StoryStudio Chicago

Today, we're delighted to introduce you to our seven StoryBoard Fellows.

The StoryBoard Fellowships are awarded to writers with some experience, publications, and/or a book out in the world. We are pleased to work with these writers this summer and to see their potential continue to grow by working closely with our faculty.

The seven 2026 StoryBoard Fellows are:
✍️Agata Brewer
✍️Jameka Williams
✍️Kim Coleman Foote
✍️Kira Tucker
✍️Mario Elías
✍️Matthew Frye-Castillo
✍️Nita Noveno

Mark your calendar now for a special reading with the fellows, August 13 at 6:30 pm at Exile in Bookville.

Congratulations to our 2026 StoryBoard Fellows!

Writer Nina Li Coomes is teaching the perfect class for your summer writing! What is summer if not backyard barbecues with amazing food, family vacations and time with your loved ones, and movie nights both at home and seeing the summer blockbuster in the theaters.

Food, Film, Family: Culture Writing to Unblock Creativity is a four-session online class beginning July 7. In this four-week generative class, writers will use different genres of culture writing to create four written pieces.

Here's a rundown of the class schedule:

Week 1: Food as memory portal with Anthony Bourdain and Bryan Washington
Week 2: Film as experience filter with Roger Ebert and Moeko Fujii
Week 3: Object lessons to untangle hard stories with Alexander Chee and Eula Biss
Week 4: A wild-card week where we will vote as a class on what kind of genre we’d like to focus on

Join Nina for this innovative and fun workshop -- register now at the link in the first comment.

Woohoo! Our Online Master Classes for Summer 2026 are now live! Check out these four amazing two-hour workshops, each focused on one particular aspect of craft. The four master classes for summer term are:

✍️ I Speak, Therefore I Am: A Master Class on Voice with Traci Chee, July 7

✍️ Too Fast or Slow: A Master Class on Pacing in Fiction with Jimin Han, August 8

✍️ A Master Class: Writing the Scene That Will Make or Break Your Story with Christopher Castellani, August 17

✍️ A Master Class: Criticizing Pop Culture with Taylor Crumpton, September 10

Hit the link the in the first comment to register for one or all of these amazing classes. But hurry, these classes always fill up quickly!

If you're thinking of learning the ins and outs and ups and downs of travel writing, Suzanne Roberts is the ideal instructor. Suzanne has published several nonfiction books, including Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel (North American Travel Journalists Association Bronze Award for a Travel Book), and Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days on the John Muir Trail (Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award).

Suzanne's four-session online class kicks off June 9. Writers will learn to turn their trips into tales.

Get yourself ready for the summer travel season, and register now! https://www.storystudiochicago.org/classes/classes/travel-writing-with-suzanne-roberts-spring-2026/

StoryBall was a wild mysterious dream. Here’s a photo drop from a wonderful inspiring evening.