Are you a beginning creative nonfiction writer, or already halfway into your book-length memoir? Are you looking for a community of intelligent, compassionate readers in a safe and supportive environment?

I believe writing workshops are sacred spaces where a participant's emotional security is equally as important as the discussion of his or her work. I also believe that writing should be fun. Whether you're a beginning writer or an experienced memoirist, I'm committed to helping you find your distinctive voice and developing your unique talent.

My private workshops are held periodically throughout the year on the west side of Los Angeles. I also teach two- and three-day workshops through West Coast Writers Workshops, and week-long classes at the Iowa Summer Writer's Festival.

I've been teaching for 15 years, most recently at the MFA program at Antioch University-LA. I've also taught personal essay writing, memoir writing, and journalism at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, the University of Iowa, Northwestern University's National High School Institute, the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego, and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass.

 

Former Students

Hope's former students have been published by Random House, William Morrow, Penguin/Putnam, Macadam/Cage, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, New Woman, USA Today, Seventeen, The Jewish Journal, Calyx and The Alaska Quarterly, and also have work forthcoming from Random House and Da Capo Press.

"Hope's workshops are a tremendous education--her classes provided me with experienced blueprints from which to examine and crack the narrative code. Years later, I can trace the birth of my first book to the techniques, confidence, and literary tools that first took root in Hope's classroom."
— Caroline Kraus, author of Borderlines, (Random House, 2004)

"When I chose Hope for my first mentor at Antioch, I had no idea what a transformation I was in for. She didn’t just scribble notes in the margins; she helped me develop my own critical awareness, so that my writing could continue to improve throughout the MFA program and beyond. It was her engagement with structure and form that encouraged me to experiment, and my work has never been the same. She will always stand out in my mind as the most empowering teacher I ever had."
— Karrie Higgins, MFA, Antioch-LA

"In all my years of taking writing classes and workshops, I always come back to the same conclusion: I need Hope. There is no instructor out there smarter or more motivating than Hope Edelman. She's the real thing: smart, motivating, fiercely dedicated to her students and her work. Taking a class with Hope Edelman is like receiving a mini-MFA."
— Monica Buckley-Price, CA