemperLesnik team enough. 10/10. Would recommend without reservation.