Classes & Workshops
“Every course I have taken at NOWW has been on point! The teachers all share a passion for creativity! Inspiring indeed.”Isabella Christodoulou on NOWW Teachers
the invented world: A fiction Workshop
(All Levels, In-person)
Instructor: Chin-Sun Lee
Genre: Prose
Number of Sessions: 9
Meets: 6 PM – 8 PM CT
Dates: Mondays, March 17 – May 12, 2025
Where: Instructor’s Home, Marigny Neighborhood
Cost: $375 ($360 on or before February 28, 2025)
Writing requires discipline and solitary focus, but it’s so crucial to get feedback during the process, combining honest critiques with encouragement. This course is designed to offer both—whether you’re working on stories, a novel, or work of autofiction. It’s also ideal for those looking to expand their literary community, including beta readers. The unique alchemy of a workshop provokes excitement, unexpected solutions and perspectives, and most importantly, support and camaraderie.
In these 9 sessions, we’ll discuss key elements of craft (such as character, themes, structure, and voice)—but our primary concentration will be the workshop aspect; discussing the work you produce. Therefore, all participants should have either stories or novel sections ready to submit during this course. Each writer will have at least two opportunities to submit their pieces for workshop (up to 15 pages each time), and should expect to read between 30-45 pages of peer work weekly. Our workshop discussions will loosely follow this format: identifying what works in a piece, what doesn’t (or isn’t quite clear), and suggestions to address the latter.
This course is open to all genres, with an emphasis on craft and character-driven prose. Best suited for those who have some workshop or writing experience.
Classes will take place at the instructor’s home in the Marigny, and please note there is a (very mild-mannered) cat on the premises.
Chin-Sun Lee
Writing creative nonfiction
(All Levels, In-person)
Instructor: C.W. Cannon
Genre: Nonfiction
Number of Sessions: 9
Meets: 7 PM – 9 PM CT
Dates: Tuesdays, March 18 – May 13, 2025
Where: NOCCA Foundation (2831 Royal Street New Orleans)
Cost: $375 ($360 on or before February 28, 2025)
Creative Nonfiction blends elements of fiction and essay. It is a perfect medium for students who wish to write about their own lives in ways that will be compelling for other readers. Like fiction writers, we will work on building interesting stories out of our own experiences, with attention to striking details, characterization, and effective pacing. Like essayists, we will also attempt to interpret our experience and draw lessons from it. We will use the workshop method in our class: students will bring in their own work and we will read it and critique it. Depending on class size, each student will be expected to submit original work two to three times over the course of the session. We will also read a range of published creative nonfiction, to get a sense for the possibilities of the form.
C.W. Cannon
C.W. Cannon is the author of four novels—Soul Resin, French Quarter Beautification Project, Sleepytime Down South, and Katrina Means Cleansing–all set in his hometown of New Orleans. He attended and graduated from New Orleans Public Schools—McDonogh 15, Gregory, Franklin, and NOCCA. After many years away (mostly in Chicago and Germany), he returned to New Orleans in 1999. He was the 2009-2010 Fulbright Professor of American Civilization at Université Cheikh-Anta-Diop in Dakar, Sénégal. His latest book is I Want Magic: Essays on New Orleans, the South, and Race. He resides in Faubourg Marigny and teaches at Loyola University New Orleans.
speculative fiction essentials:
From vision to submission
(All Levels, In-person)
Instructor: Alex Jennings
Genre: Fiction
Number of Sessions: 2
Meets: 1 – 4 PM CT
Dates: Saturday – Sunday, March 29 – 30, 2025
Where: NOCCA Foundation (2831 Royal Street New Orleans)
Cost: $100 ($90 on or before March 15, 2025)
It’s often said that the only goal of speculative fiction is to entertain—but is that true? What do the tropes, imagery, and narrative quirks of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their attendant subgenres have to offer that can help us illuminate the human condition?
In this two-day intensive, led by award-winning science fiction author and educator, Alex Jennings, we will look closely at narrative tactics, devices, and techniques on display in passages by writers such as Ursula K. LeGuin, Terry Bisson, and P. Dieli Clark. We will then use what we discover to hone our vision and ideas for development of our own work through guided in-class writing exercises.
By the end of this session, writers will have a better understanding of speculative fiction and some of its subgenres, including foundational works, new writing from guided exercises, and an understanding of the state of the field and how the submission process works.
This course is appropriate for writers of all levels.
Alex Jennings
Alex Jennings is lifelong fan and creator of SFF who lives in Baton Rouge. His fiction, nonfiction, and verse have appeared in dozens of venues, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Africa Risen, and New Suns 2. He is a graduate of the University of New Orleans. He was born in Wiesbaden (Germany) and raised in Gaborone (Botswana), Paramaribo (Surinam), and Tunis (Tunisia) as well as the Columbia, MD. He is also an instructor of popular fiction at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program. In 2021, he was selected as the inaugural Imagination Unbound Fellowship at Under The Volcano, a guided writing retreat in Tepoztlan, Mexico. His writing has been short-listed for numerous awards, including the Ray Bradbury Prize for Speculative Fiction, the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Fantasy Novel, The Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the Ernest J. Gaines Award. He is the recipient of the BSFA’s Compton Crook Award for 2023. His debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves is available wherever books are sold. He is currently at work on a new novel entitled Dead End Boys, and a poetry collection called The Power Cosmic.
building a cohesive short story collection
(All Levels, In-person)
Instructor: Annell Lopez
Genre: Fiction
Number of Sessions: 1
Meets: 10 AM – 12:30 PM CT
Dates: Saturday, May 10, 2025
Where: NOCCA Foundation (2831 Royal Street New Orleans)
Cost: $65 / $57 by May 1, 2025
Throughout this intensive, we will dive deep into the intricacies of building a cohesive collection, exploring how thematic threads, character development, and narrative style can create a harmonious, cohesive body of work.
We will read a few excerpts and examples from contemporary short story collections. Through a discussion and a handful of generative exercises, writers will learn ways to curate and organize their stories, establish a clear voice, and build connections between narratives.
You don’t need to have a finished collection! Whether you have a few stories drafted or a wealth of ideas waiting to be explored, this class will equip you with the knowledge and strategies to craft a collection that skillfully intertwines the uniqueness of each story with the cohesiveness of the overarching narrative.
Optional $140 Consultation Add-On: One story critique with written comments plus one half hour phone meeting. 5000 words max.
Annell Lopez
Annell López is the winner of the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize and the author of the short story collection I’LL GIVE YOU A REASON (Feminist Press), named a best short story collection of 2024 by Electric Literature. A Peter Taylor Fellow at the Kenyon Review Workshops, her work has also received support from Tin House and has appeared in Guernica, American Short Fiction, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Common, Brooklyn Rail, Refinery29 and elsewhere. López received her MFA from the University of New Orleans where she was awarded the Joanna Leake Fiction Prize. She is working on a novel.