Find Local Boston Writing Workshops and Online Events

Upcoming Events: Online and in the Boston Area

Writing the Unsayable.
In-Person. Grub Street. Boston, MA.
$85 ($75 Grub members)
Wednesday, October 4th, 6:00pm-9:00pm.

• Have you ever had something you wanted to say but not been sure how to put it on the page? Some of life's biggest experiences elude language, but poetry can help us express what is often considered inexpressible. This class will give you tools to use language to get outside of traditional narrative into the spaces of the “unsayable”—those spaces of trauma, grief, joy, and awe.

The Poetry of Attention Free Masterclass
Live online
Free
Choose the time that works best for you:
Tuesday, October 10 7:30pm ET; Wednesday Oct, 11th 12:30pm; Thursday Oct. 12 3:30pm
The class will be 60-90 minutes depending on the number of questions in the Q and A period.

• This is an immersive experience in the pleasures of poetry: read closely, listen closely, attend to your inner and outer experiences, and write together. I'll be sharing some poems I love and leading deep exercises of attention and writing. This is a completely free class, and this is the only time all year I offer it.

Write from Your Center: Mindful, Embodied Writing Workshop
In-Person at the Boston Book Festival, Boston MA, Goethe House
Free
Saturday October 14th 11:00am-12:00pm

• Join me to meditate, write, and share together. Break through into a more aligned, integrated form of writing.

The Poetry of Attention: Poetry As Contemplative Practice
Online asynchronous 10-week class with ongoing access and live coaching and practice sessions
$497 (Sign up to join the waitlist to be notified when enrollment open for regular enrollment; the class will sell out.)

• The class starts October 18th and unfolds weekly for ten weeks this fall. We'll study closely the work of six poets, Mary Oliver, Rumi, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Lucille Clifton, and Ross Gay. Learn from these inspiring poets, write your own poetry, and explore the ways in which the practice of poetry is informed by and itself informs every area of your life; explore poetry's role in relation to your world of emotion and memory, your physical and sensory experiences, your spiritual life, your relationships, your complex social world, and the earth itself. Connect with a wonderful community of writers, be inspired, and write a strong body of original work.

Past Writing Events in Boston

POETRY AS SACRED ATTENTION

Tuesday, June 6th
7-9:30pm ET/ 4-6:30pm PT
on Zoom and Recorded
Taught through Writers.com. See more here.

THE ART OF SHARING YOUR VOICE AND PUBLISHING YOUR WORK

Friday, June 16th
2-4:30pm ET/ 11-1:30pm PT/ 7-9:30pm GMT
on Zoom and Recorded.
See more here and here (scroll down)

On Birds and Being: Five Poets from the Word Works Read and Discuss

Mass Poetry Festival 2023.
Salem, MA May 5th: 1-2pm

Poetry Reading: Live Reading with Allison Adair and Nadia Colburn

Monday, March 6th 8:00pm. Cambridge MA Blacksmith House Reading Series

Align Your Story Course for Women: Online class starting early April and unfolding over 12 weeks.

Revitalize your writing and come to better understanding, acceptance and appreciation of your story in this unique online class that brings together the best of a traditional literary class with close readings, writing lessons and prompts, with integrated exercises including meditation and yoga. This one-of-a-kind class will help writers of any level come into greater alignment with their voice and their artistic process. At once deeply therapeutic and artistic, focusing on both process and craft, this class will get you writing your best work. Join a supportive, inspiring community of other women. 8+ live (and recorded) coaching sessions, and all the work can be done a-synchronously and comes with lifetime access! Join the waitlist to  hear when the course opens for enrollment this spring. See more and join here. 

Poetry reading with two poets, Mary Kim-Arnold and Kasey Jueds

Wednesday, December 1st at 7:00pm (ET). I’m looking forward to hearing them read their poetry (and to reading my own), and I’d love to see you there. The event will be both on Zoom and in person at the Grolier bookstore. https://www.grolierpoetrybookshop.org/upcoming-readings

FREE Poetry Reading, Discussion, and Workshop: Nadia Colburn and Carrie Bennett.

