“Arya's ability to cultivate writing communities that are at once challenging, meaningful, and supportive is truly unparalleled.Inher classes, you'll explore depths that you were unaware your writing even had, sit with the awe, wonder, and discovery, and then probe the walls of the labyrinth even further. Through it all, you'll be seen, held, and heard by a community of diverse and talented peers.”
“Writing is one of my oldest and dearest dreams, one that I nearly allowed to die. This class revived that dream into a confident possibility and changed the way I look at the creative process, giving me a dynamic range of possibilities for revision. Arya guides with a gentle, nurturing hand and a wonderful sense of humor.”
“Arya is a generous, compassionate, and talented facilitator. She offers detailed, insightful feedback, a spirit of boundless curiosity and playfulness, and invaluable tools for writing deeper into the heart of our stories.”
I have taught classes with LitReactor, Pioneer Valley Writers Workshop, Sundress Academy for the Arts, the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto, Middlebury College, Writers in Progress, Elephant Rock, and through my own teaching series. I love collaborating, so please email me if you’re interested in booking me as a teacher at your organization or partnering on a new project!
Selection of Past Classes
Pleasure, Illness, and Memory: The Art of Embodied Writing (6-week class)
So often as writers, we are hindered by abstraction, a step or two removed from the experiences and feelings we are trying to convey. In this 6-week workshop, we’ll explore the art and process of embodied writing, both on the page and as a way to put together a larger story. Through generative in-class practice, weekly craft readings, and regular assignments, we’ll learn how to inhabit vivid, sensory scenes, how to write trauma and dissociation, and how to bring the reader more fully and sensually into our work.
Braiding Paradox: How to Weave Complex Truths (2-day class)
We are always weaving between memory and presence, fact and fiction, sensation and logic, thought and dream. Our stories are woven, too – an amalgamation of paradox, contradictions, and possibilities. Our stories are never one thing, and neither are we. In this two-part class, we will explore the craft of braided essays as a way to render potent narratives that defy the single story and embrace the complexity of truth. In the first class, we’ll study braided essays by authors who model the weaving of divergent narratives into a story that is far more than the sum of its parts. You’ll leave with an assignment to play with throughout the week. In the second class, we’ll share excerpts from our braided essays aloud, drawing ideas and on the spot insights from Arya and other participants. You can expect to walk away inspired by the power of braided narratives, the beginnings of a new essay, and concrete tools and abundant inspiration for how to continue the weaving beyond our class.
Your Body Must Be Heard: Listening for the Songs of Your Self (2-day class)
In this two-part class, we will explore the body as the central site of memory, meaning-making, and transformation. In the first class, we’ll explore how to tap into the body’s language and unearth its stories through meditations, in-class writing, and ample sharing. You’ll gain new insights about the histories written on your body and their songs, as well as a short assignment for the week. In the second class, we will study the craft of short readings that use body as the “skeleton” for a story—an organizing frame that coheres a narrative. Drawing inspiration from these readings, we will begin to write stories that animate the body as a narrative device. You’ll leave class with the beginning of a new writing composition that is complex, compelling, and swells with possibilities.
Keeping the Channel Open (21 day class)
This workshop is dedicated to keeping the creative channel open through practice, curiosity, and community. They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit, so we’ll commit to 21 days of daily writing, to unlearn habits of inhibition and create new grooves that allow your imagination and artistry to flow. Daily writing, in response to a “portal” – dynamic launching points for your writing – will be posted in Google Classrooms and will receive informal feedback from instructor and peers. Weekly in-person sessions will anchor our class, offering a chance to come together for communal writing, process-based reflections, and ample in-person feedback from your peers and instructor.
