Creative Writing Classes

I offer generative classes that help writers tap into the liberating power of constraints, the complexities of aliveness, and creative practices that encourage lifelong learning, risk-taking, and artistic expression.

My classes are always convened live and [mostly] online, which allows us to gather from around the world in a common space. (If you’re curious about why I don’t record classes, read my essay.) Upcoming classes and workshops include:

• Late Summer Writing Circles: As summer comes to a close, I’m offering a series of generative classes with different themes. ($50* each) Email me at gATgabrieladenisefrankDOTcom to join.

  • Crash!—BOOM—Reverbbbb: Working with Sound, Collage, and Glitch | Thurs, Sept 17 | 5 to 7 p.m. PT - Online - 3 seats open
    Poet Douglas Kearney describes “dintelligibility” as a phenomenon where, “what appears as noise in noise to some…is in fact complex contrapuntal signals resulting in a ‘legible noise’…sensible through the sensual and vice versa.” In this generative workshop we will play with signal, sense, glitch, and noise on the page. We will use scissors, tape, glue, and print media to make experimental tactile works that incorporate techniques of collage and defy genre categorization, as inspired by Kearney, Edwin Torres, and others.

• Extra/Ordinary: Writing the Uncommon in the Everyday | Tuesdays, Sept 29 to Nov 6 | 5 to 7 p.m. PT - Online via Literary Arts
  In this generative class we will read, discuss, and write alongside works that resist easy classification, including “Everyday Barf” by Eileen Myles, “Dead Doe” by Brigit Pegeen Kelly, “Exhausting a Place in Paris” by Georges Perec, Christina Sharpe’s “The Shapes of Grief,” and Rekdal’s “Nightingale: A Gloss.” Writers will come away with sharpened tools of observation, tactile craft practices, a portfolio of fresh writing starts, and a keener sense of the uncommon and the poetic within the everyday both on and off the page.

• Manifesto! | Thursdays, Sept 24 to Oct 29 | 5 to 7 p.m. PT - Online via Hugo House
  “The urgency of manifestos leaves a palpable feeling that the ink has yet to dry, that we are…on the ‘bleeding edge’ of things,” writes Breanne Fahs, author of Burn It Down: Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution. Manifestos are documents of philosophy, energy, and vision. They challenge us to articulate what we believe in and why. They flourish in times of uncertainty and crisis, which are also windows of promise and opportunity for change. In this generative class, we will explore a range of manifesto types, from art manifestos, feminist manifestos, and manifestos of care to hybrid/zine manifestos and manifesto poems. Students will come away with starts of different manifestos that can be developed more fully at home. In our last session, we will share our draft manifestos with each other and delight in collective inspiration.

• Close Reading (and Writing): In the Red Dress I Wear to Your Funeral | Saturday, Dec 12 | 1 to 3 p.m. PT / 4 to 6 p.m. ET - Online, hosted by me
  As 2026 comes to close we will delight in Erin Belieu’s showstopper of a poem, “In the Red Dress I Wear to Your Funeral.” Told in 10 parts, Belieu describes her approach to this take-back-the-night lyric of betrayal and breakup as one of costumes and masks. Here, we find the bride of Frankenstein, Gerda from The Snow Queen, a Ouija board, and JFK talking with Jackie Kennedy. Belieu says, “This character keeps putting on these different masks as a way to find speech for something that feels personally devastating… I felt mute as a person, but if I could put on a different voice, I could find a way to try to exorcise the pain.” We discuss Belieu’s poem, then we will try on some masks of our own and see what we can exorcise collectively. $40* Registration opens in November.

• Winter Solstice Writing Ritual | Monday, Dec 21 | 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET - Online via Morbid Anatomy
  The Winter Solstice is a turning of tides—a cosmic solar return—a time for ritual and reflection. An opportunity to move slowly and to contemplate what has passed, what we can release, and what we wish to invoke in the year to come. As a creative community, we'll take part in the ancient tradition of honoring the year’s darkest day and welcoming the rising light. Part generative writing, part guided ritual, this workshop offers prompts designed to stir introspection and honor the natural cycle of life and death.

• Finishing School: Writing in Community | Online
  Sometimes, to get writing done, we need camaraderie—and a calendar appointment. Finishing School is a space to work on individual projects in community. Think of it as a supportive virtual cafe or an accountability date. We show up, say a warm hello, share what we’re working on, and get crackin’. Finishing School is my gratis offering to the community of writers who participate in my writing circles each year.
  
  

*Sales tax for Washington state residents: Beginning October 1, 2025, Washington state law (ESSB 5814) requires sales tax to be collected on live and recorded classes and workshops taught by cultural organizations and freelance educators. Sales tax for online classes hosted by me will be calculated based on the student’s billing location. (If you live outside of Washington state, no sales tax is applied.) This sales tax does not apply to one-on-one coaching or editorial consulting services.