Year-Long Writing Projects: FAQ

When will winter registration open?

Registration will open on April 8  for Loft Friends, and April 9 for the general public. 

What is the registration process?

Participation is limited to 12 people per project cohort for the year. There will be two cohorts starting in June 2026: the Year-Long Fiction Writing Project in Fiction, and the Year-Long Poetry Collection Writing Project.

 

There is no application for the Year-Long Writing Projects. When registration opens, you can join the waitlist for your genre of choice. Teaching mentors will meet with potential students on a first-come, first-serve basis to determine if their project and availability is a good fit for their year-long project. Payment and final registration will take place after this initial call. Registration is on a first-come; first serve basis until 12 students have been registered, at which time all other names on the waitlist will be notified of their status.

 

Please note that you can only sign up and be considered for one genre cohort. Placement in the cohort is not guaranteed, and in the rare instance that you or the teaching artist decides this is not a good fit, you are eligible for a full refund*. Please see our terms and tuition page for more information.

 

We invite you to our free, virtual information session on April 1 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. CST to hear from the teaching artists, get detailed information about the Year-Long Writing Projects, and see if the program is a fit for you.

What are my payment options?

Fees for all Year-Long Writing Project cohorts are as follows:

  • Pay In Full
    • $7,500 for regular price paid in full at registration
    • $7,440 for Loft Friends, paid in full at registration
  • Loft payment plan
    • $7,600 on payment plan for regular price ($3,750 at registration, $320.83 per month for twelve months)
    • $7,540 for Loft Friends ($3,750 at registration, $315.83 per month for twelve months)
What is the payment plan?

The Loft payment plan​ is a year-long, monthly option through the Loft; $3750 is due at the time of registration, which includes a nonrefundable $500 deposit. 12 monthly payments of $320.83 will be made June 2026 - May 2027 via a credit card number given to the Loft at the time of registration.

 

Credit cards must have an expiration date beyond May 2027. A fee of $50 may be assessed for each occurrence of a return of payment for insufficient funds.

 

If the student is a Loft friend at the qualifying level (either a monthly sustaining friend or a one time donor of $90 or above) they will receive a $5 discount on their monthly payments (for a total of $315.83 per month). 

 

You must call t​he Education office at 612-379-8999 for this plan after your one-one-meeting with your cohort mentor, as this plan cannot be arranged on the website.

Is there payment assistance or a scholarship available?

​The Loft is pleased to be able to offer two payment plans as well as one Access Fund seat in each upcoming cohort. Access Fund seats are application-based and do not require students to put their name on the general public’s waitlist. 

 

If tuition is a barrier for you and you identify as someone from a marginalized background, we encourage you to apply. An application is required; for details and instructions on how to apply, please see the writing project Access Funds page at https://loft.org/classes/access-funds.

 

What is the refund policy?

There is a nonrefundable​ $500 deposit required a​t the time of registration.

 

Either $7500 (total payment) or $3750 (payment plan) is due in full at the time of registration.

 

If you decide not to participate once registered, you may notify the education department by calling 612-379-8999 no later than 5:00 p.m. June 3, 2026 to receive a full refund minus the $500 deposit (resulting in a refund of $7000 for those who paid in full, or $3250 for those who opted for the payment plan). In the rare event that, after the required introductory one-on-one meeting between the student and teaching artist (which takes place before the first class meeting), one or both parties feel that the program or student/teaching mentor relationship is not a good fit, the student may notify the Loft’s Education Department of their decision to withdraw and receive a 100 percent refund. This is the only opportunity for any student to receive a 100 percent refund.​ To withdraw and claim a refund, students must notify the Education Department (612-379-8999) after the one-on-one meeting with their teaching artist and before the start of the first class meeting.

 

If you choose not to participate and notify the education department of your intention to drop after 5 p.m. on June 17 (or before the second class takes place, whichever comes first), you will receive a 50% refund: $3,500 total refunded for those who paid in full. For those who chose a 12-month payment plan, all automatic payments of $320.83 per month (totalling $3850) are canceled while the initial $3750 payment is kept by the Loft. 

 

All registration dates/times, refund dates/deadlines, and meeting times for any writing project/apprenticeship are scheduled to take place in the U.S. Central time zone.

Refund Disclaimers

There are no refunds once the second class meeting has started. No exceptions.There is no prorated tuition for anyone not wishing or unable to attend any events related to their writing project, including planned events or unplanned special opportunities, the final reading, all 4 one-on-one sessions, or for missed class sessions.