Online, Wednesday, April 28th 7:30-9:00pm (ET)

Sign up for free here.

Nadia Colburn and Carrie Bennett will read from their books The High Shelf and Lost Letters and Other Animals; they will discuss writing from personal and family experiences, the craft of poetry, and poetry as a form of healing; and they’ll guide participants through writing practices and prompts.

FREE 5-day mindful writing challenge

Start 2021 by supporting your creative voice. Practice with 15-minute recordings each day, specially chosen for the new year. Each recording leads you in meditation, shares a piece of inspiring writing and a prompt, and gives you supported writing time. Go at your own pace. Starting January 11. Sign up for free here: https://nadiacolburn.com/online-mindful-writing-challenge-for-the-new-year/

31+ Day meditation and writing course, Write From Your Center, opens for enrollment January 11th. Stay tuned…

While people can enroll in the course when they first join my list, I only open the course for general enrollment once a year. https://nadiacolburn.com/write-from-your-center-31-day-mindfulness-writing-course/

Align Your Story: Integrating Mind, Body and Spirit through Meditation, Yoga and Writing Online Retreat

January 22, 2021 05:00 PM – January 24, 2021 01:00 PM (Eastern Time)Taught through Copper Beech Institute

Do you ever feel that you’re not living in a fully aligned way, that you can’t access your full equanimity or energy because you’re divided in some way from yourself? We all have times in which we become out of synch with ourselves and with our own story–both our outer story and our inner story. And when we’re out of synch our energy becomes drained, make us both emotionally and physically weakened. But we don’t need to live that way! Start 2021 by readjusting, coming back to center, and reclaiming your full self.

See more and sign up here: https://www.copperbeechinstitute.org/upcoming-programs/align-your-story-retreat

Check out my friend Tracy Skuce’s FREE online book writing summit

Online January 18-29. I was happy to talk with Traci about how to have the right mindset and tools to write your book. Sign up to watch my interview and dozens of other interviews here: https://www.traciskuce.com/write-your-first-or-next-book-summit/

Poetry Reading with Nadia Colburn and Chard De Nord
April 27th 8:00pm
Blacksmith House
56 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA

Get Your Poetry Collection Published 
Friday, March 13th 10:30am-1:30pm
Grub Street, Boston
https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/publishing-your-poetry-collection/

What are the stages of getting a poetry manuscript published? What do you need to know both before and after you assemble your collection? This class will go over the practicalities of getting a book of poems published and will lay out the pathways to different options—from book contests to small presses to self-publishing—and the benefits of each path, with resources to follow through on the different options. We’ll address how to know when your manuscript is ready to be sent out; what to do while you’re sending it out; and ways to build your career and presence as a poet outside of publishing the book itself. Read more here

The Word Works Reading
Thursday, March 5th, 5:30 pm
Rosella on Jones, San Antonio, TX

Poet-Moms Reading and Fundraiser for Immigrant and Refugee Families
Wednesday, March 4th 6:30pm
FREE
The Firehouse, 2323 Buena Vista St, San Antonio, TX
Poetry Reading with
Nicole Callihan, Nadia Colburn, Arielle Greenberg, Julia Guez, Judy Halebsky
Aby Kaupang, Jennifer Militello, Lisa Olstein, Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, Marcela Sulak, Tess Taylor, Cori A. Winrock, Rachel Zucker
See more here

Poetry Reading/ Discussion
April 11th
Wake up and Smell the Coffee
77 Main St. Hopkinton, MA.
More information coming soon

Writing with Courage
Friday, February 7th 10am-5pm
Grub Street, Boston
Writing often asks us to be our most vulnerable and our most courageous. In this workshop, we’ll read examples in a variety of forms (poetry, memoir, essays, fiction) that go to deeply vulnerable places, and then explore effective strategies that writers use to turn vulnerability into strong pieces of writing. We will discuss the larger social and personal courage that these writers cultivate so that we can employ our own vulnerability in the service of something larger. We will do some exercises to get more comfortable with both our weaknesses and our strengths, so that we can become more willing to take risks and free up our writing process. The class will also give you some meditation techniques that you can pair with your writing to develop your own inner courage, resilience and strength. You will leave this class ready to create and share work that can have a bigger, bolder impact—for yourself and your readers.
https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/writing-with-courage-4/

