Clarion West

Six-Week Workshop: Clarion West's renowned Six-Week Workshop is an immersive six-week experience geared to help students build a foundation for professional careers as writers of speculative fiction. Participants must apply to attend and there are more applicants than there is space in the workshop. We especially encourage historically underrepresented writers to apply. In 2024 Clarion West accepted 18 writers from Thailand, Zimbabwe, Colombia, India, Nigeria, Canada, and various regions of Turtle Island/the USA to attend the virtual Six-Week Workshop with instructors Usman T. Malik, Brenda Peynado, Cadwell Turnbull, Sarah Pinsker, Ruoxi Chen, and Carmen Maria Machado. Writers spent six weeks writing one short story every week and critiquing 17 others, learning to improve and hone their story writing skills, and learning insights into the writing, publishing, and editing industry. In 2024, Clarion West held the workshop in person in Seattle's University District, committing to the higher cost of housing due to the loss of our previous rental availability. The organization recognizes that this high cost can not be transferred to the students and therefore committed to one year of absorbing the costs through our investment funds, with the hopes that lower-cost housing may be found in the future. Clarion West is dedicated to finding an in-person solution for the workshop, however will return to holding the workshop online to reduce costs while we seek an affordable housing solution.

Year-round Classes: In 2024, Clarion West held 24 online classes and workshops with 460 participants attending from all over Seattle, the United States, and around the World. These included 5 reduced-price community classes with 197 participants. Prominent authors in the field of speculative fiction taught workshops year-round, including Amy Chua, Shingai Nijeri Kagunda, Naseem Jamnia, Brian Hugenbruch, Marcella Haddad, David Gilmore, Chinelo Onwualu, Eden Robins, Susan J. Morris, Laurie Penny, A.T. Greenblatt, Ian Muneshwar, and more! Clarion West is committed to racial equity in the field of speculative fiction and provided 39 free seats for writers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The Flash Fiction Group program hosted 120 participants for six weeks of critiquing online. Our Flash Fiction Workshop is a six-week online intensive experience that empowers writers to create new work and offer and receive critique from their peers. Clarion West also hosted two one- day workshops in Seattle for 20 people with instructors L. Penelope and Seanan McGuire.