Hurston/Wright’s in-person Writers Week Workshop Retreats have been in operation for more than 20 years.
Our virtual Writers Week Workshop Retreats were first offered during COVID-19 quarantine and continued to accommodate writers who can’t travel to participate in-person or prefer to participate via Zoom.
Both in-person and virtual competitive Writers Week workshops offer selected participants:
- 10+ hours of writing seminars and discussions
- One-on-one time with an award-winning instructor
- Constructive, guided feedback on writing from peers and workshop leader
- Access to virtual and in-person panel presentations from publishing industry insiders and veteran authors
2026 Writers Week Workshops
DATES WILL BE ANNOUCED
A Nonfiction Workshop with Tieshka Smith
Non-Fiction Workshop Description:
Write Beyond Yourself: Decentered Storytelling Through Your Own Art.
Overview: This workshop is for visual artists and storytellers who want to engage with their own work in new and surprising ways. Using a photograph or image of a 2D or 3D piece as the starting point, participants will explore what happens when we decenter the obvious subject and instead give voice to something overlooked or unexpected within the composition.
What the students will learn (Goals/outcomes): 1. Practice writing from perspectives embedded in your 2- or 3-dimensional work that are often ignored, silent, or invisible. 2. Learn how decentering the focal point of a piece can reveal alternative narratives and emotional layers. 3. Develop short written vignettes that challenge assumptions, deepen interpretation, and stretch your creative voice.
Who This Course Is For: This workshop is designed for visual artists, photographers, and mixed-media storytellers who are curious about using their artwork as a generative prompt for writing. No formal writing experience is required—just bring a piece of your work and a willingness to listen for the story it wants to tell that challenges assumptions, deepens interpretation, and stretches your creative voice.
Non-Fiction Instructor
Tieshka (pronounced Tish-ka) Smith is a Philadelphia-based photographer, writer, teaching artist, and cultural documentarian. Her work interrogates placemaking, memory, and civic identity through the lenses of race and class. Smith is the author of Compositions of Black Joy: A Visual Chronicle of the Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival (2015–2022) and is currently working on her second book, Unscripted Moments: From the Diary of a Restless Lightchaser. Her photographs have been featured online and in galleries, museums, and publications across the U.S. A Chicago native, Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Northwestern University and a Master of Project Management degree from DeVry University’s Keller Graduate School of Management. Her website is tieshkasmith.com.