Poetry as a Contemplative Practice 6-week class
6 Wednesdays starting, January 15th, 10:30-1:30
https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/poetry-as-a-contemplative-practice-2/

Poetry as a Contemplative Practice
Friday, December 6th, 10:30-1:30
Grub Street, Boston
https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/poetry-as-a-contemplative-practice-1/
Class is now full. Sign up to join the waitlist. 

FREE live online meditation and writing session.
Wednesday, December 11 at noon (eastern time)
Come with a piece you’re already working on or try something new. I’ll lead you through some meditations that will help you relax into your writing. This session will help you prepare for the new year and guide you through some visioning and re-visioning practices.
Sign up to get the free log-in information (as well as the recording): 
https://nadiacolburn.com/free-live-meditation-writing-session-and-q-a-session-for-writers/

Poetry Workshop
10 Mondays starting January 6th, 10:00am- 12:00
North Cambridge, MA
Small class in my home to study the craft and process of poetry writing.
To learn more and to join the waitlist contact me
https://nadiacolburn.com/creative-writing-classes-in-boston/

Memoir/Creative Nonfiction Workshop 
10 Mondays starting January 6th, 12:30- 2:30pm
North Cambridge, MA
Small class in my home to study the craft and process of writing memoir/ creative prose pieces.
1 or 2 spaces open, contact me for more information
https://nadiacolburn.com/creative-writing-classes-in-boston/

Listening to Your Body and Your Inner Voice:
Yoga, Meditation, Writing and Poetry Workshop
Arlington Center, 369 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA
hosted by the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy
FREE

Book launch party and short reading from The High Shelf
Thursday, October 24th.
Lilypad Inman 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge MA 02139

Friday, October 4, 7:00 pm doors open.  7:30 performance
Unearthed Poetry and Song
Featured poet: Nadia Colburn  Featured Musician: coming soon!

Home.stead Bakery & Cafe in Fields Corner, Dorchester (1448 Dorchester Ave.).
café and beer, wine and drinks available.

Monday, October 7th, 8:00pm Eastern Time
FREE live online meditation and writing session
with Bonus Live Reading from my new book—plus time for questions and answers!

The Poetry of Attention: A Reading
Wednesday, May 29th 7-8:45 pm
The Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
Join Michael Almond, Holy Crary, Portia Durbin, Varsha Kukafka, Jennie Meyer, and Zoe Trout, students in Nadia Colburn’s Advanced Poetry Workshop, for an evening of poetry that pays attention to the world around and within us. Come listen to poems, enjoy the cafe, and meet the poets! FREE with ample free parking.
https://www.facebook.com/events/462601127814877/

Embrace and Let Go: Yoga and Writing Workshop
Sunday, June 2, 2:30-5:00
Samara Yoga, Davis Square
https://www.samarayogastudio.com/workshops-and-events/workshops/

Poetry as a Spiritual Practice
Friday, June 7th 6-9 pm
Grub Street, Boston

Poetry As a Form of Attention: Taught for Grub Street, Remote!

Saturday, December 12th 10:30am-1:30pm (Eastern)
Online

For poetry readers and writers to deepen your connection with the poetic form.
In this class, we’ll explore the ways in which poetry helps us slow down and pay attention. “Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer,” the philosopher Simone Weil wrote. How does poetry help us approach the larger meanings of our life? What does poetry help us notice that we wouldn’t notice otherwise? How is this deep noticing a revolutionary act–either of wonder or outrage, a rallying cry for the beautiful and for justice and for spirit.
See more and sign up here: https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/poetry-as-a-form-of-attention-remote/

Publishing Your Poetry Collection: Taught for Grub Street, Remote!
Friday, December 18th 10:30am-1:30pm (Eastern)
Online

