Writing Bootcamp

About

The Writing Bootcamp is a six-month intensive program designed to provide writers with the tools and skills necessary to work on their projects, and get it ready for publication. The program will include monthly classes with in-depth discussions about elements of craft; weekly writing sessions; generative sessions; editing sessions and more. We will also host workshops to help you work out the details of your project, and plan a path forward.

Dates & Fees

The bootcamp will be held virtually June – November 2026. The program costs $4,600 and several partial fellowships will be available. Participants must register by the priority deadline to be eligible for fellowships. Please note that the program has limited space available; priority will be given to early applicants. Applications are now open. The priority deadline is March 30, 2026. Please apply early to qualify for fellowships.

What to Expect

The program will provide: monthly classes with in-depth discussions about different elements of craft; writing sessions to help facilitate the editing and revision process; community time with other writers working on manuscript-length projects; generative sessions, and more. Participants of the program should expect to write consistently towards the manuscript, understand the elements of craft they need to shape the work, and devise different pathways to get their work published.

Please note: for 2026, the Bootcamp will be offered in poetry and fiction.

POETRY

Poets should expect to write at least 30-68 new poems (enough to complete a manuscript). Every month, poets will attend craft talks on specific elements of craft, such as narrative structure, imagery, metaphor & syntax; form & style; & more. This will be a crash course in writing and completing a poetry manuscript, and getting it ready for publication. Poets who have started to work on a project are welcome to attend; however, every participants will be required to generate throughout the program.

FICTION

Fiction writers should expect to complete at least the first 100 pages of the project or a manuscript-in-progress. This program requires active participation, and a consistent creative practice, which can be supplemented by the writing sessions and accountability groups. With this intensive, writers will be able to learn about elements of storytelling, and apply them directly to their work.

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Writers enrolled in the Bootcamp will be able to attend both poetry and fiction sessions, though you can only work on one project at a time. Sessions will be held on the first Tuesday (poetry) and Wednesday (fiction) of every month, with some classes held asynchronously. Classes will also be supplemented with a curriculum of reading recommendations and additional handouts.

Writers will also have the option to submit their work for feedback upon completion of the program. This program is a bootcamp and will require continued and active participation in all sessions. By the end of the program, writers will create a detailed outline of story development, and hone the first three chapters for manuscript consultation with a professional editor or guest speaker.

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT

Please note that enrollment in the writing bootcamp requires continued critical engagement through close-reading and analysis of the compiled books. Passages for case studies will be provided by program staff.

Speakers

Chris Abani, Fiction faculty

Chris Abani is an acclaimed novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. Born in Nigeria to an Igbo father and English mother, he grew up in Afikpo, Nigeria, received a BA in English from Imo State University, Nigeria, an MA in English, Gender, and Culture from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. He has resided in the United States since 2001.

Abani’s fiction includes The Secret History of Las Vegas (Penguin 2014), nominated for the Hurston/Wright 2015 Legacy Award, Song For Night (2007); The Virgin of Flames (2007); Becoming Abigail (2006); GraceLand (2004); and Masters of the Board (1985). His poetry collections are Smoking the Bible (2022), which was shortlisted for the 2023 PEN America literary awards; Sanctificum (2010); There Are No Names for Red (2010); Feed Me The Sun – Collected Long Poems (2010); Hands Washing Water (2006); Dog Woman (2004); Daphne’s Lot (2003); and Kalakuta Republic (2001). Poet Kwame Dawes has noted that “Abani’s line has a sharp precision that turns a scream into a line of memorable lyric music without losing the emotion and force.”

Through his TED Talks, public speaking, and essays, Abani is known as an international voice on humanitarianism, art, ethics, and our shared political responsibility. His critical and personal essays have been featured in books on art and photography, as well as Witness, Parkett, The New York Times, O Magazine, and Bomb.

He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the PEN/Hemingway Award for Graceland, the PEN Beyond the Margins Award, the Hurston Wright Award, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship, among many honors. His work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, Romanian, Hebrew, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Dutch, Bosnian, and Serbian.

Abani’s many research interests include African Poetics, World Literature, 20th Century Anglophone Literature, African Presences in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, The Living Architecture of Cities, West African Music, Postcolonial and Transnational Theory, Robotics and Consciousness, Yoruba and Igbo Philosophy, and Religion.

Abani is currently a Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University. He lives in Chicago.

Mahtem Shiferraw, Poetry faculty

Mahtem Shiferraw is a writer from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Her work has been published in various literary magazines, including Callaloo, Prairie Schooner, Poets.org, The 2River View, Luna Luna Magazine, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Numero Cinq, and more. Her short story The River received an honorable mention from Glimmer Train’s Open Fiction Contest. She is the author of three full-length poetry collections; FUCHSIA (University of Nebraska Press, 2016) which won the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets; YOUR BODY IS WAR (University of Nebraska Press, 2019) and NOMENCLATURES OF INVISIBILITY (BOA Editions Ltd., 2023). She is also the author of the chapbook collection BEHIND WALLS & GLASS (Finishing Line Press, 2015). She has served as an editor, curator or advisor for different literary journals including Atlas and Alice, The Bleeding Lion, The Hunger Mountain, and more. She is the founder and executive director of ANAPHORA ARTS, a nonprofit organization that advocates for writers and artists of color. She has served as a jury member for different literary prizes and artist residencies, including the Neudstat International Prize for Literature, the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, the Lucy Munro Brooker Prize, and more. She is a Pushcart prize nominee, and her work has been anthologized widely. As of 2020, she also serves on the Editorial Board of World Literature Today, where she curated the Black Voices Series (2020, 2021) and the New African Voices portfolio. She holds an MFA from Vermont College.

Program staff will hold a virtual information session on Tuesday, March 10th at 10:00am PT. If you’re interested to learn more about the program, please sign up here to receive the zoom link.