Forms of Storytelling Masterclass: A Story is a Story is a Story

Tell the tale that is waiting to be told; break the rules and propel your story through poetry.

This course is for anyone who has a story to tell and needs to explore that story in their writing. What makes a story? I’d say: heart, emotion, and intensity, but I’d also say language – stories need words, and words need stories to propel them forward; and a story can take any form. Actually, a story can take multiple forms at the same time!

A poem can be both poem and story. A story can be both memoir and poem. A story can be both fable and poem. The layering of language, of image, of line one after the other after the other, compels a narrative into something strange, bewildering, and often beautiful. A story is a story is a story.

Together in this course, we will explore the rules of storytelling and learn how to break them. We will invent forms, resist forms, and create new forms. We will read work by some of the following writers: Khadijah Queen, Beth Ann Fennelly, Caroline Bird, Donna Voyerrer, Sarah Gerard, Mira Ptacin, Carole Maso, Mary Ruefle, and more.

Masterclasses are an expanded version of our International Courses, with a much deeper consideration of technical craft and critical theory. These 12-week courses (maximum 12 places) are for advanced students only, and fluency with poetic language and ideas will be assumed. There are no live chats and they are suitable for UK and International students.

Concessions & Accessibility

To apply for a concession rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to [email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected].

What to Expect

Please check the left hand side of this page for information on how this course works in practice, under the heading ‘Course Style‘. If you’re unsure as to what any of the terms there mean, or if this course is a good fit for you, please visit our What to Expect page which includes some further information on how our courses function.

Image credit: @impatrickt

About Leah Umansky View Profile

Leah Umansky is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently, OF TYRANT (Word Works Books 2024.) She earned her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and has curated and hosted The COUPLET Reading Series in NYC since 2011. She is the creator of the STAY BRAVE Substack which encourages women-identifying creatives to inspire other women-identifying creatives to stay brave in their creative pursuits. Her creative work has been featured on PBS, and in such places as The New York Times, The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A Day, USA Today, POETRY, Bennington Review, and American Poetry Review. She is an educator and writing coach who has taught workshops to all ages at such places as Poetry School London, Poets House, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering and elsewhere. She is working on a fourth collection of poems ORDINARY SPLENDOR, on wonder, joy, and love. She can be found at www.leahumansky.com.

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