749 Best Writing Classes in 2026

A free class at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 26 October on using monsters to carry meaning rather than just menace - how the creature on the page stands in for something else. Suits speculative and literary writers equally. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A free Halloween-day class at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 31 October on writing short fiction that unsettles. Seasonal in timing but craft-focused in content - what actually makes a short story frightening on the page. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A free class at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 7 November aimed at people who find journaling daunting - who do not know where to start, feel short of time, or cannot keep a routine going. Practical rather than therapeutic in framing. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A free class at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 14 November on telling a complete story in under 1,000 words. Covers the range of flash lengths and what each one can carry. A useful discipline if your drafts sprawl. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A free class at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 28 November on poetry written to be heard rather than read - using body language, volume, sound and delivery as part of the composition. Includes watching and analysing spoken word performances. Note this is about writing for the voice, not performance coaching. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A free poetry class at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 2 December for writers who assume poetry means metre and rhyme. Covers the forms that do not, and what they let you do that traditional structures will not. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A free class at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 7 December breaking worldbuilding into manageable pieces rather than treating it as one overwhelming task. Works through culture (including government and religion), history, and the fantasy element itself, one area at a time. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A free drop-in writing session at Plaza Branch, Kansas City on 19 December, offering silent writing time plus an optional slot to give and receive feedback. Built for people stuck on a block or struggling to keep a routine - the value is the accountability and the headspace rather than instruction. Taught by an MFA candidate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City creative writing and media arts programme, through the library’s Writers for Readers series. Free, in person at Plaza Branch, Kansas City, RSVP required.

A single 90-minute evening session with Lisa Jan Sherman at The Writer's Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, $60 ($50 for members), on Tuesday 13 October, 7pm to 8.30pm. Prompts are used to pull up memories, characters and places and turn them into poems, scenes, dialogue or stories. Aimed at people who are stuck rather than people working a specific manuscript, and short enough to try without committing to a term.

Four Wednesday evenings with Story District at Industrious, 1255 Union Street NE, 7th Floor, Washington DC, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, running 9 to 30 September. The work is finding a real story from your own life and shaping it - story arc, scene building, finding your voice - in a deliberately low-pressure room. Story District is DC's long-running live storytelling organisation, so the craft taught here is narrative rather than performance coaching. Two further runs follow: Tuesdays from 6 October and Wednesdays from 28 October. Price is shown at enrolment.

A free, in-person monthly poetry workshop led by poet Charlene Stegman Moskal for the literary nonprofit Poetry Promise, held at West Charleston Library, 6301 W. Charleston Blvd. It runs on the third Wednesday of the month, 6pm to 7.30pm in the Conference Room, with no booking - seating is first come, first served. Open to adults and seniors; the library notes sessions may include adult themes. Poetry Promise also runs readings, contests, awards and publishing locally, so the Hub is a way into a wider Las Vegas poetry community rather than a standalone class. Next dates 21 October, 18 November and 16 December.

Four in-person sessions at the StoryStudio Chicago Studio with Aram Mrjoian, $315, on the visual dimension of prose - how a page looks, how white space and shape carry meaning alongside the words. Starts 29 October. A narrower brief than most prose workshops, and one that suits writers already comfortable with sentences who want to think about the page as an object.