CNF Studio at the Attic Institute

Write what you know you want to know.

The Creative Nonfiction Studio is based on the idea that inspiration, accountability, and community are essential to every writer’s growth. The CNF Studio meets weekly for three-month sessions, and its curriculum is designed to help you deepen your writing through a keener understanding of both literary craft and your own voice. The CNF Studio is open to applications from all writers (see application information below), and members often return for multiple sessions. This creates the Studio’s special experience: a consistent, deep, and supportive study of your writing in the company of other writers.

The philosophy of the CNF Studio: The strongest creative nonfiction comes from writers who are at once adept with the techniques of literary craft and fluent in the language of their particular experience—writers, that is, who understand their voice and how to bring it to the page. The supportive, focused atmosphere of the CNF Studio encourages writers to hone their skills and embrace their voice, as they create, revise, and prepare to publish their works-in-progress.

Becoming a member of the CNF Studio: The Creative Nonfiction Studio is open to applications from all writers. The Studio meets for three-month-long sessions. By joining, writers are committing to sustained, in-depth study of their writing and themselves.

For more about applying, click here.

What to expect: The CNF Studio includes close-readings and discussions of stellar creative nonfiction, roundtable readings of take-home prompts, and peer critique of writers’ works-in-progress. Over the course of their time in the CNF Studio, writers can expect to read widely and gain deep insight into their own writing, all the while exploring questions of structure, form, narration, truth, memory, influence, and voice. The curriculum shifts season to season, in response to the particular questions and preoccupations of each group.

Registration: Registration is due in full prior to the start of the session.

Location: The CNF Studio will be held offsite, in the Gotham Building in North Portland.

Led by memoirist Brian Benson, the Creative Nonfiction Studio is a unique space focused on creating, deepening, and finishing works of creative nonfiction.

For more about applying, click here.

The Attic Experience

"Vanessa Veselka's dialogue boot camp was a very positive experience. My classmates were a great mixture of age, background and personality, and everyone participated in a supportive manner. Vanessa brings a ton of life and writing experience to the table. I would take another of her classes without hesitation."

Chuck Herson, fiction writer

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"Buoyant...unorthodox...A provocative and anti-intuitive manual for making fresh art." — Kirkus Review

"Biespiel offers a number of best practices—not just for writing...but for living a creative life." — The Rumpus

A Statement of Our Values

The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters opposes the legitimation of bigotry, hate, and misinformation. As a studio for writers, we do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind. We embrace and celebrate our shared pursuit of literature and languages as essential to crossing the boundaries of difference. To that end, we seek to maintain a creative environment in which every employee, faculty member, and student feels safe, respected, and comfortable — even while acknowledging that poems, stories, and essays delve into uncomfortable subjects. We accept the workshop as a place to question ourselves and to empathize with complex identities. We understand that to know the world is to write the world. Therefore, we reaffirm our commitment to literary pursuits and shared understanding by affirming diversity and open inquiry.