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 novel-in-progress and get it ready for publication. The program will include bi-monthly classes with in-depth discussions about elements of craft; weekly writing sessions, and sessions with professionals in the publishing industry, including editors and agents. The program will also include manuscript consultations, workshops on querying and pitching your manuscript to literary agents; priority registration to the Conference & Pitch Fest, and more.

Dates & Fees

The bootcamp will be held virtually June – November 2025. 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; apply early to qualify for fellowships and enroll in the program. The priority deadline is March 15th; please note applications may close prior to the deadline. Please note that submitting an application does not automatically guarantee participation into the program.

What to Expect

The program will provide: bi-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 complete their manuscript, polish it, and devise different pathways to pitch their work for publication. Participants who complete the program will also be given priority registration for the Conference & Pitch Fest.

Class guests will be announced soon!

*

Level I: Starting the Novel

This program focus is for writers who are beginning to work on a novel, or have already started writing a novel. With this intensive, writers will be able to learn about elements of storytelling, and apply them directly to their work. Sessions will be held every Monday evening, with rotating classes and writing sessions. 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.

Writers should expect to gain insight into the elements of storytelling, and develop a disciplined and rigorous creative writing practice. Writers will produce at least 5,000 words per month towards their novel-in-progress. 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.

Level II: Completing the Novel

This program focus is for writers who have completed a draft of their novel, or have produced at least 100 pages of the novel. With this intensive, writers will be able to hone their craft, revise and edit their work, receive critical feedback from speakers and editors, and work on polishing their manuscript to get it ready for publication. Sessions will be held every Monday evening, with rotating classes and writing sessions. Writers will have the option to workshop their first three chapters with guest speakers, as well as receive manuscript consultation from editors. This program is a bootcamp and will require continued and active participation in all sessions.

Writers should expect to master the art of storytelling; write and revise consistently; engage critically in peer-led sessions; conduct developmental edits on their work; receive critical feedback on their novel-in-progress, and hone the first three chapters of their novels for manuscript consultations 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

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.

Naomi Jackson

Naomi Jackson is author of The Star Side of Bird Hill, published by Penguin Press in June 2015. The Star Side of Bird Hill was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and the International Dublin Literary Award. Star Side was named an Honor Book for Fiction by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was also selected for the American Booksellers Association’s Indies Introduce and Indies Next List programs. The book has been reviewed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Kirkus Reviews, NPR.org and Entertainment Weekly, which called Star Side “a gem of a book.” Publishers Weekly named Jackson a Writer to Watch. 

Jackson studied fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She traveled to South Africa on a Fulbright scholarship, where she received an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. A graduate of Williams College, her work has appeared in literary journals and magazines in the United States and abroad, including The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, and Caribbean Beat. She is the recipient of residencies, grants, and fellowships from Bread Loaf, MacDowell Colony, Camargo Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House, Hedgebrook, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Freya Project.

Jackson is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark. She was a 2021-2022 Scholar-in-Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and served as Writer-in-Residence at Queens College. She previously taught at the University of Iowa, University of Pennsylvania, City College of New York, and Oberlin College. 

Jackson was born and raised in Brooklyn by West Indian parents.