2026-2027 Courses
We have four multi-genre courses this year that are tiered by high school grade level. Two course options will be offered in person on the Emerson College Boston campus on Wednesdays after school. Two remote course options will be offered online, one on Monday evenings and one on Tuesday evenings. All of our courses focus on the creative writing process, from free writing to drafting, workshop, and revision, with the goal of publishing a singular piece of original creative writing for our annual anthology, SPINE.
Introduction to Creative Writing: I Contain Multitudes
In-person option: Wednesday, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Boston Campus
Online option: Tuesdays, 4:00-6:00 p.m. EST
It’s your first day of class in a brand-new school, you don’t know anyone, and the teacher picks you to start the icebreaker game: How do you introduce yourself? Who am “I”? How do concepts such as place and home help define you and your writing? Translating yourself onto the page is a life-long endeavor for writers. This course offers students of all experience levels a multi-genre introduction to the art and craft of creative writing. Whether it be through poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and/or reflective writing practices, this course welcomes you to a writing community where you can learn and explore a multitude of possibilities and listen deeply to others and yourself.
Recommended for: beginning writers; writers interested in new genres; students in grades 8-10.
Advanced Creative Writing
Offered In-person: Wednesdays, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Boston Campus
This course welcomes returning students back to one of their homeplaces, our EmersonWRITES Community, where we look forward to your continued growth as a creative writer. In this workshop, we will dive deep into the genres of fiction and poetry, with plenty of time spent on reflective writing, to gain a greater understanding of the choices writers make. In addition to writing (a lot!), this course will focus heavily on how we, as writers, are persistently revising and refining our work and ourselves. While students will have the opportunity to write in both genres, this course will utilize a workshop structure that allows students to develop their craft in the genre of their choice (fiction or poetry).
Recommended for: Returning EmersonWRITES students; students in grades 10-12; students who are working on writing projects in the genres of fiction or poetry and are ready for a more intensive workshop experience.
Fiction: Our Fantastical Homeplace
Offered Online: Mondays, 4:00-6:00 p.m. EST
Do you ever find yourself imagining what you and your friends would do if a spaceship landed on your block? Or maybe how a murder mystery would be solved at school? How can you retell a fairy tale you know by heart? This online course focuses on genre fiction, with specific attention to how writers of popular fiction can look to what’s familiar to develop fantastical possibilities in fiction. Students will be welcomed into a community of writers who are eager to further develop their craft, to ask questions about the self-as-writer, and to support fellow writers as they work toward their goals.
Recommended for: students who have taken an EmersonWRITES course before; students in grades 10-12 with some prior experience with creative writing.
2026-2027 Program Calendar
Weekly workshops are scheduled on Saturdays in person from 10-1, or Thursdays online after school. Saturday’s in-person classes also include a free lunch program with fun activities and development workshops.
Important Dates and Class Schedules
- Applications - Open Tuesday, August 17 and our priority deadline is Monday, September 21, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. (EST)
- Orientation - Friday, September 25, 2026, 3:30-6:00 p.m.
- Our on-campus orientation is mandatory for in-person students and optional but encouraged for online-only students. Online students will receive a separate, asynchronous orientation during their first week of classes.
- First Week of Classes
- (Online) Advanced Pop. Fiction, “Our Fantastical Homeplace”: Monday, September 28, 2026, 4:00-6:00 p.m. EST on Zoom.
- (Online) Introduction to Creative Writing, “I Contain Multitudes”: Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 4:00-6:00 p.m. EST on Zoom.
- (In-person) Introduction to Creative Writing, “I Contain Multitudes”: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Campus.
- (In-person) Advanced Creative Writing: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Campus. *Note: students may choose between a Poetry or Fiction focus.
- Regular Classes - Week of September 28 through the week of December 14, 2026.
- Showcase Rehearsal: Wednesday, January 13, 2027, 3:30-5:30 p.m. EST. Rehearsal will be hybrid for both online and in-person students.
- Showcase: Saturday, January 16, 2027, 2:00-4:00 p.m. EST. Students will celebrate and share their published work from SPINE with family and friends during our annual showcase. Showcase is hybrid for both online and in-person engagement.