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Friday, June 12
 

9:00am MDT

The Art of Constraints: Setting Limits to Set Ourselves Free
Friday June 12, 2026 9:00am - 11:00am MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
As Oulipo Writer Georges Perec says, “I set myself rules in order to be totally free.” In this seminar, we’ll follow Perec’s logic: working with writing constraints so our prose can emerge more forceful and more honed from the first draft on. We’ll read examples of contemporary writers who use (or appear to use) different constraints in their fiction and nonfiction. We’ll dissect how and why constraints are of great use to any writer. And we’ll get a chance to try our own constraints via fun prompts. Even if you’ve never worked with constraints before, this class is still for you.
Speakers
avatar for Alexander Lumans

Alexander Lumans

Editor
Alexander Lumans was awarded a 2018 NEA Creative Writing Grant in Fiction. He received fellowships in 2015 and 2024 for expeditions with The Arctic Circle Residency and he was the Spring 2014 Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in... Read More →
Friday June 12, 2026 9:00am - 11:00am MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

1:30pm MDT

POV Jumpstart
Friday June 12, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
If you’ve ever found yourself lost in a workshop, listening to someone talk about the “first person plural” or the limitations of “close third,” you’re not alone. Perspective and point-of-view can be daunting, even to experienced writers. In this generative, no-pressure session, we’ll look at the various kinds of POV a writer can use, and why. We’ll experiment with different perspectives, and take note of how they change the stories we tell. Other topics will include head-hopping, psychic distance, and narrative voice.
Speakers
avatar for Amanda Rea

Amanda Rea

Faculty
Amanda Rea's stories and essays have appeared in Harper's, Best American Mystery Stories, One Story, American Short Fiction, Freeman’s, The Missouri Review, The Kenyon Review, The Sun, Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, Indiana Review, Iowa Review, New South, Lit Hub, and... Read More →
Friday June 12, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

4:00pm MDT

Dynamic Dialogue
Friday June 12, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Strong dialogue brings characters to life in a way no amount of exposition can. It crystallizes relationships, advances the plot, provides texture and humor and heartbreak. In the words of Elizabeth Bowen: “Speech is what the characters do to each other.” It’s also when the reader is allowed to participate most fully in the world you’ve created. So let’s not shy away from it. In this generative session, we’ll look at strategies for making our dialogue as dynamic as it can be, including subtext, characterization, embedded action, using voice, as well as the nuts and bolts of dialogue tags and formatting.
Speakers
avatar for Amanda Rea

Amanda Rea

Faculty
Amanda Rea's stories and essays have appeared in Harper's, Best American Mystery Stories, One Story, American Short Fiction, Freeman’s, The Missouri Review, The Kenyon Review, The Sun, Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, Indiana Review, Iowa Review, New South, Lit Hub, and... Read More →
Friday June 12, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 
Saturday, June 13
 

9:00am MDT

Say Less, Mean More: Writing with Subtext
Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 11:00am MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Learn how to layer meaning beneath dialogue and description so your characters reveal as much in silence as they do in speech. We’ll analyze short examples, then practice writing scenes where the real tension simmers beneath the words.
Speakers
avatar for Rachel Weaver

Rachel Weaver

Faculty
Rachel Weaver is the author of the novel Point of Direction, which Oprah Magazine named a Top Ten Book to Pick Up Now and which won the 2015 Willa Cather Award for Fiction. She is on the faculty at Wilkes University’s low-residency MFA program in addition to teaching Lighthouse... Read More →
Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 11:00am MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

1:30pm MDT

Is My Character An Asshole?
Saturday June 13, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
WWE Hall-of-Famer Scott Hall famously said, "Bad times don't last, but bad guys do." Is it true that bad characters last longer in our imaginations than the good ones? How does this compete with conventional wisdom that encourages likeable characters? We’ll examine common character tropes in fiction and nonfiction, as well as the mandate that characters can (or should?) change over the course of the story. Collectively, we’ll explore character arcs and how to create lasting relationships between readers and characters. Each writer will leave this seminar having developed an archetype for one of their characters.
Speakers
avatar for Pardeep Toor

