Literary Masters Lecture Series Write a World for Readers to Explore   Monday(s), February 16...

In this one-day workshop, we will guide writers of all levels through the ins and outs of getting published. We’ll cover how to identify the right journals and presses for your work. Then, we’ll walk you through essential submission materials such as artist statements, query letters, and writer bios. Whether you’re sending out a short story, poem, or full manuscript, you’ll learn strategies to help your application rise above the slush pile. 

In this two-part lecture, led by 2025 Texas Poet Octavio Quintanilla, we will explore how writers can use new and existing work to create graphic literature—a form that merges text with visual storytelling to evoke powerful, multidimensional pieces. Together, we will trace the history and evolution of the graphic form, from visual poetry, poetry comics, and illustrated memoirs to experimental hybrids that blur the line between image and word.

In this one-day generative workshop, participants will learn about persona, call-and-response dialogue, epistolary techniques, and how to apply these to our own writing. We’ll then create our own narrative poems that shift perspective, get into someone else's head, and/or engage with ancestors, historical figures, etc. Students will be invited to share work and receive feedback.

In this four-week course, we’ll demystify the personal narrative process by figuring out the difference between a snapshot and a story. First-time writers may assume they have to include their entire lives in one piece, which can make getting started on a personal essay confusing and overwhelming. This workshop will help you pinpoint storylines within yourself by leaning into your unique style and tone.

This four-session workshop will introduce you to a range of flash fiction forms–from the shortest pieces, such as 50-word dribbles and 100-word drabbles, to microfiction (400 words or fewer), flash fiction (1,000 words or fewer), and short-short stories (under 2,000 words). We'll learn how to apply poetic techniques like anaphora, metaphor, lists, and short sections to create vivid, memorable stories that prove less is more. 

Over five-weeks, we will explore the intersections between cinema and poetry, and imagine the poet as director, cinematographer, actor, screenwriter, stage designer, documentarian, and editor–all at once. Through an eclectic mix of poems, essays, and screenplay excerpts, we’ll uncover how poetry and film share the key elements of discovery, the transformative tools of language and image, and the uniting of the speaker’s inner and outer worlds.

If you are looking to develop a marketing strategy for your long-term writing goals, this class is for you. Participants will reflect on where they are as writers, where they want to go, and how they want to use a Substack to get there.