Events

Young white men in rural areas are coming of age at the intersection of three major forces: a rapidly warming planet and changing social, economic and political landscapes that unsettle traditional models of masculinity. Join us for a lively conversation with three experts as they draw from ongoing comparative social science and artistic research projects … Continue reading Are The Boys OK? Growing Up White, Rural and Male in a Changing World

**CLASS FULL** Beloved. Holden Caulfield. Tom Sawyer. Most of us recognize these character’s names even if we haven’t read the corresponding novels in which they appear. What makes certain characters … Continue reading Crafting Memorable Characters – 5 week online course

Advance ticket sales have ended! Get your tickets at the door. Get ready for the biggest storytelling showdown of the year! We are so excited to announce the Season 9 … Continue reading The Season 9 Howl Grand Slam

**CLASS FULL** Though the formal constraints of poems, stories, and essays might be different, one could argue that the access points are not. You open the door to something remembered, … Continue reading Rewriting Your Life: A 5-week Online Multi-Genre Workshop

**CLASS FULL** Join ACW for an 8-week creative writing workshop for adults ages 55+, led by Elaine Handley. Legacy writing encompasses what we wish for our loved ones to know about us and how we have navigated our lives. Legacy writing preserves our values, stories, opinions, history, and experiences through a creative lens. Students in … Continue reading 8-week Online Legacy Writing Workshop

Have you ever wanted to journey down the road to find your voice, craft your personal storytelling, or write creative fiction? In this two-part workshop led by Carla Stockton, we will examine the distinctions between truth writing – such as journalism, history, and biography – and creative nonfiction – such as memoir – and explore … Continue reading Creative Truth and Absolute Fiction: An Online Two-Part Workshop in Nonfiction/Memoir and Fiction Writing

** CLASS IS FULL ** The body is a vessel, a home that gives us permission and access to navigating life. So too, the body can also be a site of challenge, or grief, or a space that holds stories and experiences that can block us both as people, and as writers. In this class, … Continue reading The Language of the Body: Writing As a Pathway for Healing (5-wk Online Class)

Join us at Hex & Hop Brewing in Bloomingdale for an opportunity for queer readers and writers to read, write, and connect! THEME: SHORTSBecause February is too short to fit in a QLN! Wear shorts (over long johns); write and read short stories; and explore brevity in literature! Plus, you can participate at your own … Continue reading Queer Lit Night

Fact or Fiction is a fun, live storytelling game where performers tell stories and the audience asks questions in order to determine if what they just heard was true or … Continue reading Fact or Fiction 2026

This February, Graywolf Press will release Swirl & Vortex, the collected poetry of Larry Levis, offering a unique opportunity to be in the company of the voice of a poet whose work offered a kind of music to the sometimes lonely and often beautiful depth inside of us that we have come to call a … Continue reading A Line As Long As the Heart Is Wide: Reading and Writing with the Poetry of Larry Levis

The Howl Story Slam is back for its TENTH season! This year, we'll start with the theme “Whats My Line?” Stories of lines crossed, being on the right or wrong … Continue reading Howl Story Slam at Olive Ridley’s

Craig will read from his book of poems, Delivered this Way. After, anyone can share up to 5 minutes of their own writing at the mic. Delivered this Way is a bit of a myth journey, an attempt to share experiences that have some universal qualities found in everyday joys and sorrows, interspersed with the … Continue reading Open Mic with Craig Milewski