10 Best Writing Classes in San Francisco

San Francisco State University offers a residential MFA in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, drama, and literary translation. New students are automatically considered for three scholarships on admission. Listed price is annual in-state tuition.

University of San Francisco offers a two-year MFA in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Listed price is annual tuition. Teaching assistantships with tuition waivers and stipends are available.

California College of the Arts offers a two-year MFA in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, and hybrid essay.

In-person course in San Francisco, $450 (early-bird $405 before 5 September), taught by Joanne Furio. Five Saturday mornings, 12 September to 10 October 2026, 10:00am-12:00pm at the Grotto, 1663 Mission St. Works across three hybrid forms - the lyric essay, the prose poem and flash creative nonfiction - for writers who find straight genre categories constraining.

In-person course in San Francisco, $450, taught by Nick Mamatas. Six weekly afternoon sessions, 12 September to 24 October 2026, 2:00-4:30pm. Structural rather than inspirational: where a story should actually start, the difference between action and plot, and how to tell ending a scene from merely stopping it. Mamatas is an award-winning novelist and anthologist who also acquires fiction as an editor, and teaches from that side of the desk.

In-person flash fiction course in San Francisco, $195 (early-bird $181), taught by Andy Touhy. Two Saturday afternoons, 21 November and 5 December 2026, 2:00-5:00pm at 2042 Balboa St. A compressed two-session format concentrated on the very short story - how a complete narrative arc works at flash length.

In-person poetry course in San Francisco, $240 (early-bird $223), taught by Cate Lycurgus. Three Saturday mornings, 7 to 21 November 2026, 10:30am-1:00pm at 2042 Balboa St. Works entirely in the epistolary mode - poems addressed to a reader, real or imagined - and what direct address does to voice and intimacy on the page.

In-person course in San Francisco, $360 (early-bird $334), taught by Shelby Hinte. Five Thursday evenings, 22 October to 19 November 2026, 6:30-9:00pm at 2042 Balboa St. Aimed at the habit rather than a single manuscript: building a writing routine that survives contact with an ordinary working week. Open to writers in any genre and at any stage.

In-person course in San Francisco, $360 (early-bird $334), taught by Steve Mitchel. Five Tuesday evenings, 29 September to 27 October 2026, 6:30-9:00pm at 2042 Balboa St. An introductory fiction class built around openings - how a story establishes voice, situation and momentum in its first pages. No previous workshop experience assumed.

In-person course in San Francisco, $360 (early-bird $334), taught by Gillian Osborne. Five Wednesday evenings, 23 September to 21 October 2026, 6:30-9:00pm at the Writing Salon studio on Balboa Street. An introduction to creative nonfiction as a form rather than a workshop of finished drafts: sessions move across memoir, essay and reportage so writers can work out which shape their material wants before committing to a longer project.