This workshop was offered in 2026. Sign up for our email list to receive updates for the 2027 conference.
Outward Gaze:
A Creative Nonfiction Workshop
Writing Workshop in New Jersey
January 16-19, 2026
Led by Mike Ingram
In this supportive workshop, we’ll focus on creative nonfiction essays that turn their gaze outward while remaining deeply and idiosyncratically personal. We’ll identify subjects we’re particularly well-positioned to write about: our relationship to a bit of pop culture or a particular place, our perception of cultural attitudes toward job success, social structures and more. We’ll also read interesting contemporary pieces and discuss how to use their craft lessons in our own work. Through inspiring writing exercises and workshopping our essays-in-progress, we’ll learn how to turn our pieces into stories only we can write. This workshop is open to those who are brand new to creative nonfiction, and those who already have projects-in-progress.
*Limited to just 10 participants.*
“The workshop was an extremely supportive environment that yielded a lot of awesome writing for me. I loved the personality of everyone in the group and how welcoming and attentive everyone was to each other’s creative ideas.”
~ Chris, Brick, NJ
Mike Ingram
Mike Ingram’s stories, essays, and journalism have appeared in a number of publications, including PHOEBE, The North American Review, The Smart Set and Medium’s Human Parts. His first book, Notes from the Road, was published by Awst Press in March 2022. He lives in Philadelphia, where he’s a professor in the English Department at Temple University. He’s also one of the founding editors of Barrelhouse, a literary journal and small press. Read a piece by Mike and learn more on his website.
