Creative Writing Master Classes: Spring 2025

Free, One-Shot, 2-Hour Classes Open to Everyone!

Presented by: The Nonfiction Writing Program

Reserve your spot! Register for classes at

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-writing-master-classes-spring-2025-tickets-1025116841067

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Saturday, March 8th, 10:00am-12:00pm, NWP House

Arts Writing 101, Harris Wheless, NWP 102

Interested in arts writing? This course offers practical guidance on how to write reviews, profiles, and essays on music, literature, film, and other arts. You’ll learn how to structure and compose writing in these various forms and how to transform your own unique experiences of or ways of looking at art into a piece of writing.

Harris Wheless is a writer from North Carolina and a second year in Iowa’s Nonfiction

Writing Program. His writing has appeared in the Oxford American, NPR, Bright Wall/Dark

Room, Bandcamp Daily, and elsewhere.

Writing the Indescribable, Heidie Senseman, NWP 104

People often say their most intense experiences are “indescribable” or “beyond words.” But when faced with such elusive subjects, the job of the writer is to use his or her imagination to find the words and images that explain—and perhaps even recreate—that hard-to-describe quality. In this masterclass, we’ll consider topics and emotions that press us against the limits of language, and we’ll learn strategies to help us dodge, side-step, and overcome those limits.

Heidie Senseman is a second-year MFA candidate in the NWP and an instructor in UIowa’s Department of Rhetoric.

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Saturday, March 8th, 12:00pm-2:00pm, NWP House

Prose Like a Poet, Jacob Fidoten, NWP 102

What makes a sentence “sound good?” Why is some writing pleasing to read even when we don’t quite understand it? In this class, with examples from writers such as Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Claudia Rankine, and Annie Dillard, we will examine prose at the sentence level and learn to write “by ear,” listening for the way our words flow together to write nonfiction that reads beautifully.

Jacob Fidoten is a poet and essayist from New York City, and an MFA candidate in the University

of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program.

Art d’Objet: From Stuff to Story, Adam Witte, NWP 104

Think of this class as KonMari Method meets your Creative Muse. Here, we will discover how simple objects—the books on your shelf, the boxes in the basement, the chaos of the kitchen junk drawer—contain inspirational sparks for writers of all kinds. Drawing on literary examples and psychological research, participants will dive into generative writing exercises to produce short drafts of what might become your next story, memoir, or essay.

Adam Witte was a high school Language Arts teacher for twenty years before

becoming a student in the Nonfiction Writing MFA program at the University of Iowa.

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Saturday, March 8th, 2:00pm-4:00pm, NWP House

Writing From the Archive, Mishma Nixon & Sarah Bari, NWP 102

Archives are collections of information that contour what we know and what we pass on, be it personal, political, cultural, or national. How can we intentionally use, complicate, and question archives in the stories we tell, or tie historical research with our personal or collective memory? Can archival documents inform our stylistic choices? In this class, we will discuss the creative tools and methods writers have used to include archival imagination in their works and build toward a project that challenges us to work within and outside of written records.

Sarah Anjum Bari is a second year MFA student in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. She has an MA in History & Literature from Columbia University and has worked as a journalist and literary editor in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Mishma Nixon is a second year MFA student at the Nonfiction Writing Program and an Iowa Arts Fellow. She is originally from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

We Are What We Watch: Writing About Film & TV Through A Personal Lens, Kyra Goldstein & Isaac Engelberg, NWP 104

Movies are a Rorschach Test. Emotional responses to films – from ugly crying to

hate-watching – can reveal our deepest fears and longings. In this class, we will look at

essays that successfully connect film/TV with personal narrative, helping you to develop

skills as a writer who can do the same. Through generative in-class prompts, you will

learn how to use film and TV as a framework to write about your own memories,

relationships, and emotions.

Kyra Goldstein is a second-year MFA student at the University of Iowa. She has worked in publishing at the film studio A24.

Isaac Engelberg is a writer and the best tennis player in the NWP. He writes about pop culture and sometimes celebrity wine brands.

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Sunday, March 9, 10:00am - 12:00pm, NWP House

Stitching Visions: The Art of the Visual Essay, Richard Frailing, NWP 102

Can you really make a movie on an iPhone? Maybe! What is certain is that you can create a brilliant video essay—hi-fi, lo-fi, and anywhere in between—with free software and a few great ideas. This course introduces students to the art and theory of visual essaying, both in the form of written text that incorporates image and in video that incorporates the written word. As a class, we will read short excerpts and watch a few video essays. We will discuss theory and methods, and we will write to an ekphrastic prompt. Above all, we will explore the possibilities of what multiple media can evoke that can’t be achieved on the page alone.

Richard Frailing is a writer, musician, and biologist in the Nonfiction Writing Program. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University and is currently the inaugural coordinator in the NWP’s Digital Storytelling Lab.

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Sunday, March 9, 12:00pm-2:00pm, NWP House

Memoir in a Bottle: Personal Writing and Flash Nonfiction, Grace Morse, NWP 102

Flash personal nonfiction (also known as “mini memoirs”) combines the reward of personal reflection with the opportunity to express large emotional truths in short amounts of space. In this course, we’ll embark on using language to translate the unique and powerful parts of our human experiences while exploring craft tips to make sure that every sentence counts. Don’t be fooled: these narratives may appear “small”, but their value and depth are mighty!

Grace Morse (she/her) is a New Orleanian essayist on the journey to build the best brass band playlist she possibly can.

Drawing and Doodling Galore! Visual Strategies for Writers, Bethany Kaylor, NWP 104

Description: In this class, we’ll experiment with different visual strategies like doodling, drawing, and collage to create multimedia essays. No artistic experience is necessary! Students will walk away with composition ideas and creative exercises to use in future writing projects.

Bethany Kaylor is an award-winning writer who spent many years working as a visual note-taker, AKA a professional doodler.

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Sunday, March 9, 2:00pm-4:00pm, NWP House

Writing & Historical Research, Spencer Jones, NWP 102

Are you a history nerd? Do you love historical fiction and nonfiction? Are you interested in

learning about how to craft a compelling narrative around primary source material? Come

learn how to synthesize the “living” elements of craft with the “dead” documents of the past!

Spencer Jones is currently a Marcus Bach Fellow at UI. She is writing about three elementary school teachers who tried to assassinate England’s Prime Minister in 1917. Allegedly.

Anthropomorphize Boldly! On the Art of Personification, Stephanie Krzywonos, NWP 104

For writers, personification is a core tool of figurative language, one that we are afraid to take “too far.” Charles Foster wrote: “Anthropomorphism is unpopular. It must be rehabilitated.” This master class aims in that direction. Through a series of excerpts, class discussion, and writing exercises, we’ll explore the aesthetic and ethical considerations of using personification for the nonhuman world in our art.

Stephanie Krzywonos’ (she/her) first book, ICE FOLX: An Antarctic Memoir, a book

that uses feminine pronouns for Antarctica instead of “it,” will be published by Atria in

2026.

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Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact April Schaefer in advance at [email protected].

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Nonfiction Writing House, 530 North Clinton Street, Iowa City, United States