Writing Project Cohort Details

Creative Nonfiction/Memoir with Carolyn Creative Nonfiction/Memoir with Sun Yung Novel Writing with Peter Geye Poetry with Heid Erdrich Fiction Writing with Alison McGhee
Group Cohort Meetings

Participants will meet weekly as a cohort via Zoom during the winter/spring term (12 weeks; February–April), biweekly with additional Saturday meetings during the summer months (June–August); and weekly again during the fall term (12 weeks; September–December).

These cohort meetings will include:

  • Instruction and discussions on craft, readings, and student work
  • Generative and communal writing time
  • Workshopping
  • Visiting authors and publishing professionals
  • One-on-one teaching artist consultations
  • Final manuscript consultation
Visiting Authors & Publishing Professionals ​

Over the course of the year, your instructor will arrange for several distinguished guests, published authors, and publishing professionals to visit cohorts during class. The purpose of these visits is to introduce students to enduring works of fiction, the people who wrote them, and the sorts of people who help bring them to the world. These meetings will be largely informal and include ample opportunity to interact with and ask questions of the guests.

Independent Study

Students will have one month of independent study time between final the final summer meeting and the start of the fall cohort meetings (August 20-September 16); this time is to be used for independent writing time, focusing on aspects of craft your teaching mentor feels will help your development as a writer; deep reading, of your own work as well as books outside of the cohort reading list that will benefit your writing; one to one meetings with your teaching mentor; writing group meetings with your cohort members.

Final Manuscript Consultation

Submit final manuscript and schedule final manuscript consultation between December 2025 and February 2026 (for winter cohort) or April 2026 to June 2026 (for summer cohort). At the end of the Year-Long Writing Project, students are expected to submit their final and complete manuscript to their teaching artist. The teaching artist will read each submission, provide a written critique of each manuscript, and meet individually with each student to verbally deliver feedback. 

Please note: It is the responsibility of each student to complete and submit their manuscript to their teaching artist by the final class meeting. If a student fails to do so, the teaching artist will only read what has been submitted on the final day of class. Final manuscripts must also be properly formatted and bound (refer to your syllabus and confer with your teaching artist for details). 

Communal Writing Space

Online cohorts have their virtual classroom available to them via Zoom for the duration of their year. These spaces are available for Year-Long Writing participants to utilize at any time for writing and discussion space outside of group cohort meetings.

Workshop Model

The workshop model varies by instructor. The purpose of the workshop component is to help our writers see their work in a new light, to ask thoughtful questions of their peers, and to generate new energy for revising. For example, in the past, the Poetry Apprenticeship has used the Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process workshop model, a supportive and writer-centered process that puts the control in the artist’s hands. In this workshop model, a workshop functions like so:

The readers will state for the writer what is working. Readers provide statements of meaning– what was memorable, interesting, and engaging about the work.

The writer asks questions about their work. (Ex: “What part of the piece held the most weight for you?” or “How did you interpret the ending of this piece?”) The readers answer the questions without suggesting changes. 

The readers ask the writer neutral questions about their work. (Ex: “How did you make the decision to do x?” or “Where do you feel the core of the piece is located?”) 

The readers ask the writer for permission to offer opinions about the submitted work. (Ex: “I have an opinion on the work’s title if you’d like to hear it.”) 

The writer ends the workshop by briefly discussing how the workshop went, any ideas they have for revision, asks for any clarification, etc. 

One-on-One Meetings with Teaching Artist

E​ach student is expected to meet individually with their teaching artist regularly during the Year-Long Writing Project. The purpose of these meetings will be wide-ranging and individualized, but their primary function is to discuss plans and courses of development for each writer.

Schedule

Meetings will be scheduled as follows, with flexibility, and with accommodations made to suit the needs of individual students:

  • One initial meeting/call before the program kicks off in February to ensure program and participant fit;
  • One meeting before summer begins;
  • One meeting after summer ends;
  • One manuscript consultation session with the Teaching Artist after the program concludes (and you submit your final manuscript) in Winter: December/January, to be completed no later than February 28, 2026. // Summer: April, to be completed no later than June 28, 2026.