Writing Classes
Welcome to the World of Writing Classes Here at the JCC!
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced writer, our courses cater to all skill levels, with classes focused on poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, and more. In partnership with The New School and the New York Writers Workshop, our intimate class sizes make it possible for all participants to receive constructive feedback and connect with a community of like-minded writers both in-person and virtually.
More classes are coming soon!
Surprise Yourself, Surprise Your Reader: A Free Poetry Intensive
Mon, Mar 10, 7–9 pm
Virtual. Both Robert Frost and Flannery O’Connor made famous the statement: "No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader." This generative two-hour workshop, open to prose writers and poets, provides ways to access that which is present in the mind but not yet on the page or even in conscious intention. Participants will leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of what’s at stake for them as writers and with a rough draft that can lead towards more finished material.
Instructor: Ruth Danon
The Magic of Images: A Free Poetry Workshop
Thu, Mar 6, 7–9 pm
Virtual. Engage in playful exercises designed to help you discover images from your life that sustain you. And from these, you will write a poem. The magic of images is their capacity to hold feeling, and to connect us to individual moments. No experience in poetry is needed, but a desire to be in company, experiment, and learn.
Instructor: Hermine Meinhard
Poetry Heat: Writing and Craft
8 Wednesdays, Mar 12–May 7, 7–9 pm
Virtual. Write a new poem every week and connect to language and experience in unexpected ways. Through playful exercises, drawing on memory, dream, art, and objects, you will link to the vital, unconscious sources of your writing. Experiments with elements of craft, such as line, image, and rhythm, will build your understanding of form. The class includes a one-hour private conference with the instructor. Multi-level. Beginners and experienced writers are welcome. Class size is limited to 10.
Instructor: Hermine Meinhard
Breath, Heart, Nerve: The Body and the Poetic Line
6 Mondays, Mar 17–Apr 21, 7–9 pm
Virtual. In this workshop, we explore the way heartbeat, breath, and nerve relate to the way poetic lines are shaped. We know that the relationship between the sentence and the line is central to writing poems – but that relationship is not purely cerebral – it is shaped by physiological processes. In this workshop, we learn how. Using physical, linguistic, and formal constraints, participants will engage in processes that will yield a poem each week. The course concludes with individual conferences and a participant reading (optional).
Instructor: Ruth Danon