Gemini Ink

Open Writer's Labs
2026-03-30 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-04-27 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-05-25 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-06-29 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-07-27 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-08-31 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-09-28 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-10-26 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Mexico_City) | Online via Zoom
These peer-driven workshops, held the last Monday of each month, are free and open to writers of all levels and focus on poetry, flash fiction, and short creative non-fiction.

Online Via Zoom
For the online workshop, sign up the day before the class to ensure you receive the Zoom link.
This workshop is facilitated by Kevin Ramos. Originally from the northeast, Kevin studied theater arts at Rutgers University and The University of Washington. He’s lived all over the country before making his home in San Antonio, Texas. Kevin has written several novels and short stories. Most recently, publishing a short memoir called Enough about addiction, mothers, and missing graves. And a novel, Hayley’s Sense of Fire (DLG Publishing Partners), a modern re-telling of the classic fairy tale, The Little Matchgirl.

In-Person at Gemini Ink

Join our in-person Open Writer’s Lab with Robert Allen at Gemini Ink’s office, 1111 Navarro St., San Antonio, TX 78205.
Robert Allen has worked as a librarian and an electrical contractor for most of his life. Many moons ago, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied poetry under David Wevill. Allen has been active in local writer’s groups and open mics, including the Sun Poets Society. He’s been published in The Ocotillo Review, the Texas Poetry Calendar, Voices de la Luna, di-verse-city, the San Antonio Express-News, and Poetry on the Move. In 2006, he started attending Gemini Ink’s free Monday night writing classes and has attended regularly ever since. With more than a decade of attending writers’ groups, classes, and open mics, he now co-facilitates Gemini Ink’s Open Writer’s Lab.
Parking at Gemini Ink
Gemini Ink offers free parking along the back wall of our downtown offices. Please access this parking lot from Augusta St and first park in any of the 12 spots along the back wall. Only when these 12 spots are full do we ask that you park elsewhere in our lot. We now rent our offices from UTSA and are collaborating with them to create a secure and accessible parking lot for our community of writers and readers.

Telling a Story of Your Life: A Personal Essay Workshop with Kendra Allen
2026-04-02 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Online via Zoom
Write your truth

Thursday(s) April 2, 9, 16 & 23 6:30-8:30pm CT, via Zoom
Nonmember: $200; Member: $170; Student/Educ/Mil $140
*EARN CPEs; TWO SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

In the span of every life are countless moments, stories, and revelations. When writing a personal narrative, how do writers go about selecting what will most speak their truth and resonate with readers?
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. Through games, prompts, and other exercises, we’ll focus on generating work every week.
This course is open to adult writers of all skill levels.
Workshop participants will leave with the following:
A starting point for a personal essay
An understanding of how to differentiate between a situation and a story
Techniques for nurturing your voice on the page
Ideas on how to create prompts for yourself to generate material

An award-winning essayist and poet, Kendra Allen was born and raised in Dallas, TX. She loves laughing, leaving, and writing. Some of her other work can be found in The Paris Review, High Times, The Rumpus, and more. She’s the author of the New York Times lauded poetry collection The Collection Plate (Harper Collins, 2022) and essay collection When You Learn the Alphabet, which won the 2018 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction. Fruit Punch (Ecco, 2022), her memoir, is out now and receiving praise from all corners. Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls, states: “A stunning and original memoir about Black girlhood and coming of age. Allen is both storyteller and poet, observing the world with curiosity and humor. Fruit Punch is simultaneously brilliant cultural commentary and an intimate portrayal of family and community, and it will stay with me for a long, long time.”

In Short Order: Finding Form in Flash Fiction with Kathryn Kulpa
2026-04-06 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Online via Zoom
Flash fiction is for readers on the go

Monday(s), April 6, 13, 20 & 27, 6:30pm – 8:30pm CT online via Zoom
Nonmember: $200; Member $170; Student/Educ/Mil: $140
*EARN CPEs; TWO SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

Flash fiction–very short stories with the distilled power of poetry–may be the ideal form for busy writers and readers. These stories take minutes to read, but linger in the mind long after the last sentence.
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.
We’ll read example stories, write our own, and talk about our work, with the goal of shaping drafts for publication. By the end of the workshop, you will have at least two completed flash stories and ideas for where to publish your work.
This workshop will help students:

Experiment with different forms and structures
Learn how constraint and compression can, paradoxically, free your inner writer
Write at least two complete flash stories
Gather ideas on where to publish flash fiction works

Kathryn Kulpa was born in Rhode Island, the smallest state, and her favorite kind of stories to write are also small: flash and microfiction. She is an editor at Cleaver magazine and has stories in Flash Frog, Florida Review, Fractured Lit, Ghost Parachute, HAD, Monkeybicycle, Smokelong Quarterly, Women’s Studies Quarterly, and other journals. Her work has been chosen for Best Microfiction, Best Small Fictions, and the Wigleaf longlist. Kathryn won the Gold Line Press chapbook competition for her collection A Map of Lost Places (Gold Line Press). She is also the author of For Every Tower a Princess (Porkbelly Press) and Cooking Tips for the Demon-Haunted (New Rivers Press).

