with Sejal Shah
Saturdays, 11 – 1:15 PM, January 24 – February 28
Location: Writers & Books, 740 University Ave, Rochester NY
Price: Members $320 | General Public $360. In person.
One need-based scholarship available.
Minimum Enrollment: 7
Maximum Enrollment: 12
“Dare to tell the smallest of stories if you want to generate large emotions.”
– William Zinser
Discover and develop the stories only you can tell. In this intimate, generative workshop, acclaimed writer Sejal Shah will guide participants through a process of reflection, discovery, and craft. Each session combines guided discussion, generative prompts, and curated readings designed to help you connect your lived experiences to your creative work. Students will have the opportunity to write together, to share work, and to study the craft of beloved authors. Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or something in between, you’ll leave each week with fresh material, renewed inspiration, and tools to deepen your storytelling practice.
Themes include:
Ways to Begin; Writing about Place; Writing & Meditation & Mindfulness; An Unsent Letter; Responding to Photographs; Revision Strategies
“Each sentence [of How to Make Your Mother Cry] is its own jewel box of pleasures and delights . . . this groundbreaking collection will be a touchpoint for years and decades to come.”
—Rahul Mehta
A writer whose work crosses genres and disciplines, Sejal Shah is the author of the award-winning essay collection This Is One Way to Dance, an NPR Best Book of the year, and How to Make Your Mother Cry: fictions, a multi-genre collection, which was longlisted for the 2024-2025 Story Prize. Her stories and essays have appeared widely in print and online. Her pedagogy is informed by over 20 years of teaching experience in colleges, MFA programs, and literary workshops. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and residencies or fellowships from Blue Mountain Center, Kenyon Review Writers’ Workshop, Kundiman, Millay Arts, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. In 2021, she was named an influential AAPI Leader by Good Morning America and ABC News. The daughter of Gujarati parents who immigrated to the United States from India and Kenya, Sejal lives in Rochester, New York.
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