Whether this is your first writing class or you’re finishing your next book, The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College helps writers grow and connect with a community of passionate writers. Join us on campus in Bronxville, New York or online. Questions about which class is best for you? Email The Writing Institute at writinginstitute@sarahlawrence.edu. We're here to help.
“On a whim, I took a writing course… within minutes, I knew I had found something I needed to go forth with. Suddenly, my stored experiences and hidden feelings had new meaning, and possibility, which was life-changing.”
—Carla Carlson, author of Love and Oranges
Sat, Nov 1 2025
Elaine Sexton
On Campus
In this workshop, we’ll try out several writing exercises to tap our lived experiences, ideas, and observations, to find words that are both common and unique to each of us.
Sat, Oct 11 2025 — Sun, Oct 12 2025
Join the Writing Institute and MFA Writing program at Sarah Lawrence for a jam-packed weekend of craft seminars and networking!
Tue, Oct 14 2025 — Tue, Nov 11 2025
Janet Pfeffer
On Campus
Have you ever thought someday I'll write a book? Do you have a story about your life waiting to unfold on the page? In this five-week in-person memoir workshop, you will discover what it takes to begin.
Mon, Oct 20 2025 — Mon, Nov 17 2025
Tyler Mills
On Zoom
In this generative poetry workshop, you'll write new poems inspired by the connection between memory and metaphor and receive supportive feedback.
Mon, Oct 20 2025 — Mon, Nov 10 2025
Myla Goldberg
On Zoom
Jumpstart your creativity in this 4-week online writing course. Creative Bootcamp offers dynamic prompts, craft insights, and fresh inspiration—perfect for new, stuck, or seasoned writers ready to explore new story ideas.
Mon, Oct 20 2025 — Mon, Nov 17 2025
Joanne Furio
On Zoom
In this class, we’ll first read personal essays and excerpts from memoirs and discuss craft issues the work raises and then attempt to mimic a writer’s particular style through in-class freewrites, and short, voluntary assignments to do at home.
Tue, Oct 21 2025 — Tue, Nov 25 2025
Margo Steines
On Zoom
In your hybrid memoir, you might engage with science writing, literature, pop culture, history, digital media—really any cultural product or phenomenon that you want to explore in the same frame as your personal narrative.
Wed, Oct 22 2025 — Wed, Nov 19 2025
Suzanne Chazin
On Campus
This five-week course is designed to take you from the blank page to a solid foundation for a personal essay, short story, or opening chapter of a novel.
Wed, Oct 22 2025 — Wed, Nov 19 2025
Serrana Gay
On Zoom
Join our generative craft class to explore truth-telling through the lens of surrealism and magical realism in fiction.
Thu, Oct 23 2025 — Thu, Nov 20 2025
Janine Annett
On Campus
Whether you want to write a laugh-out-loud satire or inject moments of levity into a serious topic, adding humor to your writing can help you express yourself and leave a lasting impression.
Mon, Sep 15 2025 — Mon, Dec 1 2025
Ines Rodrigues
On Zoom
Start your novel with an instructor who understands what it’s like to write a novel for the first time. Ines Rodrigues’s ten-week course is a well-balanced mix of workshop, craft lessons and lots of encouragement.
Tue, Sep 16 2025 — Tue, Nov 25 2025
Terri Linton
On Zoom
In this ten-week nonfiction class with Terri Linton, students will examine works by writers that center motherhood as they explore the realities, revelations, and reckonings of our their own motherhood journeys.
Wed, Sep 17 2025 — Wed, Dec 10 2025
Marcia Bradley
On Zoom
A 12-week fiction workshop for more experienced writers in the process of completing and/or revising a manuscript or first draft of a full book of fiction, linked short stories, nonfiction, or memoir.
Thu, Sep 18 2025 — Thu, Oct 16 2025
Ava Robinson & Caroline Shifke
On Zoom
A four-week class to jumpstart your writing practice and build long-lasting tools to keep you going.
Thu, Sep 18 2025 — Thu, Oct 23 2025
Kathy Curto
On Campus
In this generative, five-week class for writers of all levels, we will use one-word prompts to take us onto our own blank pages, into something new.
Thu, Sep 18 2025 — Thu, Dec 4 2025
Barbara Josselsohn
On Zoom
Many writers start out with a great idea, and often they know how they want the story to eventually wrap up. But it's the middle of the novel where things get tricky.
Sat, Sep 27 2025 — Sat, Oct 4 2025
Tsahai Makeda
On Zoom
In this generative course, we will explore how to take a turbulent and traumatic moment or experience from our life and turn it into triumph… on the page.
Samantha Steiner
Async
Learn how to start submitting your writing in this asynchronous class! We’ll cover finding venues, managing rejections, and crafting compelling cover letters.
"Writing by its very nature is solitary, but every writer reaches a point when it becomes critically important to share one’s work. [The Writing Institute] gave me exactly the structure, close reading, and support I needed to see my book through to completion."
—Liane Carter, author of Ketchup is My Favorite Vegetable: A Family Grows Up With Autism