Close
Reading
Studio
Reading and Writing Workshops For Creative People of All Kinds
Close Reading Studio
[ is a renegade writing school designed to bring you closer to your creative practice and your creative peers ]
We host monthly generative writing workshops that explore hotly discussed subjects, themes, styles, and techniques in literature and art.
Get ready to
Read,
Write,
and yap!
Take The Leap
One week before the start of class, you’ll receive a custom syllabus complete with reading assignments, writing assignments, and questions to spark your thinking as a reader and writer.
Get Closer
Try your hand at new writing techniques, explore new ideas, and deepen your relationship with your creative practice during your week at home. If you have questions, you can ask them in our class group chat!
Synthesize, Connect, and Create
This is where the magic happens. Discuss the week’s reading and writing experiments with your new creative peers in an intimate conversation guided by Ash. There’s a pedagogical reason we love to yap: conversation illuminates new ideas, creates connections, and helps integrate discoveries into your art practice and your life.
This month’s workshop:
Party For You
Writing Partying and the Cultures of Nightlife
In this generative writing workshop, we are going to do the best thing you can do to survive New York City winter: party.
When done well, partying connects you to your body, your community, and can be a great source of inspiration for writing and other forms of art making. In this class, we’re going to read work from contemporary writers that detail nightlife in New York, Berlin, and LA — and then we’re going to party together.
It will go a little something like this: Each week we’ll meet to discuss the reading assignments, write, and share our work. For part two of the class, we’ll rendezvous for various types of parties so you can collect new material for your writing or art practice. Don’t worry –- we’ll decide when, where, how we want to party as a group.
A few practical, craft, and thematic questions we will pursue together: How do you write a crowd? How do you write inebriation? How can dancing become a moving meditation? What’s the secret to effectively rendering light, noise, and music in language? What do the ways we party say about the state of our inner and outer worlds? Why does the dance floor, bathroom, bathroom line, and smoking area feel like completely separate universes? When should we start religiously wearing ear plugs? What does it say about a person if they don’t wear a slutty black tank top to Basement? And more!We’ll read RAVING by the incredible MCKENZIE WARK and BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY by Jay McInerney to help us think through these questions at opposite ends of the partying spectrum. I recommend picking up a copy of WRITING ON RAVING if you want to keep exploring the best new (and by new I mean immediately present, right fucking NOW) voices writing partying in the 2020s.
Six writing prompts, two books (yes! books included!), two notebooks, and many new ways to experience our city’s favorite pastime.
WHEN: Friday January 16, 23, and 30th at 8:00PM
WHERE: Brooklyn (location shared after enrolling)
COST: $225 NOTAFLOF
Kind Words
From our one-of-a-kind students:
“I’ve taken a handful of Close Reading Studio classes — I love every single one! The material is so well curated and the discussions are lively. I love meeting new people in these classes and discussing the powerful fiction we get to consume.”
[ Simon Chen, MFA Candidate, Pratt University ]
“Ash's class is such a highlight of my weeks whenever I'm taking one. They inform my lens on life and encourage creativity and new reading. I love them so much.”
[ Caroline van Zeijts , PhD in Anthropology Candidate, CUNY ]
“A thoughtfully planned and facilitated writing class. Ash strikes the perfect balance between pushing her students to step outside their comfort zone and cultivating a friendly atmosphere in which to do so.”
[ Shan Fletcher, Brand Strategist and Writer ]
“I'm currently in an MFA program and took this course for something fun and challenging over the summer, and it was more rewarding and generative than a few of my MFA courses. I highly recommend taking Ash's course not only for her skills as a teacher, but her care in gathering texts, prompts, questions, and people.”
[ Madisen Gummer, MFA in Writing, Sarah Lawrence College ]
Is that a
Raised
Hand?
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
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Generative writing workshops are designed to help you generate new work. You’ll have opportunities to share your work aloud with the class, but there is no critique or editorial guidance. Our focus in the generative writing workshop is to build your close reading skills to become a better writer, artist, or creative.
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NOTAFLOF stands for No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds. If you don't have the means to pay for class, no worries. Everyone deserves access to a creative community. We're open to reduced rates, payment plans, or trades.
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Nope! While many students have previous experience with writing, all you need to thrive in our classroom is an open mind and a willingness to read and write closely.
That being said, many students have gone on to graduate programs after taking classes with Close Reading Studio. We love learning over here! -
We read poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid work. We pay special attention to works published by small presses and cult classics you may not have heard of. We love a niche reference! We’ll also look at visual art and films as a source of inspiration for new writing.
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This depends on the class! While in class we encourage you to set aside about an hour a day for your reading and writing experiments
Answered Here:
Questions? Want to collaborate?
We’re open to ideas, and more.
