Years ago I found myself meeting more and more talented writers living in my own neighborhood. I realized there was a need for a structured, workshop-based class for students writing novels and short stories, so in 2010, I created the Ditmas Writing Workshops. The classes were a great success, and writers from the workshop went on to publish stories in Five Chapters, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, Fiction Southeast, People Holding, Granta, NY Tyrant and Narrative Magazine, as well as books including The Sky is Yours (Hogarth/Random House 2018), by Chandler Klang Smith, and The Farm (Random House 2019), by Joanne Ramos, among others. Students applying for MFA’s were accepted to places like Columbia University, UC San Diego, UMass Amherst, Indiana University, University of Colorado, University of Montana, Bowling Green University, and Brooklyn College. People returned again and again.
Now, in addition to my own fiction classes, I have joined forces with some amazing authors also living and working in our community. In January 2016, the Ditmas Writing Workshops expanded our reach into Kensington, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens, Chelsea, and online.
I am looking forward to sharing these new classes, and to meeting new and talented writers who reflect and tell stories from both our corner of Brooklyn, and as far away as fiction can take you.