Welcome to Writing Class Radio’s Story School

This website is your go-to for all your personal essay writing needs. Browse our site to learn our top tips and hear our craft talks. And listen to more than 200 award-winning podcast episodes to hear true stories and how to write your own. Join us for an online class or in- person class. Click the classes tab for more.

Our Story

Writing Class Radio is a story school that brings people together from all over the world to create art out of life. We have an award winning podcast that showcases great writing by people in our community and commentary from our hosts, Andrea and Allison. If you love true stories and get inspired by hearing other people tell their stories and want to learn how to write your own stories, then listen to our podcast, browse through our website, and join us for an in-person or online storytelling class.

Our mission is to help people connect more deeply through storytelling. There's no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories.

We invite you into our writing class. We couldn't live without it!

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Hey, this is Andrea Askowitz. Allison Langer and I met in 2014, when she came to my memoir writing class. Allison had a story to tell, but she wasn't quite ready to tell it. For the whole semester Allison wrote stories about her dog. I could tell she was a good writer, but I could also tell there was something she was hiding. Before the last class, I gave the prompt: Write about the thing you least want to write about. Allison came in with a devastating story about the death of her daughter. She continued to take my class semester after semester.

This is Allison. Andrea definitely didn’t let me get away with writing about my dog for long. She told me to get personal, which to me meant lose the protective layer I’d spent years building. It took the rest of the semester, but on the last class, I read my most personal story—the story about my daughter who died and the pain I was going through. The experience was transforming. I didn't feel judged or pitied, like I thought I’d feel. I felt sad, of course. But by telling my story I was able to move through the sadness, the label of “that woman who lost a child” and forward in my life.

In 2015, we decided to create Writing Class Radio to bring the experience of a writing class to as many people as possible. We believe there is no place in the world like writing class because class is where people work out their shit and tell the truth.

We believe the world would be a better place if everyone wrote and shared their stories. First you discover yourself. Then you are able to open your heart to others. It’s impossible not to like someone once you know their story. Join us!

Everyone has a story. What's yours?