Clarion West

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Clarion West Clarion West is a nonprofit literary organization based in Seattle, Washington.

We serve and support writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, focusing especially on underrepresented voices in these genres. Clarion West Writers Workshop is a nonprofit literary organization based in Seattle, Washington, with a mission to improve speculative fiction by providing high quality education to writers at the start of their careers. As an extension of its primary mission, Clarion West also makes speculative fiction available to the public by presenting readings and other events that bring writers and readers together. Clarion West also has an active Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2424444143/ Join us there today!

Writer’s block. 😱 This emotional & psychological cocktail makes creative progress grind to a halt. Most of us have dealt...
10/14/2026

Writer’s block. 😱 This emotional & psychological cocktail makes creative progress grind to a halt. Most of us have dealt with it at some point or another. While we can’t avoid difficult stretches in our creative process, we can put together a toolbox that helps clear the way forward.

And that is exactly what Eden Robins offers students in the three-session class, Get Unstuck. It starts on October 21!

Register here: https://bit.ly/4z81mwu



Image description: Clarion West presents Get Unstuck virtual writing class. Wednesdays, October 21, 28, and November 4. 5:30 - 7:00 P.M. Pacific Time with Eden Robins. Writer's block. Messy middles. Characters that just won't do what they're supposed to do. We've all been there! In this multi-session live class, we'll shake ourselves loose of that 'stuckness' with generative exercises, forced failure, injections of randomness, and some journaling to see what's at the heart of the problem. Register at Clarion West dot org.

Explore the nuances of SFF by Chinese diaspora authors like Larissa Lai, whose layered writing opens up multiple convers...
10/13/2026

Explore the nuances of SFF by Chinese diaspora authors like Larissa Lai, whose layered writing opens up multiple conversations on identity, writing, representation, history, and contemporary issues.

This interview by Nisi Shawl (CW '92) was originally published in the Clarion West 7th Week Newsletter in the Fall of 2003 and has been resurfaced for our monthly Pocket Workshop. Read and subscribe for free at https://www.patreon.com/ThePocketWorkshop/posts/larissa-lai-pit-170309280



Image description: Pocket Workshop - Larissa Lai: Pit Stops on a Journey, brought to you by Clarion West. Join for free at Patreon dot com slash c w slash The Pocket Workshop. The image also includes a photo of Larissa beside two book covers: The Tiger Flu and The Lost Century.

Are you free Thursday night? Then join us for the Deep Dives finale of 2026—AI in Medicine with Justin C. Key and Lakshm...
10/13/2026

Are you free Thursday night? Then join us for the Deep Dives finale of 2026—AI in Medicine with Justin C. Key and Lakshmi Krishnan! It's both in-person and virtual.

Justin’s recent novel, The Hospital at the End of the World, explores what would happen if a single AI system controls all of medicine. If that is a dystopian vision that feels a little too real right now, you’ll want to sit in on this candid conversation about the reality, potential, and danger of AI in healthcare.

The event is free to attend live—but if you’re not in Seattle, you can stream it live for just $5!

Get tickets here: https://bit.ly/47B8PIF



Image description: Deep Dives Author Conversation Series, a program of Clarion West. The Hospital at the End of the World: Horror and A.I. in Medicine, a conversation with Justin C. Key and Lakshmi Krishnan. October 15, 2026. Conversation and signing 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. Pacific Time. Seattle Library - Central Branch, 1000 4th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98104. Hosted in partnership with The Seattle Public Library, 4Culture, Third Place Books, Amazon Library Partnership. Get tickets at Clarion West dot org.

Do you love the concision of a short story? How about the immersion of a novel? Bringing the two together isn’t impossib...
10/12/2026

Do you love the concision of a short story? How about the immersion of a novel? Bringing the two together isn’t impossible. Learn how it is done on October 14 with A. Muia in Short Stories in Long Form: A Novel in Linked Stories. Think Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell or Parasite by Darcy Coates.

More info + registration here: https://bit.ly/4rkiqwS



Image description: Clarion West presents Short Stories in Long Form: A Novel in Linked Stories. Virtual: October 14 at 5:30 PM PT with instructor A. Muia. Many of us love short stories, yet we also feel the pull to write novels. Caught in between? Join author A. Muia for a 90-minute live webinar exploring the beautiful hybrid structure of the novel in linked stories. We'll look at published works using this structure, learn what makes them novels instead of short story collections, talk about how to order the stories and create recurring characters, and more. Register at Clarion West dot org.

The familiar can create a false sense of safety that, when disrupted, makes the intrusion more shocking. Even frightenin...
10/09/2026

The familiar can create a false sense of safety that, when disrupted, makes the intrusion more shocking. Even frightening. It's the strangeness of the quotidian that guides Ana Hurtado’s upcoming class, The Milieu of Dread: An Exploration of Horror as Mundane.

Using three short stories, Ana will teach students how to weave dread more effectively into their work. Class starts on Sunday, October 18. Register here: https://bit.ly/3TfHecP



Image description: Clarion West presents The Milieu of Dread: Horror as Mundane. Virtual: October 18 at 25, 12:00 P.M. P.T. with Ana Hurtado. Explore: reframing horror as mundane, remnants of colonialism via horror, body horror as transformation, and dissecting the craft behind dread. Leave with: techniques for framing horror as ordinary, an understanding of how authors from Latinoamérica have harnessed the power of horror, and prompts for identifying and incorporating mundane horror elements into your own work. Register at Clarion West dot org.