Veterans Writing Collective with Sarah Colby
2026-04-15 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-05-20 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-06-17 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-07-15 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-08-19 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-09-16 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-10-21 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-11-18 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Mexico_City) | Online via Zoom
The Veteran’s Writing Collective (VWC) encourages the art of writing in a workshop environment where participants are offered honest, positive, and constructive peer-to-peer and mentor feedback. The workshop is open to all active-duty military, veterans, retirees, and their immediate family members. Writers of all levels working in all genres are welcome.
The VWC meets monthly online via Zoom.
If you would like an invitation to this class, send an email to veteranscollective@geminiink.org

Sarah Colby was born in northern New Mexico and raised in the Rocky Mountains. She is married to a retired Army Chaplain and is mother to a son in the Navy. Sarah has an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada College and an exuberant interest in making the ordinary luminous. Her war-time experiences have motivated her to be a voice for the mostly untold stories of families and loved ones during these years of protracted conflict. She is currently working on a manuscript of poems about her experiences as a military family member.

Teen Writing Circle with Daniel Ramirez
2026-04-25 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-05-30 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-06-27 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-07-25 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-08-29 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-09-26 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-10-31 12:00 - 13:30, 2026-11-28 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Mexico_City) | Online via Zoom
Register
Last Saturday of Every Month 12-1:30pm cst via Zoom
For ages 13-19 years old
Are you a teen who enjoys writing in their free time? Or are you someone who’s never had the chance to write on their own? If so, this Online Teen Writing Circle is for you!
In this once-a-month writing circle, teens will enjoy writing in a judgment free zone. We’ll break the ice with one another and perform various writing exercises. You are encouraged to share your work with your peers and get constructive feedback, but it is not required. Our only goal is to keep you writing!
This course is open to teen writers of any skill level.
Participants will leave the writing circle with:

New, unique written work
Listening and sharing experience
Constructive feedback to help improve their writing

Want to learn more about our Teen Writing Circle? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions!

Daniel Ramirez has been an educator for over 15 years. After studying History in grad school, he tromped around the outdoors doing conservation with teenagers. Spending time as a Montessori educator revealed the power of incorporating creativity with learning. Encouraging youth to tap into their creative abilities convinced him to discover his own. Since then, in addition to his original love of storytelling, he’s found a penchant for calligraphy, puppetry, poetry, and block printing. A San Antonio native, he explores the crystalline waters of Central Texas in his free time.

Poetry’s Cinematic Propositions with Elena Karina Byrne
2026-04-28 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Online via Zoom
Explore parallels between poetry and film

Tuesday(s), April 28 & May 5, 12, 19, 26, 6:30-8:30pm CT, via Zoom
Nonmember: $250; Member: $215; Student/Educ/Mil: $175
*EARN CPEs; TWO SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

Film has the power to evoke striking images, capture history, and transport us to alternate realities. Poetry does the same. But what happens when poets borrow elements from film?
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. This class will strengthen your writing skills, help you to see your work with new eyes, and deepen your revision process.
This intermediate-level workshop is for poets 18+
Workshop participants will leave with the following:

An understanding of how film elements can strengthen poetry
Strategies for using cinematic elements in poetry
Fresh revision techniques

Former 12-year Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America, Elena Karina Byrne worked as a Contributing Editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books, a final judge for PEN’s “Best of the West” award, one of the final judges for the Kate and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Awards in Poetry from 2016-2018, and one of three 2018-2019 Georgia Circuit visiting poets. Elena also served as a co-judge for the 2022 international Laurel Prize, the annual award for the best collection of environmental poetry.
Elena Karina Byrne holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA from Antioch University. She has curated programs for the GRI at the J. Paul Getty Center, MOCA, the Craft Contemporary, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, The Clark Library, and USC’s Doheny Memorial Library, among others. Currently, she is a private manuscript editor, freelance lecturer, 29-year Programming Consultant and Poetry Stage Manager for The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, as well as Poetry Programs Director for the historic Ruskin Art Club. Elena Karina Byrne is a Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry recipient, and author of five collections of poetry, including If This Makes You Nervous (Omnidawn), No, Don’t (What Books Press), Squander (Omnidawn), MASQUE (Tupelo Press), and The Flammable Bird (Zoo Press/Tupelo Press). Her poems, reviews, essays, and interviews can be found in POETRY, The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, Poetry International, Poetry Daily, Ploughshares, BOMB, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, New American Writing, Verse Daily, LARB (LA Review of Books), APR (American Poetry Review), Plume Anthologies, Oxford Review of Books, Kyoto Journal, TriQuarterly, The Yale Review, The Adroit Journal, Beloit Poetry Journal, Braving the Body anthology, Republic of Apples Democracy of Oranges: New Eco-Poetry from China and the United States, Reel Verse: Poems About the Movies, Poetry Goes to the Movies, The Eloquent Poem:128 Contemporary Poems and Their Making, and elsewhere.

