In this class, writers will come in with nothing, and leave with five short essays ready to show the world. The discipline of writing every week will strengthen your writerly muscles, while the energy in the class will be supportive and enthusiastic. You can and will write better, sharper essays than you did before, and while that work won’t always be easy, it will be rewarding.

Because of the built-in time constraints of the class, the pieces you produce will be short and easily-digestible (under 2k words), targeted toward readers of literary magazines and high-profile digital publications. You don’t want to waste your reader’s time, and this class won’t waste yours. The first week will focus on clear strategies and techniques for writing an engaging personal narrative, with the next five weeks building upon those lessons to rapidly create exciting non-fiction pieces. Our final class will cover pitching and submitting work.

All students will give each other feedback and will get detailed feedback from the instructor every week. You’ll read wonderful and varied examples of contemporary essays, and receive prompts based on those to spark your own writing. Each essay you produce will be better than the next, and you’ll leave the course with confidence, clarity, and some great writing. Best of all, the essays will probably surprise you, because you didn’t even know you were going to write them!

About the Instructor

Brian Gresko (he/they) is a writer based in Brooklyn, where they co-run Pete’s Reading Series, the borough's longest running literary venue. Their work has appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine, Slate, The Atlantic, Longreads, The Rumpus, and many other publications. Also a stay-at-home parent, they edited the anthology When I First Held You: 22 Critically Acclaimed Writers Talk about the Triumphs, Challenges, and Transformative Experience of Fatherhood. They received their MFA in fiction from The New School, and was the first in their family to attend college, at Oberlin.

Student Testimonials

Brian is a caring, kind, and intuitive teacher. In addition to being genuinely excited about writing and teaching it as a craft, he's responsive to questions and generous with his time. I learned a lot in the nonfiction class I took with Brian, and left with a deeper understanding of how to create emotional connections with a reader, follow the arc of a narrative, and choose details that move the story forward. – Luna Adler

I came in wanting to produce at least two chapters from my next haiku book, but instead I got the tools I needed to write an entire next book—one that is going to be challenging, but that I'm going to be really proud of. In Brian's class, I felt like I “leveled up,” learning creative strategies to organize and make my work more readable and interesting. I gained an excitement and enthusiasm for writing that I didn't have before - an energy that I plan to keep flowing now that the class is done! – Kristen Lem, author of Haiku to Fall in Love To

I took Brian's workshop in non-fiction and worked on two pieces with the class, while also reading and giving feedback on students' work. That experience reignited my writing process in a serious way. I continued to work on the second piece from the class with Brian one-on-one, and he encouraged me to submit it for publication. He helped me understand the submission process, and tracked down contacts at the publications on my short list. That piece kinda blew up on the Internet and the next thing I know I have a literary agent and am working on a full-length book project. Will you get an agent by taking Brian's class? Unclear. But you will gain an honest understanding of both your strengths and tics as a writer, and hopefully a kick in the motivation pants while you're at it. – Christina Wallace

The Six Week Essay Machine with Brian Gresko