Class Catalog

There’s a class for everyone.

Long-time writer or just getting started? Writing an epic poem or a short story? Whoever you are and wherever your passions lie—if you want to write, there’s a Hugo House class for you. Explore our catalog and find yours.

When we say we want our classes to be for everyone, we mean it.

Poetry

Break Your Poem

Instructor: Lauren Davis. Through a series of deconstructing exercises, we will dismantle our darling drafts to see if there is anything else they want to tell us. 

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Level: Intermediate
Length: 1 session
Start: July 23, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

Video Poetry Scribes with Northwest Film Forum for 9-12th grade

In this camp, a partnership between Hugo House and Northwest Film Forum, students will write original poems and create short videos to accompany them. The week will culminate with a presentation of student work.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 5 sessions
Start: July 24, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

Poetry & Publishing

Instructor: Jeanine Walker. Students will read and write in response to a wide array of contemporary poets, participate in a mock editorial committee, and submit work to a literary journal for publication.

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Level: Intermediate
Length: 6 sessions
Start: July 25, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

Writing Odes: Elevating the Everyday

Instructor: Dilruba Ahmed. With quiet writing time and poetry prompts, this class will identify key craft strategies at play in several contemporary odes and unpack how form and content come together to celebrate both the elevated and the mundane.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 1 session
Start: July 25, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry, Reading

Mythologies of the Self: Origin Stories & Self-Portraits

Instructor: Dilruba Ahmed. Explore how poets bring form and content together to forge innovative and engaging approaches to autobiographical material, and experiment with strategies weave narrative and lyric.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 1 session
Start: July 26, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry, The Writing Life

Secrets to Publishing Poems in the Best Journals

Instructor: Janée J. Baugher. This one-day class will aim to demystify the question, "What do poetry editors really want?" 

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 1 session
Start: July 29, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
The Writing Life, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry

Narrative Reclamation for People of Color

Instructor: Zain Shamoon. This class is dedicated to the role of storytelling in finding relief from distress; students will learn how to use storytelling for personal and communal reclamation.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 2 sessions
Start: July 29, 2023 , 1:10pm PT
Format: Online
Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction

Field Trips & Hidden Portals: Finding Inspiration in the Everyday

Instructor: Amy Bowers, Allison Elis. In this generative class, we will (re)learn to open our eyes, send you on local outings, and build a tool kit that turns the messy world into that dreamy writing office.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 4 sessions
Start: July 30, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Memoir

Unlocking the Vault: Using Our Personal Archive

Instructor: Molly Schaeffer. Mining our own notes and fragments for use in writing prompts, we'll recycle and experiment with our own words, utilizing techniques including collage, mapping, poetry, and memoir.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 4 sessions
Start: August 3, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

Ecopoetics: The BIPOC Experience

Instructor: Leonora Simonovis. In this workshop, we will read and discuss poems written by Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color about the more-than-human world, exploring different aspects of craft and storytelling.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 4 sessions
Start: August 3, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Poetry

The New American Sonnet

Instructor: Veronica Golos. This generative workshop will examine how three American poets—Terrance Hayes, Tyehimba Jess, and Patricia Smith—changed and moved the sonnet in new directions.

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Level: Advanced, Intermediate
Length: 2 sessions
Start: August 5, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry

Writing with the Cascadia Field Guide

Instructor: Sierra Nelson. This generative writing class uses in-class prompts and naturalist insights inspired by Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry to reinvigorate students' wonder and creative processes.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 4 sessions
Start: August 5, 2023 , 1:10pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Story

Creative Writing Scribes for 5-6th grade

In this exploratory camp, students will engage with artistic activities, embark on field trips in-person and virtually, and write to creative prompts all designed to ignite their imaginations. The week will culminate with a reading and/or presentation of student work.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 5 sessions
Start: August 7, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: In Person
Fiction, Poetry, Short Story

Shapeshifting into Short Forms Scribes for 7-8th grade

Find delight, magic and surprise in writing short pieces (all under 1000 words)—defying genres, packing power and imagination. The week will culminate with a reading and/or presentation of student work.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 5 sessions
Start: August 7, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

Poetry Scribes for 9-12th grade

In this camp, students will delve into diverse forms of written expression to nurture their inner creative, sprouting new buds of poetry all their own. The week will culminate with a reading and/or presentation of student work.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 5 sessions
Start: August 7, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: In Person
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry

I Ate That: Food as Personal History

Instructor: Darien Hsu Gee. This generative workshop explores the food of our lives as a way of mapping our personal history. 

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 4 sessions
Start: August 8, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Reading

Sci-Fi Social Justice

Instructor: Alyse Knorr. This generative writing course, explore how sci-fi helps us imagine better futures through the lenses of feminist and queer theory, Afrofuturism, disability rights, and more.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 4 sessions
Start: August 8, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: Online
Poetry

Seeing is Believing: Drafting the Lasting Image

Instructor: Nicole Sealey. Participants in this all-level, generative workshop will review poems with images that reverberate and draft poems inspired by that work. 

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 1 session
Start: August 12, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry

Writing Our Rage

Instructor: Joy McCullough. For women, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming writers only, this is a class will emphasize writing freely without self-censorship and validating anger by supporting its expression through writing.

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Level: Intermediate
Length: 3 sessions
Start: August 16, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry

A Conversation With Death

Instructor: Meghan Lamb. Through a combination of discussions, exercises, and readings this class will explore how writing itself can be a controlled conversation with death.

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Level: Intermediate, Introductory
Length: 2 sessions
Start: August 17, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Poetry

The New Canon: Poetry for Social Action

Instructor: Aimee Suzara. Read and discuss works by diverse, predominantly BIPOC writers challenging the "canon" and forging the path for other writers speaking to moments that make movements.

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Level: Intermediate
Length: 4 sessions
Start: August 18, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

How to Order & Publish Your Poetry Collection

Instructor: Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello. Part lecture and part workshop, this class gives you a hands-on approach to finding the best order for your manuscript to keep readers (and contest judges) hooked.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 1 session
Start: August 19, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Memoir, Short Story

Creative Writing Scribes at the Bellevue Arts Museum for 9-12th grade

Students will explore exhibits and materials at the Bellevue Arts Museum, participate in artistic activities, and write to prompts inspired by BAM's collections. The week will culminate with a reading and/or presentation of student work.

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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 5 sessions
Start: August 21, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: In Person
Poetry

Don’t Blink: Nightmare Poetics

Instructor: Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello. In this generative workshop, we will examine poems, write into the darkness together, exorcise some demons, and re-emerge still intact without looking away even if we flinch.

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Level: Advanced, Intermediate
Length: 1 session
Start: August 26, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online