Drexel Storylab offers creative writing workshops for non-traditional students – professional adults, Drexel alumni, current Drexel professors and other interested community members. Storylab is taught by Drexel faculty and visiting writers who are accomplished authors. Storylab is an initiative of Drexel University College of Arts and Sciences housed in the Department of English and Philosophy.

Questions? Email Nomi Eve, Storylab Director, at nae28@drexel.edu.

Creative Writing: Online All-Level Craft Talks (Winter Session)

Register

Teacher: Maegan Poland
Price: Free; Registration Required
Schedule: Wednesdays, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Location: Online via Zoom
January 27, 2021 and February 10, 2021

Fiction writer Maegan Poland will offer two craft talks: “Publishing in Literary Journals” and “What makes a story a story?” Asynchronous video content will be provided to registered participants; there will be two synchronous sessions on Zoom to explore questions and related concepts. In addition, Maegan will share ideas and prompts for generating new writing. These craft sessions are limited to fifteen students.

Please note that this is not a workshop. The All-Level Storylab Workshop, which is open to all levels of experience, will return in the spring.

Creative Writing: Advanced Workshop (Winter Session)

Register

Teacher: Maegan Poland
Price: $400 *There is a 10% discount for Drexel Alumni.
Schedule: 9 Mondays, 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Location: Online via Zoom
January 11, January 25, February 1, February 8, February 15, February 22, March 1, March 8, March 15 (Note: There is no class on January 18th.)

This class is intended for students who have been writing for some time and are interested in taking their work to the next level with a small and supportive group of fellow writers.

If you are interested in joining the Advanced Storylab, please email the instructor, Maegan Poland at mcp332@drexel.edu. New writers will be asked to share a brief explanation of their prior workshop and writing experience, and to submit a sample of narrative prose, between 1000 and 2500 words in length. The sample may be a complete piece or an excerpt of a longer work. The workshop is limited to nine students, and students must have permission to enroll.

The primary focus of the course will be reading and discussing each other’s work, but the workshop will also include brief discussions of published short stories and essays. When it is their turn to workshop their materials, participants can hand in up to 8,000 words of prose, double-spaced. In order to make full use of the first class, two participants who have work ready will be asked to submit by January 6th. Workshop stories or chapters will always be due the Wednesday before Monday’s workshop.

feedback, with written notes from the instructor. If you would like two rounds of feedback, please be prepared to commit to two workshop dates at the start of the course. The first submission to the workshop should be a new piece of writing. The second submission can be a substantial revision of the first submission, or it can be a new piece of writing. If a student would like to workshop an excerpt from a novel or book-length memoir, they should begin with the first chapter or provide summaries for the omitted material.

Creative Writing: All-Level Workshop (Spring Session)

Register

Teacher: Maegan Poland
Price: $400 *There is a 10% discount for Drexel Alumni.
Schedule: 9 Mondays, 6:45 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.
Location: Online via Zoom
March 29, April 5, April 12, April 19, April 26, May 3, May 10, May 17, May 24

Are you looking for a supportive community of peers who will read your short fiction and offer constructive feedback? Fiction writer Maegan Poland guides participants towards the creation of impactful fiction.

• This workshop is limited to nine students.
• Students' writing forms the basis of weekly discussions. Short supplemental reading materials may be assigned to facilitate craft discussions.
• Participants can hand in between 500 words and no more than 5,000 words, double-spaced. If a student would like to workshop an excerpt of a novel or book-length memoir, they should begin with the first chapter. 
• Each student will have the opportunity to receive at least two rounds of workshop feedback, with written notes from the instructor. If you would like two rounds of feedback, please be prepared to commit to two workshop dates at the start of the course.
• If any students would like to be workshopped in the first class, they should submit their material at least five days before the workshop.

Drexel Creative Writing Retreat in Collioure, France

Register now for a six-day writing retreat in June 2021

The Storylab creative writing retreat is designed for beginning, emerging, and published writers — anyone who feels the urge to reconnect with their writing self, or deepen and improve their craft is invited to attend.

Now Enrolling — Learn More

Six-days in June 2021, Exact dates TBA

The retreat is for beginning, emerging, and published writers — anyone who feels the urge to reconnect with their writing self, or deepen and improve their work.

The village of Collioure is in the very south of France, where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean. The place smells of salt, earth, lavender, citrus and rose. Attendees will stay at the historic Hôtel des Templiers, in the center of the old village, steps away from the beach, cafés, shops and the Château Royale. The Templiers was a popular haunt of Matisse, Derain, Picasso, Dali and other painters who came to make art in Collioure, and continues to be popular among artists and writers to this day.

 

The Retreat

• 6 nights’ accommodation in Collioure, close to shops, cafés, and the sea
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner included with our retreat chef, Emily Park
• 5 morning writing workshops
• Afternoon Sensory Adventures with Karen
• Evening craft talks by Nomi Eve
• One-hour private consultation with Karen
• Ground transportation to and from Perpignan

Retreat costs cover lodging for attendees in single rooms with AC and ensuite bathrooms. They do not cover air transportation or course credit.

For-Credit Option

Students in Drexel’s MFA in Creative Writing have the option to take the retreat for elective, or just to as a way to awaken their writing self or deepen and improve their work. Students must pay for the credits separately at the MFA per-credit rate.

Meet the Retreat Instructors

Karen Karbo is the best-selling author of 16 works of fiction and non-fiction, including the international best seller, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Elle, Outside, Tin House, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and the New York Times Modern Love column. She has taught writing workshops at the University of Oregon, Rutgers University, Portland State University, Tin House, Portland Literary Arts and the Todos Santos Writers Workshop. She launched Come to Karbohemia, her writing retreat in the South of France, in 2018.

Nomi Eve is the author of Henna House and The Family Orchard, which was a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection and was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. She has an MFA in fiction writing from Brown University and has worked as a freelance book reviewer for The Village Voice and New York Newsday. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Glimmer Train Stories, The Voice Literary Supplement, Conjunctions, and Guernica. She lives in Philadelphia with her family and is the director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Drexel University and of Drexel Storylab, a writing workshop for non-matriculating adults.

Pricing

Cost: $3000
Early Bird Pricing: $2500

Registration

There are 12 spots available on a first come, first serve basis. The Drexel Creative Writing Retreat will only run if all spots are filled.

If you are interested and would like to receive updates on registration, email Nomi Eve at nae28@drexel.edu.

Storylab Instructors

	Nomi Eve Drexel Storylab Writer-in-Residence/Project Coordinator Nomi Eve, an assistant teaching professor, holds an MFA in fiction writing from Brown University and has worked as a freelance book reviewer for The Village Voice and New York Newsday.Her stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Glimmer Train Stories, The Voice Literary Supplement, Conjunctions, and The International Quarterly. She is the author of "Henna House" and "The Family Orchard," which was a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection and was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. Nomi lives in Philadelphia with her family.
	Maegan Poland Maegan Poland, an assistant teaching professor, received her PhD in English with a Creative Dissertation from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she was a Black Mountain Institute PhD Fellow. She also holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Mississippi, as well as a BFA in Writing for Screen & Television from the University of Southern California, where she was a Trustee Scholar. Her writing has been published in Mississippi Review, Pleiades, Juked, Beloit Fiction Journal, Notre Dame Review, Day One, and elsewhere. She has received a Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize XL anthology, a Tin House scholarship, and a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation to support her writing. She has served as Fiction Editor for Witness magazine, and as Managing Editor for Yalobusha Review.