Upcoming Classes and Workshops: 

Online Craft Seminar: Writing About Parents (The Shipman Agency)

2 sessions: Sunday, 1/22/23 and 1/29/23, 3-4:30pm ET
Fee: $350

Writers spend many years unraveling their childhoods, and some of the most powerful essays and memoirs of recent years have examined the complexities of the parent/offspring relationship. In this class, students will read a wide variety of nonfiction and fiction addressing this topic, and learn techniques for writing about this subject in a nuanced and kaleidoscopic way. Through close reading as well as writing exercises, we will focus on how when we are writing about our parents, we're also writing about ourselves.

One scholarship. For information, please contact Kate Mabus, kate@theshipmanagency.com

Testimonials: 

"Anyone hoping to publish online, or anywhere for that matter, needs a guide like Ms. Filgate, who has brilliantly negotiated the wild eddies of the digital world to create for herself a distinct and winning identity as a writer."—Erik Larson, bestselling author of Dead Wake and The Devil in the White City

“Over years of knowing Michele and reading her work, I’ve watched her guide countless other voices into the public sphere with professionalism and care. Her enthusiasm for new writing and publishing is rare and inspiring.” —Sarah Gerard, author of Binary Star

"Michele is a gifted writer, of course, and a good teacher (gratefully) but above all, she's an amazing motivator. She believes in her students and helped my cohort build upon the best qualities of their writing. I've received paid opportunities from essays I've workshopped with Michele and I look forward to taking classes with her again!"—Bradford Davis, former student
 
“Michele gives such precise and inspired notes on work you’ll think she slipped into your head. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of writers (you’ll likely end up with a delicious stack on your nightstand to keep the well full). She’s gracious, kind, funny, and genuinely cares about her students. I was hesitant to spend the money for her class but it was worth every penny.” –AJ Heekin, former student
 
“Michele is uniquely talented at guiding writers of all levels and stages of the game into expanding the way they look at their work and develop it towards a goal. She has a brilliant knack for identifying what’s working — and what’s not — within a piece, and guiding students to shape an arc, a character, and a story. I would take a class with her again in a heartbeat.” —Elizabeth Kiefer, former student and staff writer at Refinery29
 
“Michele is a fantastic mentor who shows patience, humility, and generosity to her students. She’s an enthusiastic champion for all of those ‘am I really a writer?’ writers out there. You’ll leave her class with confidence in your ability and gain many opportunities to get to those necessary next steps in your writing life.” —Donna Tallent, former student
 
“Michele is the calm soothing voice you want next to you as you burrow into your writing. There is a sensitivity and attentiveness in her critiques- two important qualities that ultimately lead you to finding your way out of the labyrinthine writing process.” —Maria Lam, former student
 
“Michele Filgate, with grace and power, and without a shred of fear, excavates her own life, and our popular culture, to emerge with some hard, beautiful truths about being human.” —Laura Bogart, contributor to Dame and Salon
 
“Michele is the kind of woman you meet and think, ‘Wow. She really loves what she does.’ Her passion for writing and teaching writing pervades all aspects of her class. She enthusiastically challenges her students to stop censoring themselves and to explore their writing on a deeper level–the kind of challenging personal writing that means the most in the grand scheme of life. All of us in class were able to share a piece of our individual experiences through writing that we had never shared before.”—Cici Harrison, former student