Rogue Workshops

Iowa City, Iowa • July 20—July 25, 2026

The week will include six different classes with five different instructors, student and faculty readings, a group dinner, and (here’s hoping) a dance party!

Please join us!

Please contact me or any of the other instructors directly for more information and to register for our classes. 

 

Courses and Instructors

Kelly Dwyer, KellyDwyer0077@gmail.com

WEEKLONG NOVEL WRITING WORKSHOP, Mon July 20—Fri July 24, 2026 • Iowa City

This course is for all writers, including those who are in the middle of their third novel, and those who have never written a novel but think it sounds like fun. (Ha!) We’ll spend part of each day engaging in a lecture and discussion on various aspects of the novel, and we’ll also spend part of each day generating new material, or revising material you’ve already written. Finally, everyone will have the chance to have their submissions (up to 1000 words) workshopped during the week. (These pages can be something you bring from home or something you write in Iowa.)

You will leave with a better understanding of how to write or revise a novel; of the elements that are working well in your writing as well as things you might consider working on; and the inspiration to keep you going after our time in Iowa is over. I hope we will all also experience and leave with a wonderful sense of community!

SATURDAY PROMPT PARTY, Saturday, July 25, 2026 • Iowa City

Think of this as a workout party for our creativity! Kelly will introduce prompts and share writing from authors to help inspire us. Then, we’ll respond to the prompt in whatever form or genre we like. Depending on how many of us there are, we’ll either share on a volunteer basis in small groups or as a class.

You’ll leave the class with a notebook full of ideas, perhaps some finished pieces, and the inspiration and know-how to keep going after our time in Iowa is over. I hope we will all also experience and leave with a wonderful sense of community!

Cost: Weeklong: $850 for five three-hour workshops/classes, plus a one-on-one conference and a group meal (meal not included in workshop price). Saturday: $199 for five-hour prompt party.

Class limits: Weeklong: minimum 10; maximum 14. Saturday:   minimum 6; maximum 20.

Kelly Dwyer is the author of three novels, most recently GHOST MOTHER, numerous flash fictions, and plays produced nationally and internationally. A graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Kelly taught at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival for 26 years before the dean closed the program in 2025. She now teaches, does freelance editing, and leads retreats independently, dividing her time between Los Angeles and Wisconsin, where she is working on a new novel. Please visit www.KellyDwyerAuthor.com 

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Hugh Ferrer, reallyverynever@gmail.com

MAKING TIME FLY: A SHORT FICTION WORKSHOP, July 20-24, 2026 • Iowa City

This course will split its days into two ninety-minute sessions: the first, a revision-oriented workshop, will discuss fiction that participants have brought with them; the second session will be dedicated to craft talks, flights of the imagination, and the generation of new work. Our time together will fly.

The workshop portion will be ideal for writers who have pages they would like to keep revising. These wonderful, slightly-troubled pages could be a draft of a short story, a novel excerpt, an extended dramatic monologue, a selection of microfictions, lyrical episodes from an auto-fiction, or simply a work-in-progress in need of constructive feedback. Genre fiction welcome. Each piece will be met and discussed on its own terms; as a group, we'll highlight what's succeeding, explore formal nuances, and offer encouragement for where a next draft might go.

The craft sessions, meanwhile, will be adventurous and creative, designed for both the macro thinking of plotters and the intuitive process of pantsers. Topical lectures will inspire a fresh look at the writer's traditional toolbox (registered participants will get to chime in on the topics to be covered), and in-class writing time will let our imaginations soar and illuminate new approaches to your own fiction. In addition to ideas for already-drafted work, you'll return home with a wealth of new pages and greater clarity on fundamental craft techniques.

Cost: $800 for fifteen hours of workshops/classes, plus a one-on-one conference and a group meal (meal not included in workshop price).

Class Limit: 8 participants

Hugh Ferrer is a writer living in Iowa City. Over the last two decades, he has introduced University of Iowa undergraduates to fiction writing, international literature, journal publishing, and Iowa City’s literary culture; brought leading international authors to campus as the International Writing Program’s Associate Director; served for fifteen years as an editor at The Iowa Review; and taught regularly at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.

 

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Robin Hemley, Authorsatlarge@gmail.com

THE PERSONAL ESSAY: A FORM THAT QUESTIONS JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING, July 20–24, 2026 • Iowa City

Join author and essayist Robin Hemley in Iowa City for a five-day deep dive into the personal essay, one of nonfiction’s most flexible and far-reaching forms. From Seneca the Younger’s complaints about living above a noisy gym to Jamaica Kincaid’s hatred of all things British, the personal essay has always roamed widely in subject and approach.

