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A Four Week Workshop on the Art & Craft of Writing Personal Essays

Acclaimed author and instructor Marin Sardy is leading a four-week workshop on the art and craft of the personal essay. Explore the art of the personal essay, get extensive feedback on your writing, and learn the process of finding publication -- all with support from a successful author and instructor.

  • Four weeks of in-depth lessons on the art and craft of writing personal essays.

  • Detailed feedback on your writing from Marin Sardy.

  • Personal guidance on the process of finding publication.

  • Access to live office hours with all of our instructors, even after the course has finished.

  • Full access to our private community of writers, so you can network with your fellow students.

Explore the Art & Craft of the Personal Essay

With Critically Acclaimed Author Marin Sardy

You are invited to join Marin Sardy for a month-long workshop on the art and craft of writing the personal essay.

During this course, you will study the craft of writing the personal essay, so that you can share your story in the most meaningful and impactful way possible.

During this course, students will:

  • Practice the craft elements integral to personal essay writing.
  • Explore the possibilities inherent in the essay form.
  • Read and discuss work by writers like Joan Didion, Alexander Chee, and Claudia Rankine, looking to them for insights as we move into increasingly fluid, fragmentary, and innovative approaches to personal essay writing.
  • Consider topics ranging from scene building to finding resolution.
  • Discuss the writer’s practice, revision process, and paths to publication.

Ultimately, this course will strengthen and expand students’ sense of how an essayist can powerfully convey life experiences and also communicate their lasting emotional and symbolic significance.

Marin Sardy’s memoir was published by Pantheon, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Her essays have been published by Tin House, The New Yorker online and The Paris Review Daily, among many other places.

She is not just a successfully published author, she is also an experienced professor and writing teacher, who cares about connecting with students and helping them grow as writers.

Marin is offering extensive feedback on student writing, as a core part of this course. Each week, you will have the opportunity to submit work for feedback from Marin. She will give you detailed notes on up to 3 essays, totaling 5,000 words. She will also help you revise one essay, and guide you through the process of finding publication.

The course starts on Monday, March 15th and ends on April 9th. For those who need extra time, students will have a full six months to submit work for feedback. You will also be welcome to attend office hours after the course is officially over.

Because of the extensive personal feedback in this course, enrollment is strictly limited to 18 students. Once the course is filled, we will immediately close enrollment.

If you are planning on joining this course, I urge you to enroll right away.

Enroll Now for $547 $447 (Early Bird Tuition)

About Marin Sardy


Marin Sardy is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir The Edge of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia (Pantheon, 2019). Sardy’s book was excerpted in the New Yorker online and her essays have appeared in Tin House, Guernica, the Missouri Review, the Paris Review Daily, and many other journals, as well as in two award-winning photography books. Sardy has three times had her essays listed as “notable” in the Best American series and has been awarded residency fellowships at Hawthornden Castle and Catwalk Institute.


Workshop Schedule

The course starts on Monday, March 15th and ends on Friday, April 9th. The course comes with daily lessons you can study on your own time, and interaction with Marin Sardy. Everything is provided online, through the digital learning platform hosted by Thinkific.

Note that you will have up to six months after the course finishes to submit your writing for feedback. Also note that you will have access to office hours even after the course is complete.

  • Daily lessons, available to study any time on our online learning platform, hosted by Thinkific.

  • Personal feedback on every lesson via email, our online discussion platform, or our private Facebook Group.

  • Weekly opportunities to submit your work for detailed feedback from the instructor.

Enroll Now

Enrollment is strictly limited to 18 students.
The early bird tuition is available until Monday, March 8th.

Reviews of Authors Publish Workshops

5 star rating

A Great Workshop

Melanie Kallai

This is the first workshop I've taken with Authors Publish, but it won't be my last. Ella Peary presented a well-organized curriculum, gave creative writing prompts, and built a supportive critique environment. Her feedback was honest and encourag...

