Inspire the creative writer in you and enroll in our writing workshops today!
Enjoy these noncredit creative writing classes in multiple topics. Workshops are open to adults of any age or education level and take place in hybrid or online formats.
Check back soon for more upcoming workshops! If you have any questions, please contact Dawn Leas at dawn.leas@wilkes.edu email link.
The Shape of Story: A Creative Nonfiction Workshop
- Taught by Mandy Pennington
- Tuition: $120
- Genre: Creative Nonfiction
- Delivery Method: Virtual
- Sundays, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
- Six sessions: March 8, 15, 22, 29, April 12, 19, 2026
Register Now for The Shape of Story: A Creative Nonfiction Workshop external website
About the Class
About the Class
Your life is full of stories worth telling—but how do you shape lived experience into compelling narrative? This six-week creative nonfiction workshop guides you through fundamental storytelling structures and narrative techniques that transform personal experience, observation, and research into powerful prose.
We’ll explore a variety of story forms and craft tools -- including lyrical experimentation, literary journalism, and personal essay -- that can help you find your voice, explore your memories from a new point of view, and effectively tell true stories that resonate.
About the Instructor
About the Instructor
Mandy Pennington is the Senior Director of Digital Strategy and Strategic Initiatives at Wilkes University and teaches courses in communications at both Wilkes and Marywood University. Her coming-of-age memoir, Gateways, is forthcoming from Vine Leaves Press.
Mandy is also an award-winning actor and playwright with performance credits in the U.S. and Ireland. Her solo play adapted from her memoir, Girl Walks Into a Movie Theater, has been produced in Pennsylvania and New York. Her first play, My Condolences, premiered at the 2018 Scranton Fringe Festival, where she currently serves as a board member and active performer.
Her writing can be found in Currents in the Electric City: A Scranton Anthology (Belt Publishing), 2022 American Writer’s Review (San Fedele Press), and Hippocampus Magazine. Mandy holds a MA and MFA from the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Learn more: @mandybpenn or mandybpenn.com.