The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 87 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2.7% and 3.7%. On the university's behalf, the workshop administers the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism and the Iowa Short Fiction Award.
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes or with various traditions of poetry and poetics. Due to the looseness of the definition, it is possible for writing such as feature stories to be considered creative writing, even though it falls under journalism, because the content of features is specifically focused on narrative and character development. Both fictional and non-fictional works fall into this category, including such forms as novels, biographies, short stories, and poems. In the academic setting, creative writing is typically separated into fiction and poetry classes, with a focus on writing in an original style, as opposed to imitating pre-existing genres such as crime or horror. Writing for the screen and stage—screenwriting and playwriting—are often taught separately, but fit under the creative writing category as well.
Larissa Lai is an American-born Canadian novelist and literary critic. She is a recipient of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and Lambda Literary Foundation's 2020 Jim Duggins, PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize.
Writer's Digest is an American magazine aimed at beginning and established writers. It contains interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles.
The Milford Writer's Workshop, or more properly Milford Writers' Conference, is an annual science fiction writer's event founded by Damon Knight, among others, in the mid-1950s, in Milford, Pennsylvania. It was so named because Knight, Judith Merril, and James Blish lived in Milford when it was founded. It moved to the United Kingdom in 1972 and has run successfully ever since on an annual basis.
A writing circle is a group of like-minded writers needing support for their work, either through writing peer critiques, workshops or classes, or just encouragement. There are many different types of writing circles or writing groups based on location, style of writing, or format. Normally, the goal of a writing circle is to improve one's own craft by listening to the works and suggestions of others in the group. It also builds a sense of community, and allows new writers to become accustomed to sharing their work. Writing circles can be helpful inside and outside of the classroom.
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) is a student journalist program of the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University. It was founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques and award programs.
Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by increasing public awareness of the romance genre." Relevant works must be themed around the development of a romantic relationship between two people, and there must be a happy ending. As well as published authors, those with complete but unpublished manuscripts are eligible for membership.
The Wordos is a writing workshop based in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Its members meet once a week to critique stories and discuss the art, craft, and business of writing. It is a long-running speculative fiction critique group, and has a high concentration of published authors. However, having prior publishing credits is not a prerequisite to joining. The group has produced winners of the Galaxy Press international Writers of the Future contest six years in a row.
The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization that acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers and others involved with literature for young people.
An authors' conference or writers' conference is a type of conference where writers gather to review their written works and suggest improvements. This process helps an author improve their work and learn to be a better writer for future works, both by receiving critiques of their own work and by mentoring the work of the other authors. Writers may also benefit from meeting and hearing from professionals in related fields, such as agents, editors, illustrators, publishers, and providers of other relevant services.
New Play Project is a non-profit organization founded in Provo, Utah, by four Brigham Young University students. NPP is dedicated to writing and producing new plays that reflect the standards of a Utah Valley audience. They also aim to give emerging Latter-day Saint writers a place to produce their work while maintaining their standards and values. It primarily produces short play festivals, but occasionally takes on larger projects. It is the first such organization to flourish in the area, and has produced more than 70 original plays since its inception in 2006.
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshop may also refer to:
Clarion West or Clarion West Writers Workshop is a nonprofit literary organization that runs an acclaimed six-week residential workshop every summer, online classes and workshops, one-day and weekend workshops, a reading series every summer, and other events throughout the year.
The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project's Writing Workshop was a method of writing instruction for children developed by teacher Lucy Calkin and her colleagues at the Teachers College, Columbia University.
The Story Workshop Method is a method of teaching writing originated in 1965 by John Schultz. The Story Workshop Institute was founded to bring the method to elementary and secondary classrooms and other forums for writing instruction. The former Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago used this methodology in its core writing course progression, and Hair Trigger is its award-winning annual of student fiction and creative nonfiction writing.
Willamette Writers is a 501-c-3 nonprofit writing group based in the U.S. state of Oregon, with nearly 1,600 members, and chapters in Portland, Eugene, Salem, Corvallis, Central Point, and Newport. The group has a house in West Linn that serves as an office, and a place for meetings, critique groups and workshops. Additionally it has rooms that members can rent to write in.
Founded in 2001, the Florida Writers Association (FWA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) serving writers of all genres and all levels. FWA provides a professional atmosphere, a vast networking system, and valuable tools to succeed in today's publishing industry. It is an all-volunteer organization. It describes its purpose as "Writers Helping Writers".
Writing workshops are group sessions where writers gather to share, critique and improve their work. Various models of writing workshops have been developed over time to suit different educational settings and writing goals. Workshop attendance might be restricted to a select group or open to the public.
