Blue Stoop, a literary hub supporting Philadelphia writers and readers from all walks of life, is offering 8-week writing classes for the 2020 Fall season, including Foundations of Fiction Writing, Foundations of Cultural Essay Writing, and Foundations of Poetry Writing. All classes will be virtual this fall – through Zoom – led by Philadelphia based writers and poets.

The organization is also offering shorter intensives, the first being “Creating the Creative Life You Want” with writer and founder of the online community “Permission to Write,” Ashley Coleman, on Saturday, Aug. 22. 

Blue Stoop was founded in May 2018 by two West Philly residents, Emma Eisenberg and Joshua Demaree. They met at the now defunct West Philly bookstore Penn Book Center.

Eisenberg, Blue Stoop’s director, says, “I’m really excited about the new and unique possibilities digital instruction will give us to connect with even more and even more diverse student writers throughout Philadelphia.”

The organization strives to make its programs inclusive and support writers of color, queer and trans writers, writers with disabilities, and working class writers. Tuition for full-length classes is $400 ($65 for a 3-hour class), a fee set intentionally to adequately compensate their instructors. To support students, financial aid is available for all classes, including full scholarships.

Blue Stoop will continue to provide its weekly hour-long program, Wednesdays on the Stoop, monthly Happy Hours and more intensives will be announced soon. The organization also continues to share COVID-19 resources for artists and writers and soon will be providing new information and spotlights regarding the literary and arts community in Philadelphia.

For more information, check out their website. To register for classes, click here.