Pardeep Toor

Faculty
Pardeep Toor's writing has appeared in the Best Debut Short Stories 2021, The PEN America Dau Prize, Catapult, Electric Literature, Longreads, and Southern Humanities Review. His short story collection, Hands, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press.
Saturday June 13, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

1:30pm MDT

The Laundry Line (V)
Saturday June 13, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Virtual
Register Here!
In his writing workshops, the journalist Michael Pollan says that every piece of writing, whether fiction or nonfiction, needs a "laundry line": a main conceptual through-line that is strong yet flexible enough to hold the various vignettes, reflections, and analyses that make up the piece. This craft seminar will provide an opportunity for writers to begin developing a sturdy laundry line for their current projects, focusing on the difference between narrative and chronology, how voice evolves across structure, how to braid personal reflection with reportage and analysis, and much more.
Speakers
avatar for Natalie Hodges

Natalie Hodges

Faculty
Born and raised in Denver, Natalie Hodges has performed as a classical violinist throughout Colorado and in New York, Boston, Paris, and the Italian Piedmont, as well as at the Aspen Music Festival and the Stowe Tango Music Festival. Her first book, Uncommon Measure: A Journey Through... Read More →
Saturday June 13, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Virtual
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 
Sunday, June 14
 

1:30pm MDT

Beyond the Laugh: How and Why to Use Humor
Sunday June 14, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
There are serious reasons to crack a few jokes in your manuscript. In this class, we'll discuss how to use humor as a narrative tool. From deepening plot to establishing tone, we'll explore how and why comedy is an essential function in storytelling. The class will include close readings of examples from Twain to Tulathimutte, discussions of the various definitions of humor, and prompts using different joke forms. To note, the class will be focused on fiction, though all writers of all levels are welcome.
Speakers
avatar for Kathleen Boland

Kathleen Boland

Faculty
Kathleen Boland is the author of the novel Scavengers. Her fiction has appeared in Tin House, Conjunctions, and Gulf Coast, among other places, and she has received support from the Tin House Summer Workshop, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Vermont Studio Center. She... Read More →
Sunday June 14, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 
Monday, June 15
 

4:00pm MDT

To Flash Back or Not to Flash Back
Monday June 15, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Good characters come with a past, but is a flashback the only way to let readers know about essential details from before the story’s start? Not necessarily. We’ll look at examples from writers who eschew flashbacks but still give readers a rich sense of a character’s past life, including excerpts from Kent Haruf, Jane Austen, and more. If you choose to use flashbacks, how do you do it well? We’ll look at the way experts including Willy Vlautin, Susan Straight, and Percival Everett slide gracefully in and out of flashback.
Speakers
avatar for Jenny Shank

Jenny Shank

Faculty
Jenny Shank's short story collection, Mixed Company, won the George Garrett Fiction Prize and the Colorado Book Award and her novel, The Ringer, won the High Plains Book Award in fiction.

Jenny's stories, essays, satire, and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quarterly Review, Missouri Review, McSweeney's, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Poets & Writers, Bust Magazine, The Guardian, Santa Monica... Read More →
Monday June 15, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 
Tuesday, June 16
 

1:30pm MDT

Finding the Heart and Body of Your Memoir (V)
Tuesday June 16, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Virtual
Register Here!
One of the biggest challenges in writing memoir or essays is finding the focus and structure. So many directions tempt us before we find our best way forward. In this invigorating seminar, we’ll explore tools and approaches for sussing out the heart of the memoir, and from there, consider possibilities for organizing it (chronologically, thematically, as an essay collection, or even as a collage of vignettes). We’ll do some short exercises to clarify what our memoir or essay wants to be and how we can realize that potential. Ample handouts will be provided.
Speakers
avatar for Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Faculty
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D, the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 24 books, including How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; Miriam's Well, a novel; Needle in the Bone, a nonfiction book on the Holocaust; The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community, and... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Virtual
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