Writing Towards Wildness: A Non-Linear Approach to Writing Memoir (8-weeks)
Do you have an idea for a book project, but feel lost about where & how to begin? Is there a story you’ve always dreamt of telling, and now you’re seeking structure, accountability, and community support? Rather than starting with an outline or at the “beginning” of a story, this generative and community-building class will be about writing into the wildness of a new project in a non-linear way, allowing the story to reveal its true colors over time. Come in with the seed of an idea, and each week, we’ll write in response to a different “portal” – a launching off-point for you to explore within the world of your book. Though there won’t be any formal workshopping, there will be a chance each week to read your work aloud and receive “on the spot” reflections. Throughout, you will be receive abundant support from the group and emerge from the class with the first pages of your next book!
Writing the Body (3 hour workshop)
Our bodies are made of stories. Heat. Sensation. Illness. Spasms. Tears. Even in numbness or dissociation, the body speaks. Writing the body is one of the most powerful ways to draw in a reader. As soon as someone names a sensation-- an ear twitch, a quickened pulse, the ache of longing in a shoulder -- we can practically feel it as our own. Through meditations, in-class writing, and class sharing, we'll explore how to tap into the body's language and unearth its stories. No matter your writing background, ambitions, or genre, this class will help you tap into your embodied wisdom and discover new stories waiting to be told.
Metaphors of Our Lives: Capturing Core Themes of Our Lives (3 hour or 2-day workshop)
When combing through the raw material of our lives, metaphors can become our best friends, helping us to organize and orient our story. They can also be a doorway into places of darkness and tenderness, helping us to bring the reader along for the journey. Imagine a story about grief that draws strength from writing about octopuses, or a story about displacement that uses mangoes as the central image. The most magical part is that your strongest metaphors are the ones that are most deeply embedded in your own life. We don't have to go hunting for them, or make them up out of thin air. We just have to learn how to find them, and then how to crack open their fullest possibilities, allowing them to lead us somewhere we never could have gone alone.
As a writer, simply showing up can be the hardest work of all. But what if I told you that 15 days of writing could transport you to new worlds of story possibilities? All you’ll need is 15 minutes a day. Every three days, you’ll receive a new “portal” – a launching-off point for you to explore in your daily writing. These portals will range from the somatic (body-centered), to the imaginary, to unexpected angles on a life story, and will build on each other. You’ll write in response to each portal for three days, leaning into repetition to push past the surfaces of ideas and uncover new modes of storytelling, continually pausing to reflect on what you’ve discovered from this process. You’ll emerge with an abundance of fresh material, ongoing feedback from the instructor and your peers, and the seeds for a new writing project.
Unearthing the Deeper Story
Do you have a book, story, poem, or writing project that has been gathering dust? Do you have pages of material you’re not quite sure how to cohere into a larger project? Are you continually asking yourself: “Now what?” In this 3-hour workshop, we’ll breathe new life into your work using transformative revision practices. We’ll explore how to unearth the deeper story beneath the surface, guiding your writing towards its fullest, most potent expression. Participants will bring in up to 5 pages of writing and will receive supportive and insightful reflections from the group as we go along. You can expect to emerge with new ideas and fresh perspectives on your story, a restored sense of excitement, and a multitude of revision practices to become your own best editor. This class is open to all genres.
How to Write the Story You’re Afraid to Write (4-6 week class)
Everybody has at least one – a story that you’ve always wanted to write, or that you’ve been trying all your life to write, or that you swore you’d never write. But we can’t force these tender, long-buried stories into revealing themselves. In this four-week generative memoir coven, we will approach our hardest truths with compassion, experimentation, and care for one another. Instead of pushing past our limits, we will explore how authors use metaphor, nature, delight, and fictionalization to “tell all the truth, but tell it slant.”
Where I End and You Begin: One-Day Memoir Workshop
The opening of a story is often what lures and lingers most with a reader. However, there is no clear beginning or ending to the narrative of our lives. As memoirists, we grapple with the challenge and opportunity to create coherence throughout the raw material of memory. Whether you’re deep at work on a project or just about to start, this class will help uncover inventive and surprising ways to open and close your story, creating the most lasting impact for your reader.