StoryStudio Chicago

06/16/2026

Writers, please meet Frances de Pontes Peebles. Frances is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Air We Breathe and The Seamstress. She's a past Visiting Professor at the Iowa Writers Workshop and a past Creative Writing Fellow in Literature from The National Endowment for the Arts.

For 2026-2027, we're so lucky to have Frances teaching our in-person cohort of Novel In A Year: Revise and Launch.

Revise and Launch is ideal for any writer who is close to completing a novel. Writers who are accepted to this competitive program will be those who are ready to make a strong commitment to their work.

You can find much more information, including how to apply (no application fee!) here: https://www.storystudiochicago.org/advanced-writing-programs-at-storystudio-chicago/novel-in-a-year-revise-and-launch-in-person-frances/

06/15/2026

What are you writing this summer?! ✍️✍️

Whether flash fiction, a poem or six, your memoir, a novel, or something else (or all of the above!😉) you're cordially invited to write with us this summer! 🌞

Our summer term includes more than 25 online and in-person creative writing classes and workshops. All skill levels. All genres.

Check out our class catalog for the full list and sign up for creative writing workshop now!

Stories Matter

06/15/2026

Today is June 15. The StoryBoard Festival is August 15. That means....(one sec...checks math...yep, that's correct)....we have exactly TWO MONTHS until Chicago's best summer festival.

To help inspire you, and for a Monday morning pick-me-up, here is a whole bunch of photos from the 2025 Festival. We had so much fun! And we're really excited to be returning to the Newberry Library again this year.

Your ticket for the full-day Festival includes 15 classes (you choose your own adventure over the course of the day), breakfast and lunch, and a cocktail reception and book signing with all our featured instructors.

(Also of note, Early Bird tickets -- save $25 over regular registration -- are open until June 29. Two weeks from today.)

Get your ticket now at the link in the first comment.

06/11/2026

Welcome to the party!

On July 15 on Zoom, Sheree L. Greer is teaching a cross-genre introduction to creative writing workshop that asks participants to embrace and amplify their desire to write with excitement, affirmation, and possibility.

And the best part (other than that you get to learn from Sheree): The class is Pay What You Can. $1, $25, $65 -- whatever fits your budget.

So register now at the link in the first comment.

06/10/2026

Get your short story on this summer with writer Puloma Ghosh!

Short and Sweet: Intro to Writing Short Stories is a four-session online class starting July 9. Each class we will discover a different aspect of the short story through the discussion of an assigned reading, a lecture on specific craft elements of the short story, and an end-of-class writing exercise.

Puloma is the author of the short story collection, Mouth, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her work has appeared in One Story, Cake Zine, No Tokens, Book of the Month’s Volume Ø and elsewhere, and is collected in The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025.

Register now for this great class now! https://www.storystudiochicago.org/classes/classes/short-and-sweet-intro-to-writing-short-stories-with-puloma-ghosh/

06/09/2026

Summer sure is summering this week here in Chicago.🥵

So we thought now might be a good time to remind you our Summer Novel Series is starting soon! These four two-hour online classes each covers one particular aspect of craft. The four classes are:

🌞 The Ins and Outs of Point of View with Chaitali Sen, July 8
🌞 Fragments of Memory, Family, and the Novel with James Stewart III, July 29
🌞 Revise Your Novel with David Hicks, August 19
🌞 Finding Your Ending with Blair Hurley, September 9

Your can register for each of these classes individually. OR, bundle all four and save $60.

Hit the link in the first comment for the Summer Novel Series Bundle (or check out the full class listings for individual workshops).

*photo is from Beach Day during the 2025 StoryBoard Conference.

06/08/2026

Writers, please meet Gabino Iglesias, but surely you know him already. Gabino is a writer, journalist, professor, and literary critic. He is the author of House of Bone and Rain and the Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Devil Takes You Home, as well as the critically acclaimed and award-winning
novels Zero Saints and Coyote Songs.

Gabino is teaching our Novel In A Year: Speculative Fiction cohort that begins in August (fully online). This unique genre-focused program will guide you through all the general novel-writing techniques and practices, while also offering a more fine-tuned guidance toward the world-building and plot-heavy nature that typically comes with speculative and genre fiction.

Applications for Gabino's (as well as three other) Novel In A Year cohort are due July 10. Apply now at the link in the first comment.

06/08/2026

Get your ticket now for Chicago's hottest summer festival: The StoryBoard Writers Festival!

Join StoryStudio Chicago Artistic Director Rebecca Makkai, Program Curator Ananda Lima, and an exciting group of instructors on August 15 at the Newberry Library for an inspiring day of creative writing, craft, and community.

Your StoryBoard Festival ticket gets you:

✍️ Coffee & Breakfast Social

✍️ Choose from 15 Breakout Sessions with Featured Craft Lecturers and StoryStudio Instructors

✍️ Lunch with your fellow writers (lunch is included!)

✍️ Book Signing with Featured Craft Lecturers

✍️ Saturday Evening Cocktail Party

Get your ticket by June 29 and save $25!

The StoryBoard Festival will be in-person at the Newberry Library on August 16 & 17, 2025. Tickets on sale now.