SF Creative Writing Institute

Dear Writers, I started this newsletter a week ago sitting inside a diner in Union Square and almost didn’t hit send. They were running the milk shake machine over and over again and I thought I would never be able to concentrate. Sometimes the best place to write is a diner on a random Wednesday in the late afternoon with a borrowed blue pen. We’re living in an era where charlatans are using a plagiarism machine to produce content that is “safe” and derivative of what already exists, and...

Dear Writers, I started this newsletter a week ago sitting inside a diner in Union Square and almost didn’t hit send. They were running the milk shake machine over and over again and I thought I would never be able to concentrate. Sometimes the best place to write is a diner on a random Wednesday in the late afternoon with a borrowed blue pen. We’re living in an era where charlatans are using a plagiarism machine to produce content that is “safe” and derivative of what already exists, and...

Dear Writers, Coming up this week, here are some upcoming new workshops that you might be interested in. More info below. I hope you're well. Keep writing! Alexandra Alexandra Kostoulas, Founder & Executive Director, SF Creative Writing Institute --- Spring Fiction Workshop Spring Fiction Workshop: For All Levels. Online Instructor: Ben Adams Do you have a short story or a novel you’ve been working on? Are you finally ready for feedback? As writers, feedback is a crucial part of the writing...

Dear Writers, I'm down with an illness after a busy week of writing and story gathering but I wanted to pop my head up and write that we have two classes starting this weekend that you may be interested in: Intro to Fiction (starts this afternoon) w/ Nick Mamatas at Harvey Milk Center for the Arts, (IN-PERSON) and our online workshop, Threads & Breaks: Narrative Poetry, Micro Essay & Flash Fiction, starts tomorrow at 11am with Paul Corman-Roberts (ONLINE). I have created a human-centered...

Dear Writers, It’s hard to know what to say, after such a turbulent month in our culture and in our hearts and minds. If you’re a sensitive, thinking, artistic person like me, you’ve probably been consumed by the news the past few weeks and your attention has been particularly on Minnesota and all of the drama that is happening there among the ICE raids. It’s hard to be an artist and not be affected by the world around us. In fact, as artists, it’s our job to notice very keenly what is going...

Dear Writers, Despite many challenges, 2025 has been a year of progress for SF Creative Writing Institute. Thanks to amazing creatives like you, we've grown our class enrollment by 25% – hitting our goal for the year. Here are just a few highlights: SFCWI was awarded a SVANE Culture Forward Grant for 2026, and our students and instructors achieved recognition: Tongo Eisen-Martin was awarded the very prestigious Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University and released an album of his...

Finding the Golden Thread Poetry reading & mini workshop An evening w/ Alexandra Kostoulas Join us tomorrow, Sat, December 6, 7pm at Project Artaud Studios. Finding The Golden Thread: Poetry Reading Discussion & Mini-workshop Founder of SF Creative Writing Institute Free RSVP Dear Writers, If you're free tomorrow evening and in the City of SF looking for something writing-related to do, I hope you'll join me for this reading and mini-workshop that I am presenting at Project Artaud. The Golden...

Dear Writers, How do you keep going amid all the chaos from a noisy life? It feels to me – and maybe this is only me—but saying it anyway in case this applies to you too, I feel overwhelmed often by the state of the world. And – also the state of the world – and all of my to-do’s that still keep going during this time, makes my life crazy sometimes because it causes me to deal with more drama than normal. And sometimes my attention is bombarded by a thousand things, and I am sandwiched...

Dear Writers, Happy Friday! I'm writing to let you know that we have a few classes coming up at SF Creative Writing Institute that you may like: I hope you're having a great fall. Remember to keep writing. Warmly, Alexandra Kostoulas, Founder & Executive Director, SF Creative Writing Institute Spring Workshops at SFCWI Spring Fiction Workshop -Online Instructor: Ben Adams Thursdays 6:30pm-8:30pm PST May 7-June 18, 2026 | Online $450 Sign Up Teen Drop-In Creative Writing Workshop Instructor:...

Dear Writers, Happy Fall. Our very own Introduction to Fiction Instructor Nick Mamatas has just published his book Kalivas! Nick Mamatas' latest novel, Kalivas, came out this week on Clash Books. Nick teaches Intro to Fiction with SF Creative Writing Institute on Saturday afternoons. In this science-fiction revision of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Kalivas lives in solitude on the Farallon Islands, off the San Francisco Bay, until the Master and his daughter M colonize his lonely realm. Kalivas,...