Narrative Nonfiction Class Package
September 17, 2025 - October 11, 2025
$177.00 – $357.00
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$177 for Members
$357 for Non-Members
Develop the unique craft and business tools necessary to write and publish works of narrative nonfiction.
This class package aims to equip writers with the tools to create and publish compelling narrative nonfiction works. From learning how to blend personal stories with reportage, to mastering narrative nonfiction’s essential craft elements, to pitching your work and landing bylines, these three classes will fill your writer’s toolkit with the craft and business tools of narrative nonfiction.
Can’t make it to every class? No worries! All who register will have access to the class recordings until January 31, 2026.
Click on each individual title to view additional class details or to purchase a class independent of the package.
“How to Blend Personal Narrative and Reportage in Essays and Books” with Mallary Tenore Tarpley
Wednesday, September 17, 2025, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM CDT
Learn how to seamlessly blend personal narrative and reportage in stories and books to enhance your storytelling process and attract wider audiences.
Some of the most engaging essays and memoirs are a blend of narrative and reportage. In this class, students will learn practical tips for exploring complicated topics through a mix of reporting, research, and narrative. Students will also learn how to capture details and nuances when writing narrative nonfiction. In class, students will complete related writing exercises, have the opportunity for real-time feedback, and come away with newfound inspiration and ideas that they can apply to their own personal and professional writing endeavors.
“Narrative Nonfiction Craft Essentials” with Michael Copperman
Saturday, October 4, 2025, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM CDT
What is the difference between telling what happened, and making an experience felt? What is the difference between a piece that is good, and one that changes our understanding of ourselves, of others, or of the world?
In this class, we’ll examine and discover how tense functions in narrative nonfiction. We’ll consider the oft-repeated advice that present tense is more vivid and immediate, and analyze how mastering tense allows seasoned writers to engage in retrospection and reflection.
We will then ask big questions about what we are trying to accomplish as writers of narrative nonfiction. We will explore a powerful conceptual model that allows us to understand how, and why, a piece of nonfiction succeeds or requires revision. We’ll discover how the model might be applied and tailored to our own intentions and tendencies as writers. Through close reading of multiple examples, and in-class writing exercises and discussion, we will consider different ways of thinking about what makes retrospection and structure work in narrative nonfiction.
“Pitch Perfect: Pitching Your Story Idea and Landing a Byline” with Julie Poole
Saturday, October 11, 2025, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM CDT
Pitching to online magazines and news outlets is a great way to get your name out there. In this class, you’ll learn how to pitch story ideas that editors will want to assign.
A perfect pitch answers these questions: Why is this story important? Why is it relevant now? And why are you the person to write it? Students will learn about the differences between pitching a personal essay, an op-ed, and a long-form reported feature. We will discuss how much research, data, and sourcing you should include, and what makes a story feel immediate and worthy of attention. You will also learn about different types of pitches and what editors are looking for. You will work with a template that will help you to create a pitch that is polished and ready to send out by the end of class. Whether you’re brand new at pitching or have some experience, this class will help you to grow and refine your skills.
Instructors
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Mallary Tenore Tarpley is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches a variety of courses on longform feature writing, nonprofit journalism, solutions journalism, personal essay writing, and more.
Previously, Mallary was the associate director of UT Austin’s Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas; executive director the nonprofit Images & Voices of Hope; and managing editor at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
Mallary’s articles have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and TIME Magazine, among other publications. She has led writing trainings for news outlets around the world and for organizations such as The Poynter Institute, the Society for Features Journalism, and the Writers’ League of Texas.
Her new book SLIP explores the under-discussed complexities of eating disorders and recovery from them. Equal parts memoir and journalism, the book weaves together Mallary's own narrative with perspectives from clinicians, researchers, and others with lived experience. SLIP is the winner of the Association of American Publishers' 2026 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences. The Association also selected SLIP as a first-place winner in the Medicine Category and as a finalist in the Outstanding Work by a Trade Publisher Category.
Mallary received a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support the science-related reporting in the book, specifically around the neurobiological and genetic aspects of eating disorders.
You can keep up with Mallary via her newsletter, "Write at the Edge," which features weekly writing tips and best practices: mallary.substack.com.
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Michael Copperman is an assistant professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures at Michigan State University. His work has appeared in The Oxford-American, Guernica, The Sun, Creative Nonfiction, Boston Review, Salon, Gulf Coast, Triquarterly, Kenyon Review and Copper Nickel, among others, and has won awards and garnered fellowships from the Munster Literature Center, Breadloaf Writers Conference, Oregon Literary Arts, and the Oregon Arts Commission. His memoir Teacher: Two Years in the Mississippi Delta (University Press of Mississippi 2017), about the rural black public schools of the Mississippi Delta, was a finalist for the 2018 Oregon Book Award in CNF.
His next book, Seeking Eden, is about the extremes of the American subculture of wrestling as seen through the story of five-time national champion Kenny Cox’s pilgrimage deep into the wilderness of Kauai’s Na Pali Coast, and is forthcoming in the Fall of 2026 from University of Iowa Press. -
Julie Poole is a poet, journalist, and filmmaker based in Austin. Her first book of poems, Bright Specimen, was inspired by the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center at UT. Her second book Gorgeous Freak is out now. She has published poems in Poet Lore, Cold Mountain Review, and Denver Quarterly. Her essays and journalism can be found in the Texas Observer, Texas Monthly, Bon Appétit, HuffPost, The Baffler, Slate, and The Nation. She is currently working on a memoir. For fun, she writes short stories about terrible jobs.
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Writers’ League of Texas classes and workshops are also funded in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts – Investing in a Creative Texas. For more information, go to www.arts.texas.gov.