1:30pm MDT

Reader in the Room
Tuesday June 16, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Writers are often told to “write from the heart,” but if the goal is to move or connect with others, audience matters. This two-hour class explores how powerful nonfiction honors both the writer’s truth and the reader’s experience. We’ll look at what audiences really want—to be invited into another’s world, to feel tension and release, to understand what’s at stake. Through short readings, discussion, and exercises, you'll learn to balance authenticity with craft—using the tools that make nonfiction not just true, but felt.
Speakers
avatar for Angelique Stevens

Angelique Stevens

Faculty
Angelique Stevens lives in Upstate New York where she teaches creative writing, literature of genocide, and race literatures. Her nonfiction has been published or is forthcoming in Granta, LitHub, The New England Review, and a number of anthologies. Her essay “Ghost Bread,” which... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

1:30pm MDT

The Cutting Room Floor: Late-Stage Revision
Tuesday June 16, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
“I saw the angel in the marble, and I carved until I set him free,” Michelangelo said. What are both esoteric and practical techniques for cutting, in late-stage revision? We’ll dig into how different writers approach this question. Bring a draft or two to this revision-based class, in which we’ll practice techniques for excising, removing weight, and clarifying shapely prose.
Speakers
avatar for Evanthia Bromiley

Evanthia Bromiley

Faculty
Evanthia Bromiley is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, a Lisel Mueller scholarship, and Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. She is the 2025 Grace Paley Fellow for... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

4:00pm MDT

A Wrinkle in Time: How to Manage Chronology and Structure
Tuesday June 16, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
One of the central struggles in storytelling is that human beings are, in essence, time travelers. We live in the past of our memories and the future of our hopes. Thus, when we tell stories, we often shuttle around in time. This can be exciting, but it more often winds up confusing the reader, and (in my case) the writer. In this fast-paced seminar, we’ll look at fiction and non-fiction examples of authors who manage chronology, and structure, masterfully. And we'll help writers learn how to do the same.
Speakers
avatar for Steve Almond

Steve Almond

Visiting Author
Steve Almond [www.stevealmondjoy.org] is the author of a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers “Candyfreak” and “Against Football.” His first novel, “Which Brings Me to You” (co-written with Julianna Baggott) was made into a major motion picture starring... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

4:00pm MDT

Write Stronger Scenes: A Checklist
Tuesday June 16, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Scene work is the backbone of any story. When your scene work is strong, your reader is pulled into the story and forget everything else. In this class, you’ll bring in one of your scenes and will reshape it according to a check list of what makes great scene work, including but not limited to controlling narrative distance, writing effective dialogue, capturing setting without being boring, maintaining tension, and integrating or eliminating backstory.
Speakers
avatar for Rachel Weaver

Rachel Weaver

Faculty
Rachel Weaver is the author of the novel Point of Direction, which Oprah Magazine named a Top Ten Book to Pick Up Now and which won the 2015 Willa Cather Award for Fiction. She is on the faculty at Wilkes University’s low-residency MFA program in addition to teaching Lighthouse... Read More →
Tuesday June 16, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 
Wednesday, June 17
 

4:00pm MDT

Two-Day Intensive: Bridges to Elsewhere—Writing Significance in the Everyday, Working-Class Moment
Wednesday June 17, 2026 4:00pm - 7:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Analyzing moments from the films of Andrea Arnold, comics by Katrina Vogl, poems by Marie Howe and prose by Denis Johnson, Jo-Ann Beard and Lucia Berlin, as well as others, we will examine what might make the seemingly quotidian significant through a series of targeted craft exercises.
Speakers
avatar for Evanthia Bromiley

Evanthia Bromiley

Faculty
Evanthia Bromiley is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, a Lisel Mueller scholarship, and Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. She is the 2025 Grace Paley Fellow for... Read More →
Wednesday June 17, 2026 4:00pm - 7:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 
Thursday, June 18
 

