This exclusive two-week workshop, available only to Yale Writers' Workshop alumni, is designed for writers working on book-length projects in fiction or nonfiction. With a select cohort of just eight writers, participants will engage in an intensive, collaborative writing experience. Week one will take place on-campus, providing an immersive, in-person environment, while week two will be conducted virtually, allowing for continued connection and feedback. This is a highly competitive program, offering an opportunity for serious writers to focus on their long form work and receive personalized guidance.
Writers will complete both generative and revision-based activities in a dynamic, exploratory, and energetic environment. The first week the writers meet in-person on campus; the second week the writers meet virtually for three additional workshops. Individual conferences will be arranged by faculty. Expect to meet online prior to your arrival on campus.
During the first week, writers will critique 7,000 words from their fellow writers’ manuscripts. Exercises and readings will be assigned prior to arrival. The second week will allow writers to process their on-campus experience to the page, and meet virtually with the established cohort to discuss revision, and strategies to completing their manuscript for submission. In the workshop, writers will dig deep to look at the strengths, challenges, and potential of their manuscript. The small group size allows writers to intimately know each other’s work.
The Work-In-Progress Intensive is appropriate for any writer who has 7,000 words or more of a draft and a desire to turn that draft into a book. That said, priority is given to writers with confident first drafts.
Attendees can attend all craft talks and panels over the two weeks. Those will complete manuscripts can pitch to agents while on campus.
[quote] “That was a great two weeks. So many of the speakers had unique and useful advice for writing. I think it's the best group of speakers I've experienced. Well done!”
Adelma Gillespie, 2023 Intensive Participant
The 2025 Yale Writers' Workshop application is open.
[point] Open to YWW Alumni Only
This unique two-week workshop is designed for writers working on book-length material and is open to YWW alumni. This cohort of just eight writers will meet and write for two weeks. In week one, writers will critique 7000 words from peers’ manuscripts. Week two, which is virtual, will be generative, with writers developing new material, and reading back at least 1500 words in session, and discussing progress and strategies for their next steps.
Our Work-in-Progress Intensive Workshop will focus on a review of fiction and nonfiction manuscripts that are part of book-length work. Writers will receive practical critiques to create tailored strategies for rewriting and restructuring their work. The class will work collaboratively on exercises to sharpen writing skills as well to create new work. We will examine sentence and paragraph structure, narrative voice, suspense, and metaphor. Workshop members will receive the time and focus necessary to take their writing to the next level.
Please submit a 1000 word sample from the manuscripts you plan to submit and answer these questions in your application:
[point] We anticipate strong interest in this intensive workshop and will create a waiting list if necessary. Writers applying for the intensive workshop should include alternative workshop choices on their application in case they are not selected.
[date] Program Dates: May 31 - June 15, 2025
| Tuition | Cost |
|---|---|
| Tuition Without Housing | $2785 |
| Tuition With One Week of Housing | $3380 |
Kirsten Bakis is author, most recently, of King Nyx, which Esquire magazine named one of the Best Horror Books of 2024 and Victor LaValle called "a novel of delicious disquiet." In a profile in the Washington Post, Jacob Brogan called Bakis "a major talent, a writer of prodigious commitment, capability and imagination." She is the recipient of multiple awards and has been teaching at the Yale Writers’ Workshop since 2012.
https://www.sergiotroncoso.com/
Sergio Troncoso is most recently the author of Nobody’s Pilgrims. He also wrote A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son, which Luis Alberto Urrea called "a world-class collection" and Junot Díaz hailed as “a masterwork.” Troncoso edited Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds, which received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. A past president of the Texas Institute of Letters, Troncoso was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He has taught at the Yale Writers' Workshop since 2013.