What are the stages of getting a poetry manuscript published? What do you need to know both before and after you assemble your collection? This class will go over the practicalities of getting a book of poems published and will lay out the pathways to different options—from book contests to small presses to self-publishing—and the benefits of each path, with resources to follow through on the different options.
See more and sign up here: https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/publishing-your-poetry-collection-remote/

Align Your Story with Meditation, Yoga and Writing

Saturday, May 4th 10am -5pm
Copper Beech Institute, West Hartford CT

Get Clear On Your Main Idea: How to Structure Your Book
Workshop: for anyone thinking of a larger writing project (book or otherwise), this workshop helps you see how the pieces fit together into a coherent whole
Friday, March 22 10:30-1:30
Grub Street, Boston

Free Five Day Meditation and Writing Challenge
March 25-April 1st
Online
Jumpstart your writing with this transformative practice
Sign up for this free event here

Embrace and Let Go: Yoga and Your Story
Saturday, July 28th, 2-4:30pm
Samara Yoga, Davis Square
$35 in advance/$40 day-of

Yoga classes often tell us to drop our story, but we can only successfully drop the parts of our story that are not serving us if we first learn to listen to ourselves. We can use yoga class to tune into what is happening in our bodies and the messages that are coming up so that we can listen more attentively, release emotional and physical blocks, clear out what is no longer needed, and find new pathways and stories for healing and growth.

Writing With Courage
June 15th, 2018 10:00-5:00
Grub Street. Boston, MA

Poetry as a Contemplative Practice
May 18th, 2018 10:30-1:30
Grub Street. Boston, MA

Poetry as a Spiritual Practice
May 6th, 2018
Salem, MA. Mass Poetry Festival

Renewal in Rest: Planting Seeds of Transformation
April 24th-26th, 2018
Copper Beech Institute. West Hartford, CT
Come be renewed with rest and gentle movement, mindfulness practices, quiet and sharing to re-awaken the creative energy of spring during this overnight retreat.

Step into the Energy of Spring: Yoga for Greater Creativity and Vitality
April 7th, 2018
Simply Yoga, Belmont, MA
Spring is a time of transition and new growth. This workshop steps into the new energy of spring by helping you detox your system and build new strength. The course will use both Hatha and Kundalini yoga to work with your body’s natural energy system, rinse out what is no longer serving you, and tap into your corse strength, the seat of your creativity and your ability to manifest.

Align Your Story
Enroll anytime. Online.
When you enroll in the class you have immediate and life-time access to the online material and to the community. Writing, yoga and meditation course to get through blocks, integrate mind body and spirit and give you tools to write what you want—and need—to write.
www.alignyourstory.com

In-Person Writing Workshops
Spring 2018. Cambridge, MA
Poetry and Creative Writing Groups.
Monday mornings and afternoons. This class is for anyone who wants to bring their writing to the next level in a supportive community. Small class sizes allow for much individualized attention. We will workshop, read, and write together.
*Reach out to me for details and to reserve a spot. Classes will fill fast.

The Courage of Connection
March 17th, 2018
Day-Long Retreat. NorthEastern, MA
Ask the big questions of what is required of us to model peace and justice in our world now and explore the sacred work of healing within social change movements.

How to Structure Your Book
February 9th, 2018
Grub Street. Boston, MA

Writing with Courage
January 12th, 2018
Grub Street. Boston, MA
Writing often asks us to be our most vulnerable and our most courageous. In this workshop, we’ll read examples in a variety of forms (poetry, memoir, essays, fiction) that go to deeply vulnerable places, and then explore effective strategies that writers use to turn vulnerability into strong pieces of writing.  There will be time for writing, revision and discussion.

Communicating with Courage: a Kundalini Yoga and Writing Workshop
January 6th, 2018
Yoga and the Ashram. Millis, MA
To greet the new year with clarity and courage, we’ll practice with yoga and writing. Designed for yogis and writers of all levels of experience, the class will invite you into your own deep truth and to align with sacred, universal truth. Come ready to sweat, chant, write, relax deeply and more.

