3-WEEK WORKSHOP | The Art of Facts: Using Research in Lyric Essays
September 20 @ 3:00 pm – October 4 @ 5:00 pm EDT
“Lyric” essays are often poetic and personal—but they can do so much more! Extend the reach of your lyric essays with accurate, effective research.
Open to 15 writers in creative nonfiction, nonfiction and lyric essay
Live On Zoom | Sundays, September 20 – October 4, 2026 | 3-5 pm Eastern
From hermit crab to braided, collage to fragmented, lyric essays are having a big moment. They offer innovative and unexpected routes into the familiar territory of personal stories and reported essays. In this workshop, we’ll look at several common essay forms and explore ways that research—including interviews and fieldwork—can enrich and invigorate your own lyric essays.
In the three weeks of this course we will talk, read, and write, with multiple opportunities to share your progress and drafts for feedback. We’ll also discuss how veteran and emerging essayists can best work professionally with editors and fact-checkers, plus tips and tricks on documenting sources.
This course will offer writers with a bit of experience in (or who are eager to explore) nonfiction or journalism a fun and engaging chance to experiment and add new tools to their practice, all while drafting a flash lyric essay. There will be an opportunity to get written comments from the instructor, and all participants will get a list of resources and further reading.
Over these three weeks, you will …
- EXPLORE a range of lyric essay styles
- DEVELOP your own list of possible essay topics
- PRACTICE effective techniques for incorporating researched elements
- GENERATE two drafts of a researched, flash lyric essay
- PROVIDE & RECEIVE peer feedback, and optional instructor-written comments
- LEARN tips and tricks for documenting sources and working with fact-checkers
Schedule
- Week 1 – Intros, notable examples, idea-generating prompt, sourcing discussion, homework overview
- Week 2 – Check-in, feedback-generating prompt, workshop of participant essay drafts,, assignment review, Q&A
- Week 3 – Check-in, workshop of participant essay drafts, fact-checking discussion, open Q&A, next steps in your researched lyric essay journeys
- Optional office hours 3–4pm EDT on Tues and 8–9pm EDT Thurs
This course is for writers who …
- with some experience in one or more: reporting, researching or essay writing; or who have a desire to explore these skills
- who want to add compelling facts & reported elements to their flash, lyric, or experimental essays
- who want to add lyric, poetic, or experimental elements to their reported essays
- who enjoy experimenting with prompts and shorter essays
- looking for brainstorming, researching, and fact-checking tools to add to their essay or reporting practice
Closed captioning is available. ✔
Think you might miss a class? No worries, replays will be available. ✔
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Known for packing her courses with deep knowledge, actionable information, and fun facts, Chelsea Biondolillo is a collage artist and the author of The Skinned Bird: Essays and two prose chapbooks, Ologies and #Lovesong.
Her essays have been collected in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016, The Lyric Essay as Resistance, and How We Talk to One Another: An Essay Daily Reader and is forthcoming in The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing the Lyric Essay.
Chelsea’s paper and mixed media collages have been shown in Oregon, Washington, and New York. Her image and text essay, “Weeds” was the winner of CRAFT Literary’s inaugural hybrid writing contest. She has a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and an MFA from the University of Wyoming. She currently lives in Eugene, Oregon.
Testimonials from past students
“I took an online workshop with Chelsea two years ago. As a fiction writer venturing into nonfiction, I needed a lot of guidance, and I got it. Chelsea’s lessons and feedback were immensely helpful to me. An essay I began in that class was later accepted by a well-known online magazine. I still go back to the material Chelsea provided as support when starting new projects. I can wholeheartedly recommend Chelsea as a mentor and teacher.” ~ L Doyle
“I took Chelsea’s intensive flash nonfiction class and was deeply impressed by her commitment, feedback, and warm teaching style. The class was online, but Chelsea managed to create a respectful and intellectually stimulating sense of community.” ~ J Zarankin
“Chelsea Biondolillo is an incredibly talented teacher. I learned more from a 1-month intensive workshop with her than I did in semester-long courses with many of my MFA professors. From her close attention to my verbs to her insights on pacing to her overall reflections on the themes of my essays, Chelsea really got what I was trying to do, and then made it better. Chelsea is also a cheerleader, and will go to the mat for you and your work. I can’t recommend her enough.” ~ B Johnston
THE FINE PRINT
We understand that life can get in the way of your plans. We want you to be able to get the most out of your course, and our refund policy is designed to balance your need for flexibility with our deadlines and obligations to our teachers.
Before the first class, you may request a refund (less a $25 processing fee).
After class begins, you may request a refund for the remaining value of the course (less a $25 processing fee). No credits or refunds will be available after the 1st class.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
