Name: Personal Essay
Start: 2025-11-13T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-12-18T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Online via Zoom (link sent week of class)

Five Thursday Sessions
6:00-8:00pm
11/13 – 12/18 (OFF 11/27)

Creative nonfiction, autobiography, memoir, personal essays—what distinguishes the latter from the first three? Where do they overlap? And the most important question: How can you write a compelling personal essay? During this weeks-long workshop, we will look at how social commentary and personal reflection become intertwined to create captivating essays ready for submission. Attendees will explore work by Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, Samantha Irby, Morgan Jerkins, and many more. Through weekly craft talks and writing prompts, the focus will be for each attendee to reach their individual goals. Whether you are working on the personal essay for the first time, have a plethora of drafts that need chiseling, or are already working on a memoir-in-essays—this intimate group space will center on expanding your knowledge and expertise in the art of the personal essay.

Students can expect:

To read and analyze examples of superb personal essays
Weekly craft talks will build upon each other to strengthen editing skills
Writing prompts within and outside of workshop hours
The opportunity to share work and receive feedback—while always focusing on the writer’s goals
A welcoming and small group class where exploration and growth are encouraged

6:00 pm EST - 8:00 pm EST

November 13, 2025 - December 18, 2025

Online via Zoom (link sent week of class)

Meet the Instructor

Victoria Buitron

Victoria Buitron is a writer, creative writing instructor, and translator who hails from Ecuador and resides in Connecticut. She received an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University. Her debut memoir-in-essays, A Body Across Two Hemispheres (Woodhall Press), was the 2021 Fairfield Book Prize winner. In 2023, she received the Artistic Excellence Award from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives federal funding. She has been the series editor for the Connecticut Literary Anthology since 2023. Craigardan, Tin House, GrubStreet, Sundress Publications, VONA and more organizations have championed her work through grants or writing residencies. Her debut poetry collection, Unburying the Bones, is 2025's VersoFrontera inaugural prize winner and will be published by Texas Review Press.

$320.00

Select your order quantity above, then click the button to Register.

Weekly

Newsletter

and receive 10 free prompts

Give the Gift of Creativity & Self-Expression

Unlock creativity and inspire a passion for storytelling with the perfect gift—an invitation to a transformative writing experience at Westport Writers’ Workshop! Give the gift of creativity and self-expression.