Writing and Kundalini Yoga Workshop
August 30th, 2017
Beverly, MA

Living From Your Center: Integrating Mind, Body and Spirit
August 18th-20th, 2017
Copper Beech Institute. West Hartford, CT
Treat yourself to a full weekend retreat of self care, integration and growth with writing, yoga and meditation.

Writing Through Blocks
August 4th, 2017
Grub Street. Boston, MA

Poetry Reading
April 2nd, 2017
Cohasset library. Boston, MA
I’ll be reading my own poems and leading the audience in some writing exercises.

Writing Towards Freedom: an Afternoon of Meditation and Writing
May 13th, 2017
North Shore Zen Center. Beverly MA

Breathing Out Fear
April 29th, 2017
Copper Beach. Hartford, CT
A day long retreat to address living in difficult times with more equanimity and engagement.

A Larger Purpose: Why Your Writing Voice Matters
April 28th, 2017.
Grub Street. Boston, MA

Inner Evolution for Women with Jessica Ronalds, LMHC
March 25th, 2017
Acton, MA
I’m very excited to be offering this afternoon session with therapist Jessica Ronalds to deep healing and clearing work for women to start spring with our full vitality. Is part of you looking for something more? Do you get inklings that haven’t been able to pay attention to?The world is pulling you in a hundred different directions,and you often feel spent, but you are ready to live with more authenticity, agency and power. In this workshop, we’ll use meditation, some easy writing exercises, conversation and simple movements to come back into our centers, re-align our bodies, minds and spirits, and remember who we really are.

Embrace and Let Go: Writing and Yoga Workshop
March 11th, 2017
Om Namo Center. Cambridge, MA

The Heart of Your Message: Writing for Business and Beyond
January 18th, 2017
Cambridge Innovation Center. Cambridge, MA

Align Your Story: Afternoon Workshop
January 17th, 2017
MIT IEP course. Cambridge, MA

Listen and Let Go: Writing and Yoga
October 15th, 2016
Om Namo Yoga. Cambridge, MA

Listen and Let Go: Writing and Yoga
October 6th, 2016
Floating Lotus. Gloucester, MA

Fall Festival: Yoga at the Ashram
October 1st, 2016
Individual healing sessions. Millis, MA

Poetry Reading: NH Poetry Festival
September 24th, 2016
Henniker, NH

Listen and Let Go: A Yoga and Writing Workshop
July 23rd, 2016
Om Namo Yoga Center. Cambridge, MA
Come move your body and work with your energetic systems to become more flexible, sweat, and relax. In the process, you will be given the opportunity and tools to listen deeply to yourself, enter into dialogue with your body, create and let go.
https://omnamocenter.com/listen-and-let-go/

Making Sense of Your Story: Gifts of Healing Through Writing
June 9th-August 11th, 2016
Roxbury Presbyterian Church Social Impact Center. Roxbury, MA
Cory Johnson Trauma Impact Education Center. Roxbury, MA 

The Poetry of Attention: Poetry and Meditation
June 2nd, 2016
Cambridge Public Library Main Branch. Cambridge, MA
Hosted by the Cambridge Poetry Ambassador Program.

Trauma Education Night: Writing Our Stories
March 17th, 2016
Roxbury Presbyterian Church Social Impact Center. Roxbury, MA
Cory Johnson Trauma Impact Education Center. Roxbury, MA

Poetry and Winds Concert
February 3rd-5th, 2016
Symphony Nova. Boston, MA
I was delighted to write a poem for one of the pieces in this concert and work with members of my
Monday morning poetry workshop who also wrote poems to accompany the music in the concert.

The Literature of Attention
January 25th, 2016
In Person Poetry, Memoir and Essay class Mondays in North Cambridge

Yoga for Creative Empowerment: Yoga and Writing Workshop
January 9th, 2016
Kundalini Yoga Boston. Harvard Square, MA

Writing Towards Our Deepest Wisdom
October 16th, 2015
Still Harbor. Boston, MA