Writing Workshops Los Angeles

Writing Workshops Los Angeles offers courses and one-on-one instruction to those interested in honing their fiction, nonfiction, and poetry writing skills.  Workshops are held in the home of the course instructor, or, occasionally, in the home of one of the students.  In our classes, work is discussed from a craft perspective, and we delve deeply into the techniques of story, character, language, structure, and so on.  At Writing Workshops Los Angeles, we value aesthetic daring, and we strive to read student manuscripts with both our highest standards and an open mind.  Classes are small, and always fun, and there are refreshments (wine, sparkling water), and sometimes even gourmet cheeses and tasty snacks, to keep us going.

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About Our Instructors:

Writing Workshops Los Angeles was founded by Edan Lepucki.  Ms. Lepucki holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and she has taught at the University of Iowa, Oberlin College, the Gotham Writers’ Workshop, Vroman’s Bookstore’s Education Program, and the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.  She has published short fiction in McSweeney’s, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Narrative Magazine, FiveChapters, and the Los Angeles Review, among other publications, and she’s a staff writer for The Millions.  She has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, the Ucross Foundation, and the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.  The winner of the 2009 James D. Phelan Award, she has recently finished a novel.  Her novella, If You’re Not Yet Like Me, was published by Flatmancrooked in November of 2009, and re-released last year by Nouvella Press.

Chris Daley has a Ph.D in English from the City University of New York Graduate Center.  She has taught various forms of nonfiction writing (academic, creative, personal) for over ten years, and she currently teaches core and upper-division writing courses at Caltech. She is also a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and a professional editor.  You can find her blog Escapegrace here.

Mary Guterson is the author of the novels We Are All Fine Here (Putnam, 2005; an Indie Next pick), and Gone To The Dogs (St. Martin’s, 2009; a Target Breakout selection). Her short stories, essays, and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including literary journals, anthologies, magazines, blogs, and websites. A former commentator for Seattle’s NPR affiliate (KUOW-FM 94.9), she also appeared as a recurring guest on that station’s weekly satirical news show “Rewind.” She is a core member of Seattle 7 Writers, a group of nine published authors who create and participate in fundraising events in support of literacy programs. A volunteer in Los Angeles with 826LA and the Afghan Women Writers Project, she is currently at work on her third novel.

Elline Lipkin is a scholar and poet who has worked as an editor for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and journals. Her collection of poetry The Errant Thread was chosen by Eavan Boland to receive the Kore Press First Book Award and was published in 2006.  Her second book, Girls’ Studies, a work of nonfiction, was published by Seal Press in 2009.  She holds an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature.  Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Salon.com and other contemporary sources, and she is widely published as a poet.  A former resident at Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Contemporary Arts, and Dorland, Lipkin has taught creative writing to students of all ages, and she’s been a speaker at the Napa Valley Writers Conference and the Writer-in-Residence at the Paper & Book Intensive.

Adam Cushman’s stories have appeared in over two dozen literary journals including The St. Petersburg Review, The Mississippi Review, and Pindeldyboz. He is currently at work on a novel, has two screenplays in development, and is the editor of a forthcoming collection of fictional movie reviews entitled Critically Acclaimed. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and is Co-President of Red 14 Films, a high-end book trailer company. He also teaches fiction writing at UCLA Extension.

Sherri L. Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent most of her childhood reading books. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she has worked in movies, animation, comic books and construction. Sherri is the author of four award-winning novels—Lucy the Giant, Sparrow, Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet and the California Book Awards Gold Medalist Flygirl,
which the Washington Post named a best book of the year. Her next novel, Orleans, set in a post-catastrophe New Orleans, hits shelves in early 2013. For more information visit www.sherrilsmith.com.

Adam Kaplan has an M.F.A in Creative Writing from Columbia University.  He just completed his first short story collection, Camp Lessons, and his novel Rats That Will Eat You will be completed in 2012. Adam has taught introduction to fiction at Columbia University, was a guest poetry lecturer for the Long Island public school system, and spent three years teaching creative writing to at risk youth in the social service system in San Francisco.

Cecil Castellucci’s novels for young adults include First Day on Earth, Rose Sees Red, Beige, The Queen of Cool, and Boy Proof, and a picture book, Grandma’s Gloves.  She also won the Shuster Award for the graphic novels The PLAIN Janes and Janes in Love, illustrated by Jim Rugg, which were the launch titles for DC Comics Minx line.   Her books have been on American Library Assocation’s Best Book for Young Adults, Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Great Graphic Novels for Teens lists, the NYPL Books for the Teen Age and the Amelia Bloomer list.  Upcoming books include a hybrid prose/ graphic novel The Year of the Beasts.  For more  information go here.

Leslie Parry holds a BFA from New York University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction.  She has taught writing at the University of Iowa, the Iowa Arts Summer Program, Vroman’s Bookstore’s Education Program, and was a featured speaker at the Midwest Literary Festival.  Her fiction has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review and The Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories 2011.  She is currently at work on a novel.

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