 

There are no refunds in the event of a substituted visiting guest. If an unforeseen circumstance precludes the scheduled participation of a visiting author or industry professional, the Loft reserves the right to substitute another writing professional in their place.

 

There are no refunds or prorated tuition for students who are unable to attend a class session, visiting author event, final reading, or scheduled one-on-one meeting for any reason, including illness, vacation plans, life events, etc. There are no refunds for students who are not able to complete the program for any reason, including illness, vacation plans, life events, etc. It is the student’s responsibility to participate as fully as possible in all aspects of the program, obtain missed class content from the instructor, and reschedule any missed one-on-one sessions with respect for their instructor’s schedule.

 

There are no refunds, transfers, or credits for any shifts in programming resulting from the Loft’s response to COVID-19 or any other unforeseen circumstances. Programming decisions are made for the health and safety of Loft students, teaching artists, staff, and community members. We strongly believe in the quality of the programming offered regardless of format. Please see our website for the Loft’s COVID policy.

What is the time zone in which any live, online class content takes place?

A​ll meeting times for any writing project (and any Loft prorgram/event) are scheduled to take place in US Central time zone.

Do the Year-Long Writing Projects take place online only?

Yes, our Year Long Writing Projects are only offered online. This is due to demand and convenience for students. The online program will meet live each week in a Zoom classroom. No in-person meetings will be required to take place. High-speed internet access is required and an up0to-date computer with camera and microphone. The Loft is not able to provide internet or computer technology to students, though we are happy to provide technology assistance.

 

 

How much time do I need to have spent writing already? ​

We recommend the Year-Long Writing Project for writers who are motivated to hone their craft. Ideally, candidates have spent time creating short stories or creative nonfiction pieces, given writing a novel, poetry collection, or memoir serious consideration and/or effort, and spent years of their life reading. There are exceptions for writers who have not honed their craft who would still be a good fit for this endeavor. If you have questions about your ability, please contact the teaching artist or the Loft for advice.

How much commitment is required?​

B​y far the most important question a prospective student should ask themselves is: how hard am I willing to work? 

 

You truly get out of this program what you put into it. If the answer to this question is: as hard as I have to in order to finish a collection of poetry, a novel, or a memoir in the next year, then you are probably a good candidate!

 

Students should expect 3 hours of in-class time per week, and at least twice that many hours outside of class per week spent reading and workshopping peer writing, plus producing writing. 

How do I know if my writing is "good enough" for a Year-Long Writing Project?

There is no formal "skill" requirement for the Year-Long Writing Project. A​s in any writing workshop environment, there will be students with different levels of experience. One of the gifts of the workshop environment is that there is room for everyone. Having this range of experience means students will get to learn and grow with one another, and for that reason we reject the idea of one being “good enough” for this project. Everyone will be learning, and everyone will be growing in their skills and experience. Everyone will be treated with the same respect and given the same attention.

What should a student in a Year-Long Writing Project cohort expect?

enrolling in such a time-consuming program can naturally seem daunting. It is not possible to say how much time will be required of each student. However, a rough estimate of workload has been included below.

 

W​riting:​ ​In order to complete work, students should be willing to commit to writing many pages—roughly 300 pages for a novel, 250 pages for a memoir, and 48–75 pages for a poetry collection. This means students should expect to write about 10 to 15 pages of their novel or memoir per week, resulting in a first draft after 30 weeks, that can be revised and edited over the last 20 weeks of the year. Poetry collections average about one to three poems or pages per week. You will revise your work again and again, growing as a writer in the process​.

 

R​eading: ​​You will be reading about four novels or memoirs, or five collections of poetry over the course of the program. On top of the novels/memoirs/poetry collections, you will also be reading each other’s work.​ On average, expect to to read between two and five hours per week over the course of a Year-Long Writing Project.​ ​​

 

 
What if I’ve already written a poetry collection, novel or memoir, and would like to have it workshopped? Will this class still work for me?​

Ye​s. Having part or all of a collection, novel, or memoir completed at the start of the program is fine. There will be plenty of opportunity to learn from your classmates, visiting writers and publishing professionals, and your teaching artist.

I write genre fiction, is the Novel Writing Project still a good fit for me?​

Yes. Though most of your reading will focus on literary fiction, you and your cohort will discuss other genres as well.

