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.

Poets Laureate Gathering
A Gathering of Poets | Jan 29

"What does community look like for you?" City of Minneapolis Poet Laureate Junauda Petrus will explore this topic alongside current and emeritus poets laureate from around the region, including Heid E. Erdrich, Jean Prokott, Donte Collins, and Joyce Sutphen. 

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Christine Day Mcknight Author Reading
Christine Day Author Talk | Mar 7

Join us for a special reading with acclaimed middle grade and YA author Christine Day, the 2025 McKnight Judge in Children’s Literature (ages 8 and up). Day will share from her award-winning work and will be joined in conversation by the Loft’s Partnerships Program Manager, Cristeta Boarini.

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Multigenre Graphic
Writing Nature in Literary Fiction with Tara Menon | Mar 21

In this class, we will discuss how to transform research about the details of plant and animal life into descriptive prose, with a special focus on marine life and the plants and animals of tropical rainforests. 

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Expand & Discuss Classes
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Single Session
Shoots and Sprouts: Beginnings in Poems
Date
Time
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Christopher Vaughan
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
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Fiction Basics: Five Parts of Story
Date
Time
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Brian Malloy
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Single Session
To Market, To Market: How Professionals Look at Your Manuscript
Date
Time
Saturday, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Jennie Goloboy
Photo of Catherine Lundoff - middle-aged woman with graying dark hair and glasses
Catherine Lundoff
Expand & Discuss
Online
6 Week
Fiction in Your Fact: Experimenting and Playing with Nonfiction
Date
Mar 3, 2026 - Apr 7, 2026
Time
Tuesday, 10 a.m. - Tuesday, 12 p.m.
Price
$222.00
$199.80 (Friend)
Andy Dehnart
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
You Don’t Have to Tell the Truth: Omission, and Speculation in Poetry
Date
Time
Saturday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
Asa Drake
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Single Session
Writing Nature in Literary Fiction
Date
Time
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Price
$37.00
Tara Menon
Tara Menon
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
You've Finished Your Book—Now What?
Date
Time
Saturday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Price
$111.00
$99.90 (Friend)
Savannah Brooks
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Single Session
Powerful First Pages: Pro Tips, Pitfalls, and Practical Advice
Date
Time
Saturday, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Price
$74.00
$66.60 (Friend)
Tamara Hogan sits on a couch, holding a cup of coffee
Tamara Hogan
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Worldbuilding: The Keys to Writing Immersive Setting
Date
Time
Saturday, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Price
$74.00
$66.60 (Friend)
Jackie Cangro
Expand & Discuss
In-Person
Single Session
Crafting Powerful Scenes—The Building Blocks of Story
Date
Time
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Price
$55.50
$49.95 (Friend)
NIgar Alam headshot
Nigar Alam
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Stand by Your Plan: Practices for Sticking with Manuscripts
Date
Time
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Price
$37.00
$33.30 (Friend)
Kelly Foster Lundquist
Kelly Foster Lundquist
Expand & Discuss
Online
Single Session
Divinatory Poetics: Using Tarot and Images to Generate Poems Intuitively–A Class for Writers of Color and Indigenous Writers
Date
Time
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Price
$37.00
$33.30 (Friend)
신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin
Expand & Discuss
Online
8 Week
Writing the Illness Memoir: A Diversifying Writers Class
Date
Jun 15, 2026 - Aug 3, 2026
Time
Monday, 7 p.m. - Monday, 9 p.m.
Price
$296.00
$266.40 (Friend)
woman with multi-colored books surrounding her portrait
Marianne Manzler
Expand & Discuss
Online
4 Week
Healing Through Writing
Date
Jun 16, 2026 - Jul 7, 2026
Time
Tuesday, 4 p.m. - Tuesday, 6 p.m.
Price
$148.00
$133.20 (Friend)
Shama Shams headshot
Shama Shams