Listen to our voices here and here!

Each year, more than 150 adults in low-income neighborhoods throughout Chicago participate in our free writing workshops. Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA) sponsors these weekly workshops in accessible community locations such as public libraries and social service agencies, and welcomes all levels of writers. Most of our participants live in the neighborhoods in which the workshops take place: Albany Park, Bronzeville,Chicago Lawn, Humboldt Park, the Near West Side, South Lawndale/Little Village, Uptown, and West Englewood.

We encourage participants to write from their everyday experiences and to think of writing as a way to share their own stories and observations. All of our workshops are interactive and discussion-based, and led by an experienced workshop leader.

All participants in our writing workshops are published in our quarterly magazine, the Journal of Ordinary Thought. We also offer workshops on special topics with authors, academics, activists, and artists. These special workshops are open only to current participants in our weekly workshops.

Click here to find a workshop near you or here to see if our writing workshops are for you.