January 2025
We kicked off the new year with a free class led by long-time Writing Institute instructor Cindy Beer Fouhy. More than 300 writers RSVP’ed for Write What Must Not Be Forgotten, a mini version of Cindy’s popular Life Stories class. Together we did writing prompts based on sense memories and first experiences. We’re delighted to offer a brand new class with Cindy in 2026: The Road Taken: Life Stories for Writers 60+. Don’t miss it!
February 2025
The perfect Agent/Author match event, and just in time for Valentine's– sign me up! It was an absolute joy to celebrate Assistant Director Ava Robinson’s debut novel Definitely Better Now with this reading and book signing. We were thrilled to host literary agent Jamie Carr of The Book Group in conversation with Ava, who shared that when she got off the phone with Jamie after their first meeting, she knew she’d found her match. Read more tips for writers seeking their first agent at our blog post here!
March 2025
March took the Writing Institute team to sunny LA for the annual AWP Conference. The conference hosted more than 10,000 writers, and we were delighted to meet so many at the buzzy Bookfair. Writers stopped by to play tabletop skeeball, talk all things Writing Institute, and pick up some free swag! Most excitingly, we hosted a Mocktail Hour Reading at The New Bar with featured readings from Melissa Faliveno MFA ‘11, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, and Hannah Sward. Save the dates for AWP 2026 in Baltimore: March 5 to 7! We’ll see you there!
April 2025
There's no class quite like an on campus class at Sarah Lawrence College! The spring here offers sights of blooms aplenty, and classes like Master Class on Poetry Revision with instructor Elaine Sexton MFA ‘00 allow our community of writers to share physical space, working with tactile materials to create homemade mini chapbooks. In April we hosted more than thirty writers for our on campus classes, enjoying all that Sarah Lawrence has to offer.
May 2025
While most of our work during the year focuses on our adult classes, our summers are for the teens! This year, we welcomed back MaKenzie Copp MFA ’24 as our Summer Coordinator, working with us to prepare our 2025 Writers Week programming. We kicked off the summer with a “Meet the Team as Teens” social post, featuring photos from our own high school years! Check out Director Courtney Gillette, who was voted Craziest Hair in her senior superlatives (back then it was purple!).
June 2025
We were so glad to be a part of Sarah Lawrence College’s Alumni Weekend ‘25. We tabled at the second annual Writer’s Hour, which brought together a diverse group of Sarah Lawrence writers and readers. From the class of 1970 to the class of 2020, it was a real joy to catch up with this group of literary citizens, all with fond memories of their time spent writing on campus. Did you know that alumni can get 20% off one Writing Institute class each year using code SLCALUM2025?
July 2025
By July, summer was in full swing, with dozens of adult classes and two sessions of Writers Week! We also hosted a virtual showcase of Marcia Bradley MFA ‘17’s Advanced Novel & Memoir Workshop, featuring readings from Monica Comas, Rebecca Wolf, Daria Sommers, John Polstein, Traci Higgins, Erik Johnson, Ariel Nazryan & Jessica Cadorine. From historical novels to moving memoirs, dozens of writers have not only found encouragement and editorial perspective in Marcia’s workshop, but many have gone on to publish their manuscripts! Learn all about our upcoming Spring 2026 workshop with Marcia here.
August 2025
Three sessions, 160 students, and 30 teaching artists later, August marked the end of Writers Week 2025 here at Sarah Lawrence. This year we welcomed more students than ever before to campus, expanding the program to include two on-campus weeks in addition to our Virtual Writers Week, totaling to an action packed three weeks of teen writing over the months of July and August.
Since 1999, Writers Week at Sarah Lawrence College has offered creative young people an immersive week-long experience with creative writing and the performance arts. In doing so, this program allows us to collaborate with both the Writing and Theatre MFAs here at the college, hiring over 30 graduate students as teaching artists for our three weeks. Our cohorts of students and teachers this year were incredible, and as always, we were inspired and amazed at the talent, creativity, and compassion of these young writers! Ready for Writers Week 2026? Registration is now open!
September 2025
September brought us over to Brooklyn for the annual Brooklyn Book Festival (BKBF), which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year! Alongside our MFA Writing friends, the Writing Institute team handed out merch, talked about our upcoming classes, and chatted with all those interested in our programming. It was a gorgeous day and we were glad to greet some familiar faces, as well as welcome new writers into our growing community.
October 2025
Craft Weekend is BACK, baby! In October, we hosted our second annual WIxMFA Craft Weekend, which was a resounding success! We ran 22 craft seminars over two days (both virtual and in-person) and welcomed keynote speakers Chloé Caldwell and Daria Lavelle MFA ‘22. With classes on successful first pages, visual poems, fanfiction, action scenes, and more, students and teachers alike left Craft Weekend with their creative cups overflowing!
We host this event in collaboration with our friends at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing MFA. Our seminars are taught by both Writing Institute instructors and graduate students in the MFA program. Applications for the renowned MFA Writing program are due January 15, 2026 - learn more here!
November 2025
The Wrexham Road Reading Series helps us shine light on new and exciting work, bringing talented and exciting authors to campus to read their work and join conversations of craft, practice, and the literary landscape. This installment of the series featured instructor Jocelyn Jane Cox MFA ‘99, who read from her new memoir Motion Dazzle before joining Director Courtney Gillette in conversation. They talked about how Jocelyn’s life as a figure skater informed the memoir, her transition from fiction to creative nonfiction, and how grief shapes us. Check out the book here and stay tuned for more reading events in 2026!
December 2025
We wrapped up the year with our favorite tradition: the Winter Celebration & Community Reading! As a special treat, our featured reader was Patty Dann, former Writing Institute instructor and author of the craft book The Butterfly Hours, which served as inspiration for Kathy Curto ‘89 MFA ‘12’s fall class. Then our fabulous students, many of whom were first time writers and readers, shared everything from sparkling fiction to moving memoir, showcasing their incredible talent. This was an event that truly reminded us of the power in what we do, and the dedication you all show up to classes with every year!
It was the perfect way to cap off another great year of community and creativity. In 2025, we welcomed 543 adult students online and on campus, with more than 55 courses and 35 incredible instructors. Our Writers Week program hosted more than 150 young writers with a team of 30 teaching artists leading the way. Whether this year you wrote in your journal or wrote a new manuscript, take a moment to celebrate your commitment to storytelling and its importance. Happy New Year from everyone here at the Writing Institute! We’ll see you in 2026!
