Attending Workshops In-Person

If you register to attend in-person, your workshop(s) will be held at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215), next door to Thurber House. There is free parking on Jefferson Avenue and in our back parking lot, accessible off N. 11th Street.

About

Flash fiction may be small, but it’s huge in the writing world (and hugely fun to write). Whether you want to get a taste of this genre or you’re already a flash writer looking to stimulate new ideas, this workshop is the place to get those tiny pieces on the page. We’ll use both prompts and analysis of readings to spark multiple flash pieces. Then, we’ll give some on-the-spot feedback (only if you want to read—sharing is totally optional). Participants can expect to leave with multiple drafts, a better sense of the various styles flash fiction can take, and resources on where to read and submit flash. Carve out writing time to draft some small-but-mighty pieces!

Instructor

Tina Tocco is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has appeared in publications for both adults and children, including The MacGuffin, New Ohio Review, Sou’wester, River Styx, Hobart, Potomac Review, Portland Review, Italian Americana, Highlights for Children, and Cricket. Tina’s writing has also been published in various anthologies, such as The Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press, 2019), Flash Nonfiction Food (Woodhall Press, 2020), and the middle grade horror anthology The Haunted States of America (Macmillan Publishers/Godwin Books, 2024). She was longlisted in The SmokeLong Quarterly Grand Micro Competition (2023). Tina earned her MFA in creative writing from Manhattanville University, where she was editor-in-chief of Inkwell, the university’s national literary journal.

About

First-person, third-person, limited, omniscient—what’s the difference between different points of view, and which is best for your story? The perspective from which your story is told shapes how readers understand and connect with your writing. We’ll learn about various POV techniques and experiment with writing the same story through different points of view. By the end of this session, you’ll leave with the tools needed to confidently choose—and master—the perfect voice for your project. Come ready to play with perspective and unlock your story's true potential!

Instructor

Shelley Mann Hite is a Columbus, Ohio-based writer and editor. She writes about motherhood, food, sobriety, and the Midwest. Her work has been published in The Rumpus, HuffPost, Motherwell, Stonecrop Review, and more, and her 2024 Thurber House “Write Like Taylor Swift” writing workshop was featured in The New Yorker. Shelley is a prose editor for Typehouse Literary Magazine, and co-founder of the Columbus Women’s Writing Group. She got her start in journalism, and previously was an editor at Columbus Crave and Columbus Alive. She is currently working on a memoir manuscript.

About

Is it hot in here, or is it just your writing? Birds do it, bees do it . . . so why is it so hard for writers to do it—or rather, to do it well? Writing about sex, like the very act itself, can be difficult, funny, embarrassing, intense, evocative, compelling, sad, political, boring, mind-blowing, exciting, and exhausting. How much is too much? When is it not enough? What will others think of us? And what about our own self-censors? We will consider these and other perils and joys of getting believable, effective, sometimes beautiful and literary sex scenes on the page. We’ll look at published samples, and cover tips and traps to avoid—starting with the fact that sex in literature is rarely just about the sex at all. Join us for this evening delight! And note—this class is about writing sex scenes in works of fiction and memoir, NOT about writing erotica or porn.

Rated R for Real—all participants must be 18 or older. 

Instructor

Katrina Kittle is the author of four books for adults—Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, The Kindness of Strangers, and The Blessings of the Animals— and one novel for tweens, Reasons to Be Happy. Her newest novel, Morning in This Broken World, was an Amazon First Reads pick. The Kindness of Strangers was the winner of the 2006 Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction. Katrina teaches creative writing workshops for all ages, focusing on craft and motivation (and is especially good at jumpstarting stalled writers). She teaches online and in the Dayton-Cincinnati-Columbus area through Word’s Worth Writing Connections, and was a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton for eight years. She is a public speaker, most often leading her “Leap and the Net Will Appear” and “Happy Class” workshops. Katrina lives south of Dayton with her fella, her spooky little weirdo cat Annie, her sweet beagle Serena, and her out-of-control garden. You can find out more at www.katrinakittle.com and follow her on Instagram (@katrinakittle) and Facebook (@KatrinaKittleAuthor).

About

You've written a book or you're thinking about writing one, but how do you decide what comes next? Today's authors have more publishing options than ever before, yet many feel overwhelmed by the differences between traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, and self-publishing. In this workshop, author, self-publisher, and publishing company founder Ashequka Lacey provides a practical overview of each publishing path, exploring the benefits, challenges, costs, timelines, and levels of creative control associated with each option. Participants will learn key considerations for evaluating their goals as authors and gain a clearer understanding of which publishing path may be the best fit for their book. Attendees will leave with greater confidence, practical resources, and actionable next steps for moving their writing project forward.

