Taryn Roeder is executive director of publicity at Abrams Books, leading the publicity departments for the Adult and Children’s divisions.Taryn has 20+ years of experience in book publicity and has worked with major figures in politics, science art, and music, as well as on literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. Taryn was previously senior director of publicity at HarperCollins. While managing a team of publicists there, Taryn worked on many titles including the instant New York Timesbestseller “A Sacred Oath”by former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and “Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times” by Azar Nafisi. Prior to that, Taryn was at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for 17 years, rising in leadership to become the vice president, director of publicity. She worked with New York Times bestselling authors Temple Grandin, Guy Raz and Sinead O’Connor, and on Lori Gottlieb’s “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.” She led the publicity campaigns for many beloved debut novels including instant New York Timesbestsellers“Black Buck”by Mateo Askaripour and“Friday Black”by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, as well as on Adrienne Brodeur’s highly acclaimed memoir “Wild Game.” While it is true that some books are easier to promote than others, Taryn swears she loves all of her authors equally

Workshop Description

From Manuscript to Momentum: Elevate Your Book’s Success  

 You’ve written (or nearly completed) your book—so what’s next? How can you set yourself up for success and best shepherd your book into the world? And what does success truly mean for you? In this dynamic and interactive workshop, we’ll demystify the world of book publicity and promotion and equip you with actionable tools to navigate the process confidently. You’ll receive personalized guidance to craft a compelling elevator pitch and uncover your most engaging hooks and talking points. We’ll explore strategies to amplify your author platform, strengthen your media savvy, and build your press contacts. You’ll gain insider insights into the book publicity timeline, learn how to create impactful press kit materials, and discover opportunities to write and place book-adjacent content such as opinion pieces and curated reading lists. We’ll also dive into the value of author tours, festival appearances, and other events— and how to make them work for you. Through hands-on exercises and tailored assignments, you’ll leave this workshop with clear strategies to confidently promote your book while staying true to your goals and values as an author. 

This is a 5-day workshop, meeting for 2-hours a day.

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Laura Zigman is the author of six novels, including “Small World,” “Separation Anxiety” (which was optioned by Julianne Nicholson and the production company Wiip (“Mare of Easttown”) for a limited television series); and “Animal Husbandry” (which was made into the movie “Someone Like You,” starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd). She has ghostwritten/collaborated on several works of non-fiction, including Eddie Izzard’s New York Times bestseller, “Believe Me”; been a contributor to The New York Times, and was the recipient of a Yaddo residency.  She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she consults for bookstores and literary events, and helps clients via Zoom, phone and sometimes in person with their writing. She is also at work on two new novels

Workshop Description 

Most workshops focus on polishing and fine-tuning finished work (a short story, chapters of a novel). This workshop starts at the opposite end of the process– at the beginning–with an idea, a first line, a voice, an exchange of dialogue. Stories are built, sentence by sentence, scene by scene, and this workshop will cover some of the fundamental elements of storytelling: point of view, conflict, character arc, narrative structure, why a story begins where it does. Who is telling the story and can they be trusted? What do they want? What are the points of conflict? Where is the heart and soul of the story and what do we want the reader to feel?  Whether you’re just starting out or are a more experienced writer looking to gain new insight into the craft and process of writing, this generative workshop intends to inspire you to explore new work without fear of judgment, to embrace the joy and freedom of creativity in order to spark fresh ideas, and ultimately to help you find your way into the story you most want to tell.

This is a 5-day workshop, meeting for 3-hours a day.

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Leigh Newman is the Editorial Director of Oprah’s Book Club. She is also the author of the story collection Nobody Gets Out Alive (Scribner, 2022), which was longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction and The Story Prize. Her stories have appeared in Harper’s, The Paris Review, The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery and Suspense, One Story, Tin House, Electric Literature, American Short Fiction, and McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. Her memoir about growing up in Alaska, Still Points North, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. In 2020, she was awarded a Pushcart Prize and an American Society of Magazine Editors Prize, as well as the Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize for “humor, wit, and sprezzatura.” Previously, she served as Books Editor for Oprah.com, co-founder of Black Balloon Publishing, senior editor at Catapult, editor-in-chief of Zibby Books, and Books Director at Oprah Daily.

Workshop Description 

In recent years, short novels— what some might have called novellas in the past—have reshaped the landscape of fiction. These are books that can be read in a sitting, but that pack the emotional punch of much longer works. Many of them are written by women or writers of color and have garnered not only critical praise, but the adoration of readers.