This sounds like a major commitment. Will the Loft or the teaching artist ensure publication of my poetry collection, novel, or memoir at the end of it?​

I​t is an enormous commitment, and it shouldn’t be entered lightly. There’s no such thing as a guarantee in publishing, and so neither the Loft nor the teaching artist can ensure publication. We will, however, commit to arming you with the knowledge of how to navigate the publishing world once your project is complete. We will also commit to a dogged curriculum in the craft of writing. If you commit in turn, when you are finished with this program, you will be world’s wiser in the art and craft of writing and ready to take your poetry collection, novel, or memoir to market.

 

 
Who’s teaching these programs, and what credentials do they have?
 

Peter Geye​ (​Novel Writing Project) is a dedicated teacher and writer. He has an MFA from the University of New Orleans and a PhD from Western Michigan University, where he taught creative writing and was editor of Third Coast. He’s a regular book reviewer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle. He has published five novels, most recently a book entitled ​The Ski Jumpers (University of Minnesota Press, 2022).

 

신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin is a Korean-born creative nonfiction writer, freelance arts journalist, fiction writer, poet, editor, and children’s book author. She is the author of Unbearable Splendor, a book of essays and poems which won the Minnesota Book Award in 2017. She is the editor/co-editor of three anthologies of essays including What We Hunger For: Refugee and Immigrant Stories on Food and Family (2021); A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota (2016); and Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption (2006 and second edition 2021). She is the author of three books of poetry, most recently The Wet Hex which is a 2022 finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, and is also the author of two illustrated books for children—most recently the co-authored Where We Come From, which is a 2022 finalist for the Minnesota Book Award.

She has been awarded fellowships from the Bush Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the MacDowell Foundation, as well as an Asian American Literary Award. She has been teaching creative writing in the community and in MFA programs for two decades. Forthcoming books include a picture book about legendary Detroit civil rights activists James Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs, and other projects. With poet Su Hwang she is the co-founder of Poetry Asylum; she is currently a teaching artist with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, the University of Minnesota, and Metro State University. She lives in Minneapolis with her family.

 

Hieu Minh Nguyen is a queer Vietnamese American poet and performer based out of Minneapolis. Recipient of 2017 NEA fellowship for poetry, Hieu is a Kundiman fellow, a poetry editor for Muzzle Magazine, and an MFA candidate at Warren Wilson College. His work has appeared in PBS Newshour, POETRY Magazine, Gulf Coast, BuzzFeed, Poetry London, Nashville Review, Indiana Review, and more. His debut collection of poetry, This Way to the Sugar (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014) was named a finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the MN Book Award. His second collection of poetry, Not Here, is out with Coffee House Press.

 

Kelly Sundberg's memoir, Goodbye, Sweet Girl, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. Her essays have appeared in a variety of venues, including Guernica, Gulf Coast, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, The New York Times, and others. Her essay "It Will Look Like A Sunset" was anthologized in Best American Essays 2015, and other essays have been listed as notables in the same series. She has been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Ohio Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, Dickinson House, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Columbus, Ohio and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Ashland University. Her memoir in essays, The Answer is in the Wound, was published by Roxane Gay Books in August 2025. She lives, writes, and edits in Columbus Ohio.

 

Junauda Petrus (Fiction Writing Project– Online) is a writer, pleasure activist, filmmaker and performance artist, born on Dakota land of Black-Caribbean descent. Her work centers around wildness, queerness, Black-diasporic-futurism, ancestral healing, sweetness, shimmer and liberation. Her debut novel, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them, earned a Coretta Scott King honor. She lives in Minneapolis with her wife and family.

 

Michael Kleber-Diggs (Poetry Collection Writing Project—Online) is the author of Worldly Things (Milkweed Editions 2021), which won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, the 2022 Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award in Poetry, the 2022 Balcones Poetry Prize, the 2021 Poetry Center Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2022 Minnesota Book Award. His essay, “On the Complex Flavors of Black Joy,” is included in the anthology There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis, edited by Tracy K. Smith and John Freeman (Penguin Random House 2021). Another essay, “There Was a Tremendous Softness,” appears in A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars, edited by Erin Sharkey (Milkweed Editions, 2023). His poems and essays often explore themes of intimacy, community, empathy, and grace, practices he believes are distinct and interdependent. Among other places, Michael’s writing has appeared in Literary Hub, Orion Magazine, Poem-A-Day, Poetry Daily, Poetry Northwest, Alaska Quarterly Review, Sierra Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, Post Road Magazine, Great River Review, Water~Stone Review, The Under Review, and several other journals and anthologies. He has taught poetry and creative writing at the university level and through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop for more than ten years.