1:30pm MDT

Crash Course in Character
Thursday June 18, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Characters are the most basic part of writing fiction, but just how do you create fictional people that will win readers over with their authenticity and verve? We'll study how masters such as Kent Haruf, Lucia Berlin, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, and Ann Patchett introduce major and minor characters, talk about "spark plug characters" and how to create them, learn how to collect character details in a writer's notebook, and discuss the importance of giving your characters skills.
Speakers
avatar for Jenny Shank

Jenny Shank

Faculty
Jenny Shank's short story collection, Mixed Company, won the George Garrett Fiction Prize and the Colorado Book Award and her novel, The Ringer, won the High Plains Book Award in fiction.

Jenny's stories, essays, satire, and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quarterly Review, Missouri Review, McSweeney's, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Poets & Writers, Bust Magazine, The Guardian, Santa Monica... Read More →
Thursday June 18, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

4:00pm MDT

Suffering Builds Character
Thursday June 18, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
A story in which characters don’t suffer (or don’t suffer enough) is a story that’s easy to put down. In the most compelling stories, characters struggle mightily. They grapple with impossible dilemmas. They face their greatest fears. And just when you imagine they can take no more, things get undeniably worse. We’ll look at examples from literary fiction and commercial fiction. We’ll discuss ways to put characters in peril and keep them there for the sake of crafting a compelling story.
Speakers
avatar for Tiffany Quay Tyson

Tiffany Quay Tyson

Faculty
Tiffany Quay Tyson is the author of two novels, The Past is Never and Three Rivers. The Past is Never is the recipient of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, the 2019 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction, and the 2019... Read More →
Thursday June 18, 2026 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

4:00pm MDT

Two-Day Intensive: Bridges to Elsewhere—Writing Significance in the Everyday, Working-Class Moment
Thursday June 18, 2026 4:00pm - 7:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
Analyzing moments from the films of Andrea Arnold, comics by Katrina Vogl, poems by Marie Howe and prose by Denis Johnson, Jo-Ann Beard and Lucia Berlin, as well as others, we will examine what might make the seemingly quotidian significant through a series of targeted craft exercises.
Speakers
avatar for Evanthia Bromiley

Evanthia Bromiley

Faculty
Evanthia Bromiley is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, a Lisel Mueller scholarship, and Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. She is the 2025 Grace Paley Fellow for... Read More →
Thursday June 18, 2026 4:00pm - 7:00pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 
Friday, June 19
 

1:30pm MDT

Strange Beasts: Wild Structures and Architectures
Friday June 19, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
In this class we will examine works that use their architecture, or structure as a vessel to carry and deliver meaning. We might examine the works of Italo Calvino, Anne Carson, Max Porter, Bernardine Evaristo, and Olga Tokarczuk…among others. Bring a story in which the architecture is asking: how might I be wilder?
Speakers
avatar for Evanthia Bromiley

Evanthia Bromiley

Faculty
Evanthia Bromiley is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, a Lisel Mueller scholarship, and Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. She is the 2025 Grace Paley Fellow for... Read More →
Friday June 19, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir

1:30pm MDT

The Propulsive Narrative: Creating and Maintaining Momentum
Friday June 19, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
Register Here!
You have a great premise. Maybe a gripping first chapter. But now your characters are wandering around contemplating the scenery, and you can't seem to make them do anything else. Sound familiar? If you want to write the sort of story that a reader cannot put down, you need to create urgency on every page. We’ll look at tools employed by writers of thrillers and suspense novels and explore strategies for creating a propulsive read no matter what sort of book you are writing.
Speakers
avatar for Tiffany Quay Tyson

Tiffany Quay Tyson

Faculty
Tiffany Quay Tyson is the author of two novels, The Past is Never and Three Rivers. The Past is Never is the recipient of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, the 2019 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction, and the 2019... Read More →
Friday June 19, 2026 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Lighthouse Writers Workshop
  Fiction, Nonfiction/Memoir
 

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