scholarship

Healing History’s Wounds with Speculative Fiction 2026

Stories can wound or heal. In this class, award-winning author and editor Nisi Shawl will talk about the ways stories can hurt, the ways they can help, and how you can use their power–particularly when writing speculative fiction and alternate history. The class will review common stories with harmful effects and discuss ways to subvert or pass them by. The class also includes exercises to provide practice in these valuable techniques. [...]

Diverse Narrative Structures 2.0

Storytelling staples in the West, such as the three-act structure and themes of empowerment and change, are far from universal. Over the course of four weeks, Lien will explore expressions of diversity that go beyond just plopping different faces into stories that are 100 percent Western in spirit. [...]