Narratively Academy Classes
Narratively Academy classes are all about sharing knowledge throughout our unique and diverse community. We offer classes, seminars and writing critiques taught by Narratively’s editors, contributors and storytelling heroes. All classes are conducted online and accessible to students anywhere in the world.
Psst: Paid subscribers to Narratively Academy get 20% off all classes. Click here to become a paid subscriber today. If you already are a paid subscriber, email academy@narratively.com for the paid subscriber promo code.
Here’s a look at what we have coming up soon.
Fall 2025 Classes
Ever struggle with writer’s block? We all have! But what practical, effective steps can you take so that it doesn’t get between you, your words and the page? This 90-minute seminar, led by award-winning author and Vanderbilt University professor Paul A. Kramer, is designed to help you develop the tools to confidently move forward with your writing at every turn, and maintain the motivation to finish your projects this fall.
We were so proud to launch our first-ever Queer Writers Workshop this spring, and it got unanimously ecstatic reviews from students who built a very tight-knight community and workshoped their memoirs-in-progress together. Thankfully, we were able to convince instructor Claire Rudy Foster to come back for another round this fall.
One of the most common thing we hear from writers is: I know I have a book in me, but I don’t know if it’s a memoir or fiction…or maybe somewhere in between. If that’s you, you’re going to want to check out this class. Instructor Rebecca van Laer is an acclaimed novelist and memoirist, and in this innovative Memoir vs. Autofiction writing workshop, she’ll lead writers in exploring the worlds of memoir (a story that’s strictly true) and autofiction (a story that draws on your own life but expands to include fictional elements), helping you decide which direction your story wants to go.
A Pushcart Prize-nominated writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, CNN and many other publications, Kavita Das also authored the book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues. Basically, she’s *the* expert on how to craft this type of writing. Writers have loved the seminars on social issues Kavita taught earlier this year, and we’re thrilled to have her teaching a more in-depth 6-week workshop on how to write about social issues this fall.
One of our most popular classes since we launched Narratively Academy last year has been “30 Days, 30 Essay Prompts,” a fun, fast-paced generative memoir-writing class run by Narratively Chief Submissions Reader Amy Barnes. Students have come out of this class with tons of ideas for personal essays and memoir-writing. This October, Amy is debuting a brand new sequel: “31 Days, 31 Revision Prompts: A Month of Self-Editing Your Essays.” Open to any writer (whether you’ve taken Amy’s first prompts class or not), this month-long course uses a similar format to guide you in self-editing and polishing your drafts, whether you wrote them last week or years ago.
One of our most in-demand courses is Abeer Hoque’s intimate workshop, The Insider's Guide to Writing Personal Statements and Applying for Grants & Residencies. Abeer is back for another round of helping writers perfect their personal statements and elevate their grant applications next month.
One of our favorite things is when a longtime Narratively writer goes on to great success in publishing, then returns to share some knowledge with the rest of us. Melissa Petro’s critically acclaimed hybrid memoir, Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification is an incredibly moving book, and in October she’ll lead Writing the Unspoken: Crafting Stories from Shame and Silence, a three-part workshop that will guide students on how to reclaim your stories from shame.
We’ve also very happy Caroline Rothstein will be teaching another session of her sold-out class, Deeply Personal: Writing First-Person Essays on Raw and Difficult Topics. It’s been so wonderful to see the writers in this small workshop class develop close relationships while they explore writing *those* kinds of pieces. You know, the ones you always want to write but that require a push to figure out how to tell them in the right way. This class is limited to 10 students and always sells out quickly.
Calling our journal-ers! Another of our most popular sold-out classes is From Journal to Memoir: How to Turn Your Side Scrawls Into Literary Gold. In this class, Rebecca Evans guides writers through how to get your writing journals organized, and explores a variety of methods that can help you shift your journals and notebooks into productive writing tools.
Back for the first time in a year is another one of our most in-demand classes, The Art of Writing a Nonfiction Book That Reads Like a Novel with Audrey Clare Farley. “Audrey has the rare ability to listen to each of her students, to synthesize their goals and questions and help find paths forward with our projects,” writes one past student in this class. If you’re aiming to get that big nonfiction or memoir book project moving this fall, this one’s for you.
Last but far from least, this is the one class more of you have requested than anything else. In How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Sells, Narratively Contributing Editor Shawna Kenney, who has published an award-winning memoir, authored two nonfiction books and edited an anthology, will guide you through how to write a compelling book proposal that will demand attention from publishers.
Critiques and Manuscript Reviews
As part of Narratively Academy, we’re very pleased to offer a brand-new service: Narratively Critiques. Whether you’d like feedback on your one-page pitch, a 5,000-word story or your entire book, our experienced editorial team is ready to dive in. We’ll provide an in-depth developmental edit, including specific notes throughout, a detailed overall plan for perfecting your story (or larger project) and a one-on-one phone consultation with you to discuss and answer your questions.
More Classes
Each of the classes below are sold out and/or have already taken place, but we will offer new sessions as soon as there are enough students on the advance wait list.
Click here to join an advance waiting list for the next session of any of these classes.
Getting Started With Memoir
Memoir Workshop Classes
Writing and Publishing Nonfiction Books
Journalism & Reporting
Social Issues and Advocacy Writing
How to Pitch
Refining Your Craft
Speechwriting
Writing for TV and Film
Figuring Out What You Want to Write
Questions? Not sure which class is right for you? Don’t see what you’re looking for and want to suggest a different class we should offer? Want to teach a class yourself? Drop us a line: academy@narratively.com.