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This is the first workshop I've taken with Authors Publish, but it won't be my last. Ella Peary presented a well-organized curriculum, gave creative writing prompts, and built a supportive critique environment. Her feedback was honest and encouraging, and she gave me suggestions on where to publish my work.

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0 star rating

Loved it!

John Cosgrove

Thank you so much, Emily - this course helped massively in demystifying a gruelling process!

Thank you so much, Emily - this course helped massively in demystifying a gruelling process!

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5 star rating

So useful!

Jennifer Mitchell

Emily's course was very well laid out and included a lot of useful information. While some of it was familiar, it was useful to understand her take on it. It also helped confirm previous research I had done on several topics, which was a relief! E...

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Emily's course was very well laid out and included a lot of useful information. While some of it was familiar, it was useful to understand her take on it. It also helped confirm previous research I had done on several topics, which was a relief! Emily's feedback was always helpful, insightful and thought provoking. She really went above and beyond what was promised. Sometimes an 'online' format can end up being detached and mechanical, but not this one!

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5 star rating

EVEN BETTER THAN EXPECTED!

lynn katz

I loved everything about this course--the instructor, Leila Sales was so knowledgeable and her written feedback was extensive and so helpful. I loved the balance of video, text to read, office hours, and opportunities to comment/ask questions onl...

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I loved everything about this course--the instructor, Leila Sales was so knowledgeable and her written feedback was extensive and so helpful. I loved the balance of video, text to read, office hours, and opportunities to comment/ask questions online. I would take another class from this instructor with no hesitation. It was better than expected, and I expected a lot.

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5 star rating

Extensive and personal feedback

Julie Christiansen

As I neared the end of the four-week seminar with Emily Harstone on how to submit a manuscript to a publisher or an agent, I realized that I had learned more in just four weeks of daily lessons than I had in almost ten years of trial and error in ...

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As I neared the end of the four-week seminar with Emily Harstone on how to submit a manuscript to a publisher or an agent, I realized that I had learned more in just four weeks of daily lessons than I had in almost ten years of trial and error in getting my manuscripts published. What makes the course offered by Emily and Authors Publish so unique is the extensive and personal feedback which she gives each student in the class. Through Emily's professional critique, I was able to turn a ho-hum manuscript into an eye-catching, attention-getting excerpt. Armed with that and a tightly crafted query letter and synopsis, I am confident now that I will be able to find the right publisher for my manuscript.

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5 star rating

Emily Colin’s Class Was Amazing

Pamela Salmon

I learned more about how to write a YA novel from her class than any other class I’ve taken (conferences included.) My writing improved in leaps and bounds. And I loved every minute of it! Emily is the best!!!!

I learned more about how to write a YA novel from her class than any other class I’ve taken (conferences included.) My writing improved in leaps and bounds. And I loved every minute of it! Emily is the best!!!!

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FAQ

  • What is the course schedule?

    The course starts on Monday, March 15th and ends on Friday, April 9th. Each week, we will release five lessons that you can study on your own time. These will be a mix of text-based lessons, recommended essays, and pre-recorded lectures. Each lesson comes with text-based discussion with the instructor and the class.

    At the end of each week, you will have the opportunity to submit an assignment to the instructor for in-depth feedback.

    There will also be two office hour sessions held via Zoom, which will be recorded for those who cannot attend live. They have not yet been scheduled.

    Note, that if you fall behind on the course, you will have a full six months to complete the course and submit your work for feedback from the instructor.

  • How much time will the course require?

    Overall, expect to spend around 30 minutes a day on the course. Some days will require less work, some days will require more.

    Lessons are released weekly, which gives you flexibility. Based on our experience with other courses, some students do the bulk of their work in one or two days each week, while others spend a little bit of time each day on our courses.

  • How many students will be allowed to enroll?

    Because of the personal feedback Marin is providing, the workshop is strictly limited to 18 students. Once we reach that number we will immediately close enrollment.