Narratively Academy
Ready to tell your story? We’d love to help! Narratively is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed storytelling platform that’s been named one of Time’s “50 Best Websites” and Columbia Journalism Review’s “11 Best Experiments in Journalism.” We are incredibly proud to have edited and published 2,000+ true stories, working with thousands of storytellers from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists to emerging writers sharing their very first pieces — many who have since gone on to publish acclaimed and bestselling books. Our mission has always been to celebrate underdogs and elevate overlooked voices, and Narratively Academy is all about sharing knowledge throughout our unique and diverse community. We offer classes, seminars and writing critiques taught by Narratively’s editors, contributors and storytelling heroes. All classes are conducted online and accessible to students anywhere in the world.
Spring 2025 Classes
We’ve been so blown away by the amount of interest in our 30 Days, 30 Prompts class that we’re bringing it back this April with an expanded twist. The new, self-guided version of this class is designed to let you go at your own pace — and allows us to lower the cost significantly so more of you can participate. Students in the first two sessions of this class have loved how the daily prompts sparked creativity, invigorated their daily writing practices and got them moving on new projects.
FREE CLASS! The number one thing we’ve heard from so many of you recently is that you want to find ways to use your writing to make a difference and impact in these…um, turbulent times. Steven Beschloss has built a following of nearly 100,000 readers at America America, the Substack publication where he publishes passionate essays of alarm and hope, on politics and society, democracy and justice. On Tuesday, April 8, Steven will be joining us for a lunchtime seminar about how he launched and grew his Substack publication, how he gets inspiration to write every day and how to maintain your perspective and frame of mind while doing that.
We’re so lucky to have Abeer Hoque back teaching another session of The Insider’s Guide to Writing Personal Statements and Applying for Grants & Residencies in April. This intimate, hands-on class has room for just eight students — seats have gone very quickly the last couple sessions, so if you’re interested, grab a spot ASAP.
Narratively co-founder Brendan Spiegel has 15 slots available for one-on-one personal essay editing workshops. If you have a draft of a personal essay and you’re ready for professional feedback, Brendan will review and critique your story, hop on a call to discuss edits with you, then review your revision and help you get it all polished up and ready to submit to publications.
If you’ve been inspired to write op-eds and articles about social issues this year (and how could you not be?), make sure to check out Kavita Das’s in-depth seminar, How to Write About Social Issues in Unprecedented Times. A Pushcart Prize-nominated writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, CNN and many other publications, Kavita also authored the book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues. Basically, she’s *the* expert on how to craft this type of writing.
Do you watch political rallies or reruns of The West Wing and think, I could have written that speech better? Have you thought about broadening your writing career to include speechwriting for yourself or clients? If so, this one’s for you. Henrietta Williams, founder of Speakeasy Speechwriting, has over a decade of experience writing speeches for leaders in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. In Talk Ain’t Cheap, her two-hour interactive seminar, Henrietta will walk you through the basics of what makes a speech sing — and how to break into the business of speechwriting.
We’ve very happy Caroline Rothstein will be teaching another session of her sold-out class, Deeply Personal: Writing First-Person Essays on Raw and Difficult Topics. It’s been so wonderful to see the writers in this small workshop class develop close relationships while they explore writing *those* kinds of pieces. You know, the ones you always want to write but that require a push to figure out how to tell them in the right way.
Another of our perennially popular classes, Katey Schultz’s The Fine Art of Deep Revision explores how revising your own writing can be efficient, productive and even fun — once you identify the concrete techniques that work best for you. Our two previous sessions of this class both sold out quickly, so grab a seat now if you want to get to work on revising your writing projects this spring.
At a time when too many voices in the LGBTQ+ community are being intimidated and silenced, we couldn’t be prouder to offer this very special class this spring. Bestselling author and New York Times essayist Claire Rudy Foster will lead a Pride Month queer writers memoir workshop, a generative class designed to help you dive into telling your own queer, gender-diverse or trans story with confidence, clarity and candor. This is a small class with just 10 seats.
The amazing Audrey Clare Farley is back to lead another brand-new offering for us: our first book study! In Reading Like a Writer, students will spend the month of June reading Matthew Pratt Guterl’s acclaimed and haunting memoir, Skinfolk, meeting up for deep analysis of the writing themes and approaches Guterl employs, plus craft exercises that will help you explore how to use these themes in your own writing. And the author will join the class for the last session!
Critiques
As part of Narratively Academy, we’re very pleased to offer a brand-new service: Narratively Critiques. Whether you’d like feedback on your one-page pitch, a 5,000-word story or your entire book, our experienced editorial team is ready to dive in. We’ll provide an in-depth developmental edit, including specific notes throughout, a detailed overall plan for perfecting your story (or larger project) and a one-on-one phone consultation with you to discuss and answer your questions.
Gift Cards
We now have Narratively Academy gift cards! Have a writer (or aspiring writer, or someone you have always thought should be a writer) in your life? Get them a Narratively Academy gift card and they can use it on a class of their choice.
More Classes
Each of the classes below are sold out and/or have already taken place, but we will offer new sessions as soon as there are enough students on the advance wait list.
Email academy@narrartively.com to join an advance waiting list for the next session of any of these classes. Just tell us which class you’re interested in and we’ll make sure you’re the first to know next time it’s offered.
Click on the images to learn more about each class.
Questions? Not sure which class is right for you? Don’t see what you’re looking for and want to suggest a different class we should offer? Want to teach a class yourself? Drop us a line: academy@narratively.com.