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Fall 2025 Writing Workshops
Welcome to Inlandia Writing Workshops! Details and registration link below.
- 100% of your registration fees support the workshops program and production of the annual workshops anthology. All contributors to the anthology receive a complimentary copy. (Shipping costs may apply.)
- A limited number of needs-based scholarships are available. Email cati.porter@inlandiainstitute for details.
- Please note: A separate registration form is required for each additional workshop. Registration is first come, first served. Waiting lists may be implemented once capacity has been reached.
- Questions? Please email cati.porter@inlandiainstitute.org or programs@inlandiainstitute.org.
Writing for Children with José Chávez
(BEG-INT) Alternating Mondays, 9/8, 9/22, 10/6, 10/20, and 11/3, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
This workshop is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to write or are writing for children. We’ll define a “picture book,” and demonstrate story introductions, character development, plot and theme, appropriate vocabulary, and more. There will be time to flex our writing muscles and develop the beauty and strength of our “voice” for children.
José Chávez is a poet, educator, and consultant. He’s written two award-winning bilingualchildren’s poetry books that offer the rhythm and oral practice that help children learn to read. He teaches Writing for Children online and is finishing a book of poetry book for teachers.
The Spoken Page: Poetry, Dialogue, Monologue, and Scene with David Puma
(All levels)
Alternating Tuesdays. NOTE: This workshop has sessions on both ZOOM (Z) and at Riverside Main Library Carnegie Room (RML). 9/9 (Z), 9/23 (RML), 10/7 (Z), 10/21 (RML), and 11/4 (RML), 6:00-8:00 PM PT.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
In this flexible, multi-genre workshop, we will explore the relationship between the fundamentals of poetry and dialogue, monologue, and the practice of setting a scene. This workshop is not constrained by genre and is designed to work in-tune with traditional poetry, novel/fiction writing, memoir writing, playwriting and/or screenwriting. If you have an idea that you are either working on or are interested in beginning, it has a place in this workshop!
Over the course of the semester, we will analyze examples of film, spoken word poetry, plays and literature to help understand what truly makes a piece of performance writing become captivating. Rhythm, word choice, voice and efficiency are all tools writers must have at their disposal, and this workshop seeks to help writers generate, develop, and experiment with the medium of their choosing in an inclusive and collaborative environment. The best training I ever got for writing dialogue in scripts was learning how to write poems. The goal of this workshop is to refine the way we look for the poetry in everything we write.
David Puma obtained an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at San Jose State University and a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Redlands. He has performed spoken word across California, including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire, as well as in New York City and abroad in London, U.K. Professionally, his poetry has been included on streaming platforms like Disney+.
Speculative Fiction with RM Ambrose
(INT-ADV)
Alternating Tuesdays, 9/16, 9/30, 10/14, 10/28, and 11/11, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
In this workshop participants submit prose for critique and receive feedback from other participants in a modified “Milford” format. Submissions may be short stories or excerpts of longer works. Instructor may provide brief lectures and exercises on various topics, both pre-planned and based on stories critiqued, such as how to give and receive feedback, character, worldbuilding, endings, use of violence, novel “plot breaking,” “verb poetry,” flash fiction, “The 10% Solution,” and the genre fiction industry. Instructor may also recommend short stories or novels by living authors that tie into lectures or participants’ stories.
RM Ambrose received his MFA in Creative Writing with concentrations in Popular Fiction and Scriptwriting from Stonecoast at University of Southern Maine. He attended the Taos Toolbox workshop with Hugo-winning instructors Walter Jon Williams, Nancy Kress, and George R. R. Martin. He edited Inlandia book Vital: The Future of Healthcare, including one Best American SFF story and two award-winners for disability representation in Speculative Fiction. He guest-edited the medical issue of Future SF Digest, including two Years Best SF reading list stories. He was Assistant Fiction Editor at the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa Podcast. His story, “Olive Branch,” appears in Friends Journal.
All-Genres Workshop with Renee Gurley
(INT-ADV)
Alternating Wednesdays, 9/10, 9/24, 10/15, 10/29, and 11/12, 6:00-9:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session.