The personal essay easily holds memoir, but it isn’t confined by memory. It can circle a subject, a place, or an obsession, whether that means a travel essay about lost articles in Iceland or a memory-driven travel essay like Jonathan Lethem’s essay on a single New York City subway station. It can consider the self, but it’s not necessarily THAT personal.

Through brief readings, discussion of craft, and generative exercises, you’ll explore how voice, structure, and reflection work together to shape compelling essays. Expect to write in class and produce roughly 500 new words each day outside of workshop time. All welcome.

Cost: $975 for five 2.5-hour workshops, plus a one-on-one conference and a group meal (meal not included in workshop price)

Early Bird Discount: 20% off if signing up by April 15th; 10% off from April 15th to May 15th

Limit: 12 participants

Robin Hemley is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, including the essay collection How to Change History: A Salvage Project (University of Nebraska Press) and the forthcoming craft book Turning Life into Literature (Bloomsbury). His work has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and three Pushcart Prizes. He founded the international conference NonfictioNOW and co-founded Authors at Large (Authorsatlarge.com) with Xu Xi. He directed the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa for nine years and is Professor Emeritus in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He gives writing workshops regularly worldwide and will lead a sold-out Authors at Large workshop in Iceland this June. Substack: robinhemley.substack.com

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Xu Xi,  許素細 mongrelintl@gmail.com

WRITING TRANSNATIONALLY: A GENERATIVE WORKSHOP IN FICTION, July 20-July 24, 2026 • Iowa City

 Anyone who traverses nations, cultures or languages embraces the betwixt-and-between of a transnational reality. But how do you write that transnational life into fiction— whether trans-national, -cultural, -lingual, -religious or -societal without bumbling into stereotypes, or worse, way TMI (too much information)? In this workshop, you’ll explore writing your transnational fiction in the form and genre that best suits what you most need to write. Through a series of in class reading and writing exercises you’ll produce work to be continued outside of workshop.  The goal is to produce at least the start of a new piece of fiction that can be submitted to me for individual written comments.

Cost: $950 for five two-hour workshops, plus a private conference and optional group meal (cost of meal not included); the fee also includes a manuscript review post workshop.

10% early bird discount if registered by April 15. 

Limit: 10 writers. 

 XU XI 許素細 an Indonesian-Chinese-American from Hong Kong has published sixteen books of fiction and nonfiction.  Horizon Hong Kong: Selected Stories will be released in July by Gaudy Boy, New York. She held the Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross, was writer-in-residence at Arizona State University, City University of Hong Kong, University of Iowa, and directed two international MFA’s in creative writing and literary translation.  In an earlier life, she held executive positions at The Asian Wall Street Journal, Federal Express, Pinkerton’s, Cathay Pacific Airways.  A diehard transnational, she lives between New York and the world. (photo credit: Jakarta Post)

@xuxiwriter at Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, BlueSky;  xuxiwriter.com

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Anne Backer, annemariebacker@gmail.com 

CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITING WORKSHOP, Wednesday, July 22—Friday, July 24, 2026 • Iowa City

Three days of learning how to be a better writer, discussing kids’ literature, in-class writing exercises to get you started, building a writing community, and workshopping a piece of yours.

This engaging and immersive workshop is for anyone who writes, or wants to write, children’s books. We will spend our time on craft discussion and lecture (story ideas, outlining, character, plot, point of view, novel openings & revision), writing prompts, and workshopping a sample of your writing. We will discuss the KidLit genre, talk a bit about publishing, and have fun together!

You will leave with a community of children’s writers, revision notes on your manuscript, several writing prompts and starts, a better understanding of the genre, and practical tools to take with you into your novel, chapter book, or picture book.

Cost: $375 for 9 hours of workshop and a private conference

Class limit: 10

Anne Backer holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has written middle grade and young adult novels, as well as picture books and a chapter book mystery. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska where she raises her three children. Her someday-aspirations include writing a musical and learning Italian.

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PLEASE NOTE:

Some classes will be held in the morning, while others will take place in the afternoon. Contact the instructor for details and more information.

All classes will take place in Iowa City, Iowa, and will include one-on-one conferences. Monday through Friday classes and Saturday’s class will include optional extracurricular get-togethers, including readings and some meals together.

For room reservations with group rate, please contact the Graduate Hotel and use code 93K or follow this easy link: Group rate at the Graduate Hotel  Please be aware that this rate is only available for checking in Sunday, July 20, and checking out Saturday, July 25. (For additional flexibility, please call the hotel.) Reduced rate rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

For general questions, please contact me, Kelly Dwyer, at KellyDwyer0077@gmail.com

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WE CAN’T WAIT TO WRITE WITH YOU IN IOWA CITY THIS SUMMER!