This workshop will explore elegant, slender, and perfectly constructed novels. Through close reading and discussion, participants will examine what makes these books so potent. The reading list includes contemporary and classic works such as “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan, “Intimacies” by Katie Kitamura, “Loved and Missed” by Susie Boyt, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Passing” by Nella Larson, “The Pornographer” by John McGahern, and “We the Animals” by Justin Torres.

Please note: The cost of the novellas is included with tuition. Participants will receive the books prior to the start of Summer Words.

This is a 3-day workshop, meeting for 3-hours a day.

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Steve Almond is the author of a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers “Candyfreak” and “Against Football.” His first novel, “Which Brings Me to You” (co-written with Julianna Baggott), was made into a film starring Lucy Hale, and his second novel, “All the Secrets of the World” is being developed for television by 20th Century Fox. He’s the recipient of a 2022 NEA grant for fiction and teaches at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. His stories and essays have been published in the Best American Short Stories, the Best American Mysteries, Best American Erotica, and the New York Times Magazine. His latest book is “Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow: A DIY Manual for the Construction of Stories.”

Workshop Description

Once you boil away all the romance, writing comes down to decision making. In this workshop, we’ll focus on figuring out how to help each writer make the most powerful decisions they can. We’ll also look at all the elements of craft (plot, narration, characterization, voice, chronology), and try to identify patterns that might hold our stories back from reaching their full potential. A workshop can feel very exposing, so our guiding philosophy will be to recognize everyone’s best decisions first, then to help them make the rest of their decisions even stronger. Our collective goal is to help every story — and every writer — grow stronger and more fully realized. The mood will be informal, and the attention to the work rigorous. The idea is to work really hard and have a blast. 

Vanessa Chan is the author of “The Storm We Made,” an international bestseller, Good Morning America Book Club Pick, BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick and New York Times Editors Choice. She is also the author of the forthcoming short story collection “The Ugliest Babies in the World.”  Her other work has been published in Vogue, Esquire and more. Chan grew up in Petaling Jaya, a city outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital. She often jokes that she comes from a lineage of exaggerating storytellers – her family is made up of smugglers, ad men, and many, many gossips. She arrived in the U.S. at age 19 to attend university, with a single suitcase and $50 in her pocket. Graduating directly into a financial crisis, she worked any job that would take her on, and finally ended up as the crisis and financial communications director at Meta (formerly Facebook). In an ironic twist of fate, it was a leadership course designed to funnel her into even more senior positions at Facebook that made her decide to leave and pursue a life in the literary arts, where she completed and sold her first two books in two years. Chan is now based mostly in Brooklyn, where she has the great fortune to be writing full-time.  

Workshop Description

In this workshop, we will be focused on meeting fiction where it’s at, while growing it so it becomes its best possible form. This means accepting the foundational aspects of a piece – genre, identity, place, linguistic idiosyncrasies, and so on, while also considering all the craft elements that can be edited – character, point of view, structure, use of time, voice, narrative tension, etc. As we read, we will seek to answer these questions: What makes this manuscript interesting? What about the piece excites and/or surprises us? What was it that kept us reading, intrigued us, or made us raise an eyebrow? Then we will provide constructive feedback that will help the writer revise. We will not worry about typos or grammatical errors. Engaging with someone’s art is sacred and deserves care, kindness, and curiosity. We will strive for all of these things, and we will take extra care with sensitive material and work that explores experiences outside our own. Time permitting, we will also engage in generative writing exercises and have a broader Q&A about the ins-and-outs of publishing and the business of writing, where the instructor is open to sharing her own experiences going from writer to author.  

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was raised in Spring Valley, New York and now lives in the Bronx. His debut collection, “Friday Black,” was a New York Times bestseller, won the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. His first novel, “Chain-Gang All-Stars,” was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Books Are My Bag Awards, and selected as a New York Times Top Ten Books of the Year. Adjei-Brenyah is a National Book Foundation’s ‘5 Under 35’ honoree.

Workshop Description

Every story is a miracle. A chance to make something out of nothing. A chance to break free of what was and make something new. Stories are considered unforgiving because they push us toward precision, and in their size there is no place for the writer to “hide.” In this class we’ll work with short fiction and move fluidly between the modes of the surreal, speculative and the human scale. We’ll read each other’s stories and as a community help each other develop our voices and let the stories lead us as we try to help them reach their highest potential. This time together represents a chance to grow as an artist and writer. To do this we’ll focus on the work and the intended desires of the artists as opposed to what we want the work to be. We’ll have fun. We’ll make magic. We will think of ourselves as artists in pursuit of our greatest artistic self. We will challenge one another to work at our highest level in this pursuit. 