Launch Your Substack with Jennifer Nguyen
2026-05-02 10:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Online via Zoom
Amplify your online presence and connect with your audience

Saturday, May 2, 10am-1pm CT via Zoom
Nonmember: $75; Member: $65; Student: $53
*EARN CPEs; TWO SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

Blogs are out, substacks are in! Learn to build your own and get your writing to your audience ASAP.
In this one day workshop you will learn how to use Substack, a popular online writing platform, to find your audience and amplify your voice. 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. We will examine other online platforms but focus on how to use Substack and its tools to build an audience, maximize visibility, and cultivate your own unique flavor. This course is designed for practicing writers 18+, who want to connect with new readers.
Workshop participants will leave with the following:

A deep dive into Substack
Short-term and long-term writing goals
An assessment of your audience
Increased confidence in your authentic voice

Jennifer Thuy Vi Nguyen is a writer currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a creative nonfiction writer who writes about assimilation, belonging, and power. Her work has been supported by Tin House, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops, Macondo, Vermont Studio Center, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Lambda Literary Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, where she received the Emerge Editorial Fellowship and edited Emerge, the retreat’s anthology.
Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, a “notable” selection in The Best American Essays 2024, and has appeared in Longreads, The Offing, Foglifter, the Ponder Review, and New Rivers Press as the winner of the American Fiction Award. She writes humorist pieces in “Thursday Letters with Jen” via Substack. Along with writing, Nguyen is currently the director of postsecondary success at the Stupski Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation that will spend down its assets and sunset by 2029. Her writing and speaking are premised on how foundations should let go of power and control—in ego, reporting, evaluation, and telling funded organizations what to do—and have appeared in Designing Tomorrow, Break Fake Rules, EdSource, and The Center for Effective Philanthropy. In addition, with the support of the Stupski Foundation, she is the author the quarterly column, “Philanthropy Confidential” – a project of candid and humorous answers to anonymously submitted questions from the philanthropic field. Her professional experiences inspired her book-length critique of the field, Letter of Inquiry – a project selected to be a part of the 2025 Changemakers Authors Cohort, which supports the development of books that could have an enduring narrative impact.

LitMinds Book Club
2026-05-13 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St, San Antonio, TX, 78205, United States
Join us for the LitMinds Book Club at Gemini Ink. We’re reading The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace.
Register

The “dazzling, exhilarating” (San Francisco Chronicle) debut novel from one of this century’s most groundbreaking writers
Published when David Foster Wallace was just twenty-four years old, The Broom of the System stunned critics and marked the emergence of an extraordinary new talent. At the center of this outlandishly funny, fiercely intelligent novel is the bewitching heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990, and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio. Lenore’s great-grandmother has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau and boss, Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous, and her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psycho-babble, Auden, and the King James Bible. Ingenious and entertaining, this debut from one of the most innovative writers of his generation brilliantly explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.

About the Author

David Foster Wallace was an American author and professor who wrote novels, essays, and short stories. His work is known for its linguistic skill, inventive structure, and exploration of moral and existential questions. His 1996 novel Infinite Jest, a complex, sprawling dystopian tale, is his best-known work. Wallace’s essays, published in magazines like The Atlantic and Harper’s, are also celebrated.
Visit our LitMinds page to see what we’re reading next!

LitMinds Book Club
2026-07-08 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St, San Antonio, TX, 78205, United States
Join us for the LitMinds Book Club at Gemini Ink. We’re reading The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden.
Register

A house is a precious thing…
It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.
Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation, leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.
Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is “a brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one’s own desires” (The Guardian).

About the Author

Yael van der Wouden is a writer and teacher. She currently lectures in creative writing and comparative literature in the Netherlands. Her essay on Dutch identity and Jewishness, “On (Not) Reading Anne Frank”, has received a notable mention in The Best American Essays 2018. The Safekeep is her debut novel and was acquired in hotly-contested nine-way auctions in both the UK and the US. Rights have sold in a further twelve countries.
Visit our LitMinds page to see what we’re reading next!