Instructor

Ashequka Lacey is an author, self-publisher, and founder of Inspiring Jreams Publishing, LLC, a Columbus-based publishing company dedicated to helping aspiring authors bring their stories to life. Ashequka is the author of multiple books, including children's literature inspired by her experiences as a mother and advocate. In addition to her publishing work, Ashequka created and hosted Author Pro Expo, an event that brought together authors, aspiring writers, and industry professionals to explore topics such as branding, publishing, financial literacy, and the business of authorship. Ashequka also facilitates workshops and presentations focused on self-publishing, storytelling, authorship, and creative expression. She has participated in school and community engagement opportunities that encourage literacy, inspire young writers, and help students see themselves as storytellers, creators, and future authors.

About

Want to add more dimension to your settings and characters? In this dynamic two-part workshop, you will discover how to transform ordinary prose into a vivid, texture-rich world where every detail does heavy lifting. You will learn how consumer brands can provide insight into a character's life and psychology, how quirky personality traits can naturally spark plot, conflict, and humor, and how to masterfully balance the classic debate of "showing vs. telling." Beyond character anatomy, we will explore "place as character," analyzing how the unique mores, rituals, and unspoken rules of a setting actively shape and challenge its inhabitants.

This two-part workshop will be a combination of lecture, writing, discussion, and optional sharing. By the end of the workshop, you will write an original scene driven by a character’s distinct eccentricities or craft a atmospheric setting, perhaps with strange rituals and happenings reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s chilling classic, "The Lottery."

Instructor

Bob Balmer is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Smithsonian, Golf Illustrated, ZYZZYVA, The Oregonian, The Seattle Times, Oregon Coast Magazine, The Guide, and other print media. His work has aired on MarketPlace, The Savvy Traveler, and Oregon Public Radio and Television. Bob is a retired teacher, and for the past eight years has facilitated writing workshops on the West Coast.

About

Many memoirs-in-progress suffer from being too sad or plotless or seemingly irrelevant, and a quick fix is humor. People read nonfiction to spend time with the writer—so if you’re funny, readers will want to spend time with you. Editors will want to spend time with you. You’ll want to spend time with you. And you don’t have to be born with a sense of humor to be funny and to write funny. Funny is a skill like any other. Writers of every level can learn and memorize concrete ways to joke with confidence about yourself, your life, and your world. In this generative writing seminar, everyone will practice comedic tools with guided instruction to be funnier on the page and at parties, but if that doesn’t happen, it's not my fault.

Instructor

Elissa Bassist is the editor of the “Funny Women” column on The Rumpus and author of the tragicomic memoir Hysterical, a semi-finalist for the 2024 Thurber Prize for American Humor in Writing. As a founding contributor to The Rumpus, she’s written cultural and personal criticism since the website launched in 2009. Her next book is Inside Jokes: A Comedy and Creativity Guide for All Writers, forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing in 2026. Elissa teaches humor writing online and in person at The New School, 92NY, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and elsewhere, and she is probably her therapist’s favorite.

About

In our lives, we are both always experts and novices. Personal essay and book-length memoirs allow writers to explore compelling, central moments, experiences, and material from their lives to communicate meaning, universal themes, and takeaways to readers, transforming experience into narrative art. What are the ethics of writing about others? We will explore conventions of the form, such as self-disclosure and deep examination, creating tension, character arc, using scenes and dialogue, distilling the “one big thing” your piece is about, and the blurry boundaries of fact and imagination in creative nonfiction—the only writing form defined by what it is not. Discussion questions may include: how do you maximize self-inquiry while avoiding "navel gazing"? What elements make stories engaging to readers? How do you craft a persona on the page?

By the end of the session, you will possess an understanding of personal essay and memoir writing fundamentals: honesty, self-reflection, tension, balancing scenes and exposition, distilling your memoir or essay's "about-ness" (i.e., theme), and what to include versus what to omit. Toward the end of our time together, we will discuss the process of submitting your essays for publication so readers can experience them.

Instructor

Liza Monroy is the author of the novels The Distractions and Mexican High, the essay collection Seeing As Your Shoes Are Soon To Be On Fire, and the memoir The Marriage Act: The Risk I Took To Keep My Best Friend In America And What It Taught Us About Love. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, the L.A. Times, Newsweek, Poets & Writers, Marie Claire, Everyday With Rachael Ray, Jane, Self, Bust and various anthologies, including both New York Times' Best of Modern Love, Best American Food Writing, Goodbye To All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York, One Big Happy Family, and Wedding Cake For Breakfast. She lives in Santa Cruz, California, teaches through Stanford Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program, and in her free time enjoys surfing, reading, yoga, sunshine, and coffee. Liza was the 2012 John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House and is returning for another residency.

Thank you to our major arts supporters:

The Harry C. Moores Foundation