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

Yearlong in Poetry

Instructor: Bill Carty. The class will mix workshop (in large and small groups), in-class exercises, weekly take-home prompts, and a discussion of contemporary poems and craft concerns.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 30 sessions
Start: September 28, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: In Person
Nonfiction, Memoir, Essay

Writing Grief: Time, Form, & Memory

Instructor: Joyce Chen. Explore the complexities of transforming grief into affecting art by studying writing that utilizes time, form, and memory.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Intermediate
Length: 6 sessions
Start: September 28, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction

Fiction I

Instructor: Alma Garćia. Explore the basic craft elements of fiction writing with in-class writing, discussions, readings, and workshopping in a supportive environment.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Introductory
Length: 6 sessions
Start: September 28, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: In Person
Nonfiction, Reading, Essay

The Case for Beauty

Instructor: Kascha Semonovitch. This course explores definitions of beauty, theories from feminist and post-colonial perspectives, examining beauty's relationship to literature.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 8 sessions
Start: September 28, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: In Person
Nonfiction, Essay

Mining Darkness for Light: The Art of Humorous Memoir

Instructor: Courtenay Hameister. This workshop explores the relationship between humor and sadness, anger, shame, and other vulnerable truths.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Introductory, Intermediate
Length: 2 sessions
Start: September 30, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

For BIPOC | Deep Empathy: The Persona Poem

Instructor: Marguerite Harrold. In this course we will practice writing persona poems—poems that offer us a chance to experience empathy in new and meaningful ways while recreating our own stories.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 1 session
Start: September 30, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Poetry

Poetry & Intimacies

Instructor: Taneum Bambrick. This generative course will study poems that enact care, joy, and/or humor while exploring intimacy and the intimate self, focusing on themes of love and relation.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 2 sessions
Start: September 30, 2023 , 10:00am PT
Format: Online
Nonfiction, Essay

The Micro Essay

Instructor: Anna Vodicka. Explore the ranges of short-form nonfiction, learn how restraint and constraint can enhance the power of prose, and practice the art of economy in your own micro essays inspired by readings and prompts.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 1 session
Start: October 1, 2023 , 1:10pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Memoir, Novel, Short Story, Essay

A Year with the Moon: Creation, Workshop, Chapbook

Instructor: Sierra Nelson. Drawing inspiration from scientific, esoteric, and mythological moons, this course takes students through generating, workshopping, and compiling moon-themed chapbooks.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 30 sessions
Start: October 2, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction

Elements of the Short Form: Intro to Flash

Instructor: Becca Yenser. This generative class explores the flash as a form, specifically examining five elements of flash, with discussion, peer review, and more.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Introductory
Length: 5 sessions
Start: October 2, 2023 , 12:00am PT
Format: Online Asynchronous
Fiction, Reading, Novel

Reading Proust Slowly

Instructor: Liza Birnbaum. This class will spend eight weeks with the first volume of Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time, close-reading for craft, with discussions and weekly prompts.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Intermediate
Length: 8 sessions
Start: October 2, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Novel, Short Story

How Stories Get Told: Voice, Narrative, & Psychic Distance

Instructor: Scott Driscoll. Explore narrative distance, voice, and psychic distance with readings from Olive Kitteridge and The Best American Short Stories 2022 and in-class exercises.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Intermediate
Length: 6 sessions
Start: October 2, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: Online
Poetry, The Writing Life

Writing(,) Noticing

Instructor: Molly Schaeffer. This class will examine elements of attention, drawing from various media—writing, film, music, and the natural world—and investigate distraction, associative thinking and more with generative exercises, freewriting, and discussion.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Intermediate
Length: 6 sessions
Start: October 2, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Novel, Short Story

Yearlong in Fiction

Instructor: Peter Mountford. This workshop is designed to support students complete publication-ready work for fiction writers of any genre, with peer review, craft lectures, and more.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 30 sessions
Start: October 3, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: In Person
Fiction, Novel

Novel Immersion

Instructor: Elise Hooper. For writers developing a novel seeking guidance, inspiration, and accountability; this course includes readings, discussion, in-class exercises and assignments focused on plot, voice, world-building and more.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Intermediate
Length: 8 sessions
Start: October 3, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: In Person
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Reading, Memoir, Essay

Queering the Boundaries: Commingling Art & Creation

Instructor: Meredith Arena. This genre-blurring, boundary-pushing workshop focuses on queer art as inspiration for creative writing, with other exercises like drawing, collage, and more.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Introductory
Length: 6 sessions
Start: October 3, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: In Person
Nonfiction, Poetry, Memoir

Memoir as Poetry

Instructor: Anastacia-Reneé. This genre-bending, generative workshop explores and interrogates communal story, folklore, and archival memories; students will leave the class with three pieces of hybrid work: the haibun, nines, and epistolary poem.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Intermediate
Length: 6 sessions
Start: October 3, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, The Writing Life, Memoir, Novel, Short Story, Essay

Keep the Channel Open: A Generative Prose Workshop

Instructor: Liza Birnbaum. This nontraditional, generative workshop open to fiction, nonfiction, and cross-genre writers will use weekly writing assignments, playfulness, and rigorous reflection to building a friendly, mutually accountable community.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 10 sessions
Start: October 3, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: In Person
Nonfiction, Reading, Memoir

Annie Ernaux: The Art of Feminist Memoir

Instructor: Kaelie Giffel. In this class, we'll close read the work of Annie Ernaux to gather memoir-writing tools and use writing prompts to explore our own experiences.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Introductory
Length: 6 sessions
Start: October 3, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction, The Writing Life, Reading, Memoir, Novel, Short Story, Essay

Words & Pictures: An Intro to Comics

Instructor: Gina Siciliano. Using Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics as a foundation, this class is an introduction to graphic novel storytelling. 

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Introductory
Length: 6 sessions
Start: October 3, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: In Person
Fiction

Yearlong in Speculative Fiction

Instructor: Ruth Joffre. Students will work toward completing a speculative fiction project, with craft lectures, writing and revision exercises, peer revision, and readings of contemporary speculative fiction.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 30 sessions
Start: October 4, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Young Adult/Children's Lit

Yearlong in Young Adult & Middle Grade Fiction

Instructor: Karen Finneyfrock. With both large and small group workshopping, students will develop and polish a manuscript in any genre of fiction intended primarily for a younger audience.

Course Status: Seats left
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Level: Open to all levels
Length: 30 sessions
Start: October 4, 2023 , 5:00pm PT
Format: Online
Nonfiction, Reading, Essay

Beautiful Facts

Instructor: Corinna Cook. Learn to sculpt context and informational passages to match the impact of scene or the lyricism of reflection, with readings and weekly prompts…

Course Status: Full
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Level: Intermediate
Length: 4 sessions
Start: October 4, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: Online
Fiction, Nonfiction

Book Lab

Instructor: Tara Conklin. Book Lab is a year-long intensive class for writers seeking to revise and finalize a book-length manuscript, with workshops, visits from publishing professionals, and one-on-one feedback sessions, and more.

Course Status: Full
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Level: Intermediate, Advanced
Length: 10 sessions
Start: October 5, 2023 , 7:10pm PT
Format: In Person