Renee (RJ) Gurley (she/her) is a writer and English teacher with an MA and MFA, and over 20 years of experience. Her work appears in Coping Magazine, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, was shortlisted in the First Pages Contest.
Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes
(All Levels)
Alternating Thursdays, 9/11, 9/25, 10/9, 10/23, and 11/6, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
In this workshop, participants will explore moments from their lives and use research to uncover connections between themselves and the wider world – topics can include nature, science, travel, culture, history – to write personal essays that ring with humanity.
J.D. Mathes grew up a feral child in the deserts of the American Southwest who loved to read library books. He is the award winning author of five books: Ahead of the Flaming Front: A Life on Fire, winner of the North American Book Prize; Shipwrecks and Other Stories, an essay collection Fever and Guts: A Symphony; The Journal West: Poems; and the forthcoming Of Time and Punishment: A Memoir – the result of his PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship. He has published essays in journals such as The Sun, The Southern Review, War, Literature & the Arts, The Fourth Genre, and The Baltimore Review. Among things he’s done to support his writing, and two daughters have been a wildland firefighter on a helicopter-rappel crew and logistics at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica where he led the Southernmost Writers Workshop in the World. www.jdmathes.com
Play as Practice: Or How to Celebrate the Mess with Gina Rae Duran
(For all adults of all abilities, ages, and writing levels. All genres.)
Alternating Mondays, 9/15, 9/29, 10/13, 10/27, and 11/10, 6:00-7:30 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
This workshop will include art exercises, music and listening, somatic movements, and breath work to bring us back to play and the joy of writing. We will draw with our non-dominant hand, write to music, as well as scribble scrabble to increase neural plasticity and create new neural pathways through the exploration of imperfection, and hopefully release some self-judgments. Then we will close up with a journal exercise. Sharing is not mandatory, but it is highly encouraged.
Gina Rae Duran is an interdisciplinary Xicanx artist, and trauma informed educator. She is Editor of The White Picket Fence anthology, forthcoming FlowerSong Press, author of, “…and so, the Wind was Born,” FlowerSong Press, radio personality of The Collective, and founder of IE Hope Collective; an outreach for disadvantaged youth.
The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington
(All Levels)
Alternating Thursdays, 9/11, 9/25, 10/9, 10/23, and 11/6, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
Discover the art and craft of writing poetry with generative prompts and other forms of poetic inspiration. Brief group feedback will help you uncover images and language that resonate for you and for your audience.
Romaine Washington, M. Ed., is a twice Pushcart-nominated poet. She is the editor of These Black Bodies Are… A Blacklandia Anthology and returning guest editor for Cholla Needles. She has authored two books Purgatory Has an Address and Sirens in Her Belly. Ms. Washington is a graduate fellow of The Watering Hole, South Carolina, and the Inland Area Writing Project at the University of California, Riverside. For over twenty years, she taught language arts and now enjoys facilitating workshops. The proud mother of two sons, Romaine Washington, is a native Californian residing in the Inland Empire.
Manga Magic: A Storytelling Workshop into the Creative World of Manga with Sebraé Harris
(All Ages)
Alternating Saturdays, 9/20, 10/4, 10/18, 11/1, and 11/15, 1:00-3:00 PM PT, at Riverside Main Library Carnegie Room. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Fall2025CWW
This creative workshop introduces participants to the inner workings of the Japanese comic medium, Manga. Explore the terminology, story, character design, and paneling you need to create your own one shot or series! Art supplies will be provided. Presented by animator and mangaka, Sebraé Harris.
Sebraé Harris – AKA “StarLite Crystal” – is an African American artist, entrepreneur, and professional mangaka. He started drawing at the age of four and began taking art seriously when he was eight. Sebraé is a graduate of Riverside City College with degrees in Fine & Applied Arts, Animation, and Business & Entrepreneurship. The Vermillion Speedateer is his first manga/comic series. He also created Citrus Belle for the Raincross Gazette and the recent Riversider feature for Animation & Manga arts.
