Writer’s Studio at ACC is bringing a full day writing conference for students and community members that is the most affordable, quality-laden literary festival you will find, for writers of all levels and ages. Join us on February 21 from 9am - 4pm in the Half Moon (M1800 - Littleton Campus).
Register today
Registration Fees (includes a catered lunch):
- $30 for any student
- $35 for a CCCS employee
- $40 for seniors
- $50 for general community members
Session Information
Workshop: How Research Makes Us Better Writers (Genre: Fiction and Creative Nonfiction) with Teague Bohlen
Trying to create a narrative world that feels genuine? Or just stuck in a paragraph with no idea where to go? Let the real world solve your problems. From deliberate discovery to filling a realistic world to un-stucking yourself when you don't know what happens next to your characters, research can work wonders in narrative. Also—it's fun. No, really.
About Teague Bohlen
Teague Bohlen is an award-winning novelist and freelance journalist who teaches Creative Writing at CU Denver, where he has been awarded twice for excellence in teaching. He serves as one of the Fiction Editors for the national literary magazine Copper Nickel, and the Faculty Adviser for the student newspaper The Sentry. Bohlen is currently a regular contributor to the Denver alt-weekly Westword, and has seen print nationwide. His short stories have likewise been published widely both in print and online, and his first novel, The Pull of the Earth, won the Colorado Book Award for Fiction in 2007. His textbook The Snarktastic Guide to Student Success was published with Pearson in 2014, and a Midwest collection of flash fiction and photography, Flatland, was nominated for a Colorado Book Award in 2020. His latest novel, a sci-fi romp called Escaping Denver, was just released in summer 2025.
Workshop: Structuring Your Novel: Concrete Tactics to Finish that Novel (Genre: Fiction, the Nontraditional Novel, and Hybrid Writing) with Erika T. Wurth
Have you been working on a novel for years but finishing it has eluded you? Have you been given advice about what the life of a writer looks like, or poetic descriptions revolving around language, or frustrating advice about sitting down in front of the computer and hammering out words until you’ve got a finished product? This mini-lecture and workshop will help you, regardless as to whether you consider yourself to be a commercial and/or a literary writer, and regardless as to what genre you write in, with concrete, tangible ideas about the basic beats of the traditional and nontraditional novel.
About Erika T. Wurth
Erika T. Wurth is the author of White Horse, a New York Times editors’ pick, a Good Morning America buzz pick, and an Indie Next, Target book of the Month, and Book of the Month Pick. She is both a Kenyon and Sewanee fellow, and Kenyon faculty. She’s published in Buzzfeed, McSweeny’s, The Writer’s Chronicle, and is a narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation. She’s an urban Native of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent and lives in Denver with her partner, niece, step-kids and two incredibly fluffy dogs. Her latest novel, The Haunting of Room 904, has already garnered national attention.
Workshop: Going Cold (or Hot on Nonsense) (Genre: Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry) with Brook Bhagat
Pulling back on emotional language is a simple technique that gives readers space to feel your writing more powerfully. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll utilize awareness of emotional language as a tool to enhance reader engagement in emotionally charged scenes and, conversely, in humor writing. We’ll play with this method in the context of flash fiction, microfiction, and prose poetry, one of the hottest new forms of modern poetry.
About Brook Bhagat
Brook Bhagat (she/her) is the author of Only Flying, a Pushcart-nominated collection of surreal poetry and flash fiction on paradox, rebellion, transformation, and enlightenment from Unsolicited Press. Her work has won contests at Loud Coffee Press and A Story in 100 Words, and she was a finalist for the 2024 Spiritual Literature Prize in Poetry. It has appeared in Monkeybicycle, Empty Mirror, Soundings East, Anthem: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen and elsewhere. She is a founding editor of Blue Planet Journal and the founder and facilitator of The Nearby Universe writers’ group. She teaches English, Poetry, and Creative Writing at Pikes Peak State College and facilitates workshops and literary readings for the college and the public. Two new collections, Exodus with Red Delicious and I Drink from an Ear: Real Ghazals, are forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in 2026 and 2027. Read her work at brook-bhagat.com and follow her at @BrookBhagat.
Workshop: World-building and Setting Through Rap Lyrics (Genre: Poetry/Songwriting and Performance) with Steven Dunn
With urgency, rappers build dynamic three-dimensional worlds and settings in the small space of a verse and song. How do they do this, and what can we learn from them to change our own writing? We'll watch music videos and analyze lyrics of rap songs to figure out what makes them feel fully developed and immersive.
About Steven Dunn
Steven Dunn (a.k.a Pothole, because he's deep in the streets) is the author of three novels, Potted Meat, water & power, and Tannery Bay. He has taught the MFA programs at Regis University and Stetson University, and currently teaches writing at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design.
For more information or accommodations, contact Rachel Newlon at rachel [dot] newlon [at] arapahoe [dot] edu (rachel[dot]newlon[at]arapahoe[dot]edu) or Jomil Ebro at jomil [dot] ebro [at] arapahoe [dot] edu.