Pathway: Expand & Discuss

Expand & Discuss Offerings

For readers and writers who love digging in, this pathway offers rich conversations and craft-focused discussions centered around books and big ideas. Grow, question, and engage with others who love to think critically about stories and storytelling.

Event featuring artists Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Erin Sharkey
Alexis Pauline Gumbs on Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde (Sep 17)

Join The Loft Literary Center and Moon Palace Books for an evening with beloved writers Alexis Pauline Gumbs in conversation with Erin Sharkey, celebrating Dr. Gumbs' new book on the life of Audre Lorde!

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Graphic for Sep 26 Mentor Series event with the five author headshots.
Mentor Series Reading with Anaïs Duplan and Chris Stark | Sep 26

The Loft Literary Center Presents a 2025-2026 Loft Mentor Series Reading with mentors Anaïs Duplan and Chris Stark and fellows Michelle Jayne, Angelina Nguyen, and Mary Beth Becker.

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Graphic of Terrance Hayes with Plymouth Congregational Church and Loft Literary logos. Graphic also says October 2.
Literary Witnesses and the Loft Present Terrance Hayes

National Book Award–winning poet and MacArthur Fellow Terrance Hayes will give a public reading from American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin and his newest collection, So to Speak. 

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Expand & Discuss Classes
Expand & Discuss
Online
6 Week
Braided Narratives: Weaving Multiple Threads in a Single Story
Date
Sep 16, 2025 - Oct 21, 2025
Time
Tuesday, 6 p.m. - Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Price
$222.00
$199.90 (Friend)
Sruthi Narayanan
Expand & Discuss
Online
8 Week
Plan and Start Your Romance Novel
Date
Sep 16, 2025 - Nov 4, 2025
Time
Tuesday, 7 p.m. - Tuesday, 9 p.m.
Price
$296.00
$266.40 (Friend)
Eliot West
Expand & Discuss
Online
6 Week
Genre-Queer: Narrative Structures for the Other in 6 Weeks
Date
Sep 17, 2025 - Oct 22, 2025
Time
Wednesday, 6 p.m. - Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Price
$222.00
$199.80 (Friend)
Milo Todd
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
4 Week
Experimenting with Essay Structure
Date
Sep 17, 2025 - Oct 8, 2025
Time
Wednesday, 6 p.m. - Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Price
$148.00
$133.20 (Friend)
Lizzie Lawson
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Ghazals!
Date
Time
Saturday, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Melanie Figg
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Fiction Basics: Five Parts of Story
Date
Time
Saturday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Brian Malloy
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Villanelles!
Date
Time
Saturday, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Melanie Figg
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Single Session
How to Write Your Podcast
Date
Time
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
John Moe
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Double Session
Resisting the Border: A Creative Nonfiction Class for Writers of Color and Indigenous Writers
Date
Oct 8, 2025 - Oct 15, 2025
Time
Wednesday, 6 p.m. - Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Price
$40.00
$36.00 (Friend)
Victoria Blanco
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Writing Absence: Making the Vanished Visible
Date
Time
Thursday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Jennifer Eli Bowen
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Fall Flash Fiction Sampler with Alex Juffer
Date
Time
Thursday, 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Price
$12.00
$10.80 (Friend)
Alex Juffer
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
6 Week
Poetry of Place
Date
Oct 29, 2025 - Dec 10, 2025
Time
Wednesday, 6 p.m. - Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Price
$222.00
$199.80 (Friend)
Halee Kirkwood
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
4 Week
Advanced Fiction Workshop
Date
Nov 6, 2025 - Dec 4, 2025
Time
Thursday, 6 p.m. - Thursday, 8 p.m.
Price
$148.00
$133.20 (Friend)
Alex Juffer
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Poetry Comics
Date
Time
Saturday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Suzanne Wise
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
How to Earn a Living as a Writer
Date
Time
Saturday, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Price
$74.00
$66.60 (Friend)
Rachel Werner