Stories matter.» Read More

Children’s Book Week was first celebrated in 1919.  This week we celebrate it for the ninety-fourth time!  What happens during Children’s Book Week you ask?  Well: Official events like author talks, celebrity visits, dinners with writers, and all-star story hours are hosted in fifty cities across America A Children’s Choice Book Awards Gala is held to celebrate children’s

By Colton Gigot For our April “Gives Back” effort, we’re partnering with Edgewater’s Community Glue Workshop, an organization that specializes in repairing and rehabilitating items that might otherwise end up in the landfill. On April 21st, StoryStudio Chicago will host a Community Glue repair clinic right here in our Chicago studio!» Read More

by Shara Zaval I felt a bit like a know-it-all on my first day of Creative Writing I at StoryStudio. During our ten minute break, a student gripped the bathroom key, attached to a spatula with a paperclip, and read the sign taped nearby with a look of horror: Women’s: Across

Today we chat with Rachel Bertsche, author of MWF SEEKING BFF, who returns to StoryStudio on Tuesday, March 12, to reprise the popular class Perfect Pitch: How to Sell a Non-Fiction Book.  Tell us a about your book! What made you decide to start a project memoir?» Read More

by Lara Levitan We’re excited to welcome award-winning novelist Christopher Castellani on March 26 to teach Ready for Your Close-Up: Manipulating Narrative Distance. Castellani is the author of three novels, including All This Talk of Love (2013), The Saint of Lost Things (2005) and A Kiss from Maddalena (2003).» Read More

Meet our new intern! Colton is a graduate student in DePaul’s MA Writing and Publishing program.  Between working on the website, drafting blog posts for Cooler By The Lake, and otherwise answering to our beck and call, Colton agreed to sit down and answer a few questions.» Read

Deborah Siegel’s class on Saturday, January 26, Rejuvenate Your Writing Life! A Mini Retreat For Writing Mamas, was so successful that StoryStudio has already decided to offer this day long therapeutic experience again in the spring. And to spread the word, Deborah took the time to answer our questions about her class and about

by Polly Campbell What is faith? What is consciousness? Who am I – really? What can I do right now to live a more compassionate life and to inspire others? What can I do right now to get my husband to remember to clean the countertops?» Read More

by Jennifer Ann Coffeen Last Friday I had a pretty typical writing day: I spent the morning editing a short story I wrote a few years ago, went over my notes, reworked a few sections, polished it up, and read aloud it in front of forty paying audience members.» Read More

Anna Scott is teaching Voice Matters at StoryStudio beginning January 24. The class will focus on injecting stories with compelling and distinct voice. Through writing prompts and in-class writing time she’ll show you how much voice really matters. She took a moment to tell us a little bit about her plans

By Kevin Davis She was a fiery criminal defense lawyer who wore snakeskin cowboy boots, drank bourbon and liked to quote Shakespeare. Around the courthouse they called her “the gunslinger.” As soon as I met her, I knew I had a character.» Read More

by M. Molly Backes and Ali Brown Do read their chapters and say, “I can’t wait to see more! Keep writing!” Don’t ask, “You’re still working on that? STILL?” Do offer to listen if they need to talk through a tricky plot problem.» Read More

by Robert Quinlivan Some say that creative writing “can’t be taught.” To the extent that voice and inspiration can’t be transferred from one brain to another, I agree with this statement. Creative writing can’t be taught the way algebra or bass fishing or spelunking can be taught.» Read More

by Kelsie Huff As a stand-up comedian you say yes to jobs. A lot. You say yes to bridal shower roasts in the burbs, you agree to host corporate events located in loud Mexican restaurants, and you accept gigs in dingy bars with stages conveniently placed outside the men’s urinals.» Read More

by Lara Levitan I’m writing a novel. Which means I spend hours alone in my office, wrapped up in an imaginary world of my own making, conversing with no one but the voices in my head. To counteract the mental cabin fever this activity can incite, I signed up for Live

by Robert Duffer Blog is an ugly word. Not like the words prohibited to children, just plain ugly sounding. Like slacks. Or moist. Blog sounds like something you do in an outhouse. My creative writing students at Columbia College think it’s antiquated when I suggest they use the blog as a

By Jennifer Ann Coffeen When I first began writing my novel I figured I needed to carve out endless hours to write. I envisioned myself in an isolated cabin typing away while sipping 12 year old Glenmorangie. So, I did it.» Read More

It’s quite clear reading veteran StoryStudio instructor Annette Gendler’s new piece in the Washington Independent Review of Books, “The Privilege of Teaching Memoir,” that this is a writer who knows memoir inside and out. She reminds us that the stuff of great memoir is not necessarily fodder for headline news,

Jackie Loewe is a member of StoryStudio’s Words at Work faculty, lending great support to the program with a wealth of experience as a networking professional. As founding partner of Sheridan Park Consulting, Loewe specializes in networking training and business development consulting with 25 years of experience as a sales and marketing

Literature has been an essential component to the environmental movement since the 60s when Rachael Carson asked us to examine the human impact on nature in her seminal text Silent Spring. Periodically we are forced to face that fragility, as we are now, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which

Most anyone will tell you that even big multi-million dollar publishing houses no longer do a whole lot of promotion for their authors’ books. With so many self-promotional tools available online, writers are increasingly responsible for getting their names and books titles out there for the reading masses.» Read

The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame has rallied the efforts of Brick-by-Brick, Chicago Quarterly Review, and StoryStudio Chicago to sponsor a creative writing contest for Chicago public school kids. Three winners will be awarded a share of two thousand dollars, including gift certificates to classes here at StoryStudio.» Read More

Abby Geni is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a recipient of the Iowa Fellowship. Her stories have won first place in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and the Chautauqua Contest and have appeared in numerous journals. She is an experienced writing instructor and taught most recently at the School

Richard Thomas has published over sixty stories and four Pushcart Prize nominations in 2011. He will have two short story collections out in 2012 entitled, Staring Into the Abyss and Herniated Roots. As if that’s not enough, this neo-noir specialist is teaching a one-nighter at StoryStudio on October 22 (just in time for Halloween!) called

Robyn Okrant is a Chicago author, freelance writer, actress and yoga teacher. Her book, LIVING OPRAH: My One Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk, was published in the US, UK, Australia and Portugal. She also created the long-running play Frodo-A-Go-Go: The Rings Recycled based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the critically-acclaimed,

Kelly O’ConnorMcNees taught a class at StoryStudio called Fact in Fiction, and has published two books since then. Carrie Brown of the Washington Post said of McNees’s first novel, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott: “Devotees of ‘Little Women’ will flock to this story with pleasure.” Her second novel, In Need

Live Lit performance is an integral part of this city’s literary life, melding the long legacy of literary culture and Studs Terkel’s oral histories. The Chicago Humanities Festival just announced that it’s adding a second Write Club Show to its lineup, due to popular demand.» Read More