The Un-MFA Writing Program
Now that you’ve worked with talented writers, it’s time to work with their editors. Following the proven success of our Non-Fiction classes, The Writers’ Institute launches its Fiction program in 2010 with Jonathan Galassi (President and publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Deborah Treisman (Fiction Editor, The New Yorker), Nathaniel Rich (Senior Editor, The Paris Review) and John Freeman (Editor, Granta).
Why the Writers’ Institute?
The Writers’ Institute was born with a very simple mission: to bring the very best and most celebrated editors in New York City to fifteen of this country’s most talented, aspiring writers. Just take a look at our eminent faculty.
Tricks of the Trade
“An editor can take something that is cluttered and heavy and make it lithe and supple, and ultimately turn it into something enchanting.” (Published on Folio, Spring 2009)
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Katherine BoutonEditorBooks & TheaterThe New York Times
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John FreemanEditorGranta
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Jonathan GalassiEditor in ChiefFarrar, Straus and Giroux
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Klara GlowczewskaEditor-in-ChiefConde Nast Traveler
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Jonathan I. LandmanCulture EditorThe New York Times
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Daniel MenakerEditorial ConsultantBarnes & NoblePublishing Group
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Robert MessengerSenior EditorThe Weekly Standard
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Michael W. MillerDeputy Managing EditorThe Wall Street Journal
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Nathaniel RichEditorFiction EditorThe Paris Review
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Jennifer SchuesslerStaff EditorThe New York TimesBook Review
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Sam TanenhausEditorThe New York TimesBook Reviewand Week in Review
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Patricia TowersFormer Features DirectorO, the Oprah Magazine
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Deborah TreismanFiction EditorThe New Yorker
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Dorothy WickendenExecutive EditorThe New Yorker
Faculty News
Recent and upcoming projects by our faculty
Two members of our faculty, Dan Menaker of Random House and Dorothy Wickenden of The New Yorker, have books in the works.
Dan Menaker, who taught at the Institute last year, is eagerly awaiting the publication of his book “A Good Talk: The Story and Skill of Conversation,” described as an “analysis of and guide to that most exclusively human of all activities– conversation.” Check out some of the book’s pre-publication buzz at The Daily Beast.
Wickenden is writing a book based on a recent article she wrote for The New Yorker, about her grandmother and her closest friend, both 1909 graduates of Smith College, who left Auburn , New York, for the Rockies in 1916 to teach the children of homesteaders in a remote, one-room schoolhouse [...]
Upcoming Speakers
The Art of the Pitch, on Feb. 3, 2010
Come hear an agent and editors from The Paris Review, New York magazine, The Week magazine, and The Wall Street Journal discuss how to craft a great (and perfect) pitch. Feel free to bring along anyone interested as well as all the questions you’ve been dying to ask. Open to the general public.
DATE: Wednesday, [...]
David Denby
David Denby has been a staff writer and film critic at The New Yorker since 1998. His articles and reviews have also appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Review of Books, New York Magazine, and The New Republic. In 1991, he received a a National Magazine Award. He is the acclaimed author of Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau [...]
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The Art of the Pitch
Posted on February 4th, 2010 by anna.kingThe Writers’ Institute hosted a panel devoted to “The Art of the Pitch” yesterday evening at the Grad Center’s Segal Theater. Along with the Institute’s director, André Aciman, were some of New York’s top editors: Christopher Cox from The Paris Review, Hugo Lindgren from New York Magazine, David Propson from The Week Magazine, Eben Shapiro from The Wall Street Journal, and Priscilla Gilman from Janklow & Nesbit (a literary agency). Over the course of a couple of hours, they helped a packed auditorium of writers get a better sense of what editors and agents look for in a perfect pitch.