749 Best Writing Classes in 2026

In-person single session in Chicago, $10, taught by Teresa Dzieglewicz. Thursday 1 October 2026, 6:30-8:30pm at StoryStudio’s Chicago studio. At ten dollars this is the cheapest listing on the Chicago page by a wide margin and effectively a taster: two hours of poetry writing in company, pie included. Worth flagging to anyone who thinks a writing class means a few hundred dollars.

In-person single session in Chicago, $65, taught by Dionna Griffin-Irons. Wednesday 30 September 2026, 6:30-8:30pm at StoryStudio’s Chicago studio. Two hours on building character from the writer’s own material rather than invention alone. A one-evening commitment, which makes it a low-risk way to try StoryStudio before booking a multi-week course - most of their catalogue is Zoom, so in-person sessions like this are the exception.

In-person course in Los Angeles at UCLA Extension, eleven weeks from 23 September 2026. Continues the short story sequence: writing and workshopping complete stories rather than exercises, with the expectation that you arrive with some drafting experience. Renewed from the expired Short Story I listing - UCLA Extension is not running Short Story I in person this term, so this is the closest current same-provider equivalent, one level up. The stored URL previously pointed at the uclaextension.edu homepage and now points at the course itself.

In-person weekend workshop in Los Angeles at UCLA Extension, from 17 October 2026. A single-weekend intensive rather than a term commitment, open across genres. Useful entry point to UCLA Extension’s creative writing programme for anyone testing whether a longer course is worth it.

In-person workshop in Los Angeles at UCLA Extension, over two Saturdays from 7 November 2026. A weekend-shaped alternative to the term-length courses: memoir and personal essay craft compressed into two full days rather than eleven weeks, which suits writers who cannot commit to a weekly evening. Latest-starting in-person option in the current catalogue.

In-person course in Los Angeles, from $585, at UCLA Extension. Six weeks from 20 October 2026, 2 units. A crash course in the poet’s technical kit - imagery, sound, figurative language - explicitly framed as transferable to writing of all kinds, so it suits prose writers wanting sharper description as much as poets. Shorter and cheaper than the 11-week courses, and it starts late enough to catch anyone who missed the September intake.

In-person course in Los Angeles, from $820, at UCLA Extension. Eleven weeks from 24 September 2026, 3 units. An introduction for people who have not written poetry seriously before: how a poem differs from prose, where to find material, and how to workshop and revise a raw draft into something that holds. Combines writing exercises with group workshopping. One of only eight in-person sections in UCLA Extension’s creative writing catalogue this term.

In-person course in Los Angeles, from $820, at UCLA Extension. Eleven weeks from 24 September 2026, 3 units. Built on a single argument: conflict is not something you bolt onto a story, it comes out of who your characters are. Reading- and exercise-based, studying how published writers build characters whose traits generate the trouble. UCLA Extension runs most of its creative writing catalogue online - this is one of only eight sections currently taught in person.

In-person workshop in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, $1150 with a $1050 rate for returning writers, taught by Ted Thompson. Eight Monday evenings from 14 September 2026, 7:00-9:00pm, with no class the week of 21 September. The most selective class Sackett runs - a writing sample is required, and it is aimed at writers polishing work for publication. Taught by their most experienced advanced fiction instructor; alumni have gone on to top MFA programmes and major awards.

In-person workshop in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, $900 with an $850 rate for returning writers, taught by novelist and playwright Ledia Xhoga. Eight Thursday evenings from 17 September 2026, 7:00-9:00pm. Selective: a writing sample is required at application, and prior workshop experience is expected. Class time goes on in-depth discussion of student work with detailed written feedback for each writer.

In-person workshop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, $750 with a $700 rate for returning writers, taught by Meg Charlton. Eight Wednesday evenings from September 2026, 7:00-9:00pm. Exercise-intensive and aimed squarely at writers who are stuck - built to restart a stalled project and raise output rather than polish a finished one. Open to fiction and nonfiction writers, no writing sample required.

In-person workshop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, $900 with a $50 discount for returning writers, taught by Erin Crosby Eckstine. Eight Thursday evenings from the week of 10 September 2026, 7:00-9:00pm. Generative rather than critique-only: students write new work in and out of class from prompts, then develop it. No writing sample required, which makes it the most accessible of Sackett’s in-person fiction classes.