P. Djèlí Clark

Phenderson Djélí Clark is the award–winning and Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy nominated author of the novels “Abeni’s Song” and “A Master of Djinn,” and the novellas “The Dead Cat Tail Assassins,” “Ring Shout,” “The Black God’s Drums” and “The Haunting of Tram Car 015. 
His stories have appeared in online venues such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, Fireside Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies including “Griots,” “Hidden Youth” and “Clockwork Cairo.” He is also a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine and a one-time reviewer at Strange Horizons. At present time, he resides in a small Edwardian castle in New England with his wife, twin daughters and pet dragon (who suspiciously resembles a Boston Terrier). When so inclined he rambles on issues of speculative fiction, politics and diversity at his aptly named blog The Disgruntled Haradrim. His second Middle Grade title, “Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold,” will be out in April 2025. 

Workshop description

This workshop will focus on using history in speculative fiction to help shape tales of fantastical pasts, the surreal present and far–flung futures. In addition to discussing each other’s manuscripts, we will explore how established speculative fiction writers utilize history in their storytelling and world building–from alternate histories to historical fantasy–and award-winning author and instructor P. Djèlí Clark will offer advice on how writers in this workshop can do the same. 

Héctor Tobar is the Los Angeles-born author of six books, including the novels “The Tattooed Soldier,” “The Barbarian Nurseries” and “The Last Great Road Bum.” His nonfiction “Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of Thirty-Three Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle that Set Them Free,” was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and a New York Times bestseller; it was adapted into the film “The 33,” starring Antonio Banderas. His books have been translated into fifteen languages. “The Barbarian Nurseries” was a New York Times Notable Book and won the California Book Award Gold Medal for fiction. Tobar’s fiction has also appeared in Best American Short Stories 2016 and 2022. He earned his MFA in Fiction from the University of California, Irvine, where he is currently a professor. As a journalist, he was the Los Angeles Times bureau chief in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, and was a member of the reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. Tobar has also been an op-ed writer for the New York Times and a contributor to The New Yorker, Harper’s, Smithsonian and National Geographic. In 2020, he received a Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University. His most recent book is “Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of ‘Latino’”; it won the Kirkus Prize for nonfiction and was listed as a best book of the year by The New York Times, Time magazine and other publications. In 2023, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction. He is the son of Guatemalan immigrants.

Workshop Description

The personal is a precious resource for all writers: novelists, journalists, playwrights, and poets all draw upon their experiences in creating their works. This is a class designed to help you write a work of literature based on the story you know best—your own. Writing a memoir is a literary act. Like novelists, memoirists make use of character, setting, place, voice, and plot. And like journalists, they search out truths with research and use the real world to give texture to their narratives. Your humble instructor has written three novels, and three books of literary nonfiction, and worked for more than twenty years as a foreign correspondent and city reporter. And in this class he’ll help you make use of the tools of fiction and nonfiction in writing your memoir. Are there epic, novelistic truths hidden in your story, and how can they help you shape your narrative? How can you make a scene, a character come alive on the page? And, most importantly, how can the craft of literature pull readers into your story, and make them want to read all the way to the end? 

Christina Lazaridi is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and an expert in dynamic story design and audience response. Projects she has authored, or actively developed, have won awards at Cannes (Camera D’ Or) and Berlin Film Festivals (Golden Bear), Sundance, SXSW and the Ariels (Mexican Oscars). She is a co-founder and main development expert of the internationally renowned development think tank, Cine Qua Non Lab, recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences for its expertise developing award-winning properties.  Lazaridi serves as head of studies at the Mediterranean Film Institute and is currently an associate professor of practice at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division. Christina is a recipient of a Silver Condor Award for best screenplay for her work in “Nobody’s Watching.” Her most recent screenplay, “House of Femen” (dir. Darya Zhuk), is produced by Zephyr Film UK and is currently in casting.

Workshop Description 

Join us for an exciting week of demystifying the art and craft of screenwriting, exploring storytelling principles and understanding why they work on the page and on the screen.  How can we use the secret power of images to construct memorable scenes, sequences, and a unified cinematic experience? How can we understand structure as a map of the audience’s experience and the path on which our characters explore the world around them? We will work together to decode the power of thematics in order to create the most powerful story engines, and explore techniques to help create dynamic and relatable characters to carry out the action of your story.  In a highly supportive and safe environment we will work to shape your unique filmic voice and evolve each screenplay to its next draft and emotional potential. There will be assigned reading, in-class exercises, and after-class assignments. I’m looking forward to welcoming you to an immersive and transformative screenwriting bootcamp to fan your creativity, bring confidence to your writing choices and confirm your commitment to your story that needs to be transformed into a film.  All levels welcome!