Blend the self-sufficiency of a short story with the overarching unity of a longer form work by creating a novel in link...
10/08/2026

Blend the self-sufficiency of a short story with the overarching unity of a longer form work by creating a novel in linked short stories. A. Muia, Flannery O'Connor Award winner and author of A Desert Between Two Seas, shows us how to get it done in her 1.5 hour class on October 4.

Learn how to work with this unique form by registering here: https://bit.ly/4rkiqwS



Image description: Clarion West presents Short Stories in Long Form: A Novel in Linked Stories. Virtual: October 14 at 5:30 P.M. P.T. with instructor A. Muia. Many of us love short stories, yet we also feel the pull to write novels. Caught in between? Join author A. Muia for a 90-minute live webinar exploring the beautiful hybrid structure of the novel in linked stories. We'll look at published works using this structure, learn what makes them novels instead of short story collections, talk about how to order the stories and create recurring characters, and more. Register at Clarion West dot org.

On October 23, Vida Cruz-Borja helps you put an end to your short story or novel. By serving up some justice. In this cl...
10/07/2026

On October 23, Vida Cruz-Borja helps you put an end to your short story or novel. By serving up some justice. In this class, Vida takes students on a two-hour exploration of endings through justice frameworks. If you’re struggling to find a fitting ending to your current project, this one is for you.

Find out more and register here: https://bit.ly/4xUUmDi



Image description: Clarion West presents Rendering Justince: The Craft of Endings. Virtual: October 23 at 7 P.M. P.T. with Vida Cruz-Borja. Have you ever gotten stuck on a story because you didn’t know how to end it? Learn how to give everyone, from the main character to a side character with no speaking lines, their just desserts in this class on writing endings through a justice framework. Class size is limited. Register at Clarion West dot org.

Unblock the path to your next paragraph, chapter, story, or novel. If you’re feeling stuck, let Eden Robbins help you ge...
10/06/2026

Unblock the path to your next paragraph, chapter, story, or novel. If you’re feeling stuck, let Eden Robbins help you get, well, unstuck.

Get Unstuck, a class in three sessions (October 21, 28, and November 4), begins soon! Register here: https://bit.ly/4z81mwu



Image description: Clarion West presents: Get Unstuck. Virtual writing class. Wednesdays, October 21, 28, and November 4. 5:30 - 7 P.M. P.T. with Eden Robins. Writer’s block. Messy middles. Characters that just won’t do what they’re supposed to do. We’ve all been there! In this multi-session live class, we’ll shake ourselves loose of that “stuckness” with generative exercises, forced failure, injections of randomness, and some journaling to see what’s at the heart of the problem. Register at Clarion West dot org.

Whether you’re writing a TV pilot from a short story or novelizing a film, adaptation requires discernment, flexibility,...
10/05/2026

Whether you’re writing a TV pilot from a short story or novelizing a film, adaptation requires discernment, flexibility, and vision. In Laurie Penny’s upcoming seven-week bootcamp, Beyond the Source: Adaptation for Film, Fiction, and TV, writers discover how to identify material to adapt, match the format to the story, and use different narrative structures effectively.

Get the details here: https://bit.ly/46ViU38



Image description: Clarion West presents Beyond the Source: Adaptation for Fiction, Film & TV. Virtual class: October 10, 17, 24, 31 & November 11, 17, 21. With Laurie Penny. This seven-week boot camp lead by author and screenwriter Laurie Penny covers the essential principles of adapting stories from one format to another. If you have been dreaming of turning your novella into a screenplay (or vice versa), your short story into a longer work, or your favorite myth into a dynamic retelling, this intensive is for you. Learn how to choose work to adapt—whether your original story or available IP—and the necessary elements of each format. Register at Clarion West dot org.

What if the entire medical system was run by one AI company? In his dystopian novel, The Hospital at the End of the Worl...
10/05/2026

What if the entire medical system was run by one AI company? In his dystopian novel, The Hospital at the End of the World, Justin C. Key (CW ‘15) explores that question. And on October 15, he’ll sit down with physician Lakshmi Krishnan to go even deeper on the topic of AI in Medicine.

Join us for the last Deep Dive of the year, a candid and timely conversation about the potential and danger of AI in healthcare. The event is free to attend—and if you’re not in Seattle, you can stream it live on Zoom for just $5.

Get tickets here: https://bit.ly/47B8PIF



Image description: Deep Dives Author Conversation Series: A Program of Clarion West. Under photos of Justin C. Key and Lakshmi Krishnan, and the cover of Justin's book, the words, "The Hospital at the End of the World: Horror and A.I. in Medicine," a conversation with Justin C. Key and Lakshmi Krishnan. October 15, 2026. Conversation and signing from 7 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. P.T. Seattle Public Library, Central Branch. 1004 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98104. Hosted in partnership with The Seattle Public Library, 4Culture, Third Place Books, and Amazon Literary Partnership. Get tickets at Clarion West dot org.

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Seattle, WA

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+12063229083

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