Workshops.

GWC workshops aim to create and support community, while providing opportunities for writers at all points in their journey to hone their craft and have their voices heard in smart, supportive settings.

Scroll down, or use the calendar at right, to find individual workshop descriptions, meeting times, dates, and links to register.

Note: Workshop “fees” are suggested donations only. All program registrations include give-what-you-can options. If you have questions, contact us.

John Berryman, The First 77 Dream Songs
Oct
29
to Dec 3

John Berryman, The First 77 Dream Songs

  • Gloucester, MA, 01930 United States (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

5 sessions – Oct 29; Nov 5, 12, 19; Dec 3

Instructor: Mike Perrow

John Berryman is frequently cited as an influence by contemporary writers. But aside from “the greatest hits” in his Dream Song collections, his poems are seldom studied carefully for their intertextual weavings of theme and tone. Are the poems too difficult? Too whacky? Too politically incorrect? This course will dig into Berryman’s work through close reading and class discussion, and attempt to make sense of a difficult, but accessible masterpiece in American poetry.

Mike Perrow is the author of Five Sequences for the Country at Night, a poetry collection, and he received an MFA from U-Mass, Amherst. His poems have appeared in The Boston Review, Shenandoah Review, Volt, Harvard Review, The Southern Review, storySouth, Willow Springs Review, and elsewhere. He was the winner of Boston Review’s eighth annual poetry prize, judged by Mark Strand.

Reserve Seat HERE
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Poetry of the Spirit: Stalking the Numinous
Nov
6
to Dec 11

Poetry of the Spirit: Stalking the Numinous

  • Gloucester, MA, 01930 United States (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

5 sessions – Nov 6, 13, 20; Dec 4, 11

Instructor: Leslie Williams

A single poem can be an ecstatic encounter with what Rudolf Otto called the mysterium tremendum. In this five-week seminar we will study sublime examples by Hopkins, Blake, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, and other classic and contemporary poets. Brief in-class writing with prompts and lively open discussion will deepen our own work and aim to bring us closer to that oceanic awe found in poetry alone.

Leslie Williams’ most recent of three poetry collections is Matters for You Alone (Slant Books, 2024), just longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Awards. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Southern Review, Image, Verse Daily, Kenyon Review, America, and elsewhere. Honors include the Bellday Prize and the Poetry Society of America’s Robert Winner Award.

Reserve Seat HERE
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The Anatomy of Crime Fiction
Oct
1
to Oct 22

The Anatomy of Crime Fiction

4 sessions – Oct 1, 8, 15, 22

Instructor: Peter Swanson

 This course focuses on the art of mystery and suspense fiction. Each week we’ll read two short stories from noted crime writers and discuss what makes them classics in the genre. For our final class we’ll dissect a full-length novel. The works will come mostly from the 20 th century and will include British writers from the golden age and American writers of pulp fiction and noir.

Peter Swanson is the Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling author of 12 novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year. His books have been translated into over 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine.

Reserve Seat HERE
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