At Gotham, we believe that teaching is every bit as much of an art as writing, and we know through vast experience that the ability to teach creative writing is a unique and valuable skill. That's why all of our teachers are professional writers and professional teachers. They know what it means to work at the craft of writing - they've been in the trenches - and they are expert at conveying the larger concepts and nuances to students of writing. And, most importantly, they don't just talk about writing, they get you writing.

By Britt Gambino

Gotham teacher Kellye Garrett never believed in psychics—until one told her that she needed to quit her job and start teaching. One week later, she got a call from Gotham saying she was hired to teach TV Writing and got a new full-time position working as a marketing writer for Sharp Electronics.

Kellye always loved mysteries, so it’s no surprise that when she went to work in TV, she landed a gig writing for Cold Case—a crime drama focused on disturbing, grisly murders. But after a while, she found brainstorming ways to kill kids wasn’t how she wanted to spend most of her time. Also, she loved the collaborative nature of working on Cold Case, but not the undefined—and often unstable—job path that Hollywood has to offer. Kell...
MORE | ARCHIVE Gotham teacher Emily Rapp recently released her memoir The Still Point of the Turning World: A Mother’s Story. The book recounts the months Emily and her husband spent with their child, knowing the child’s time on earth was limited. Emily kept notes, commenting that, “writing would not save Ronan. But, I thought, it might save me.” This is memoir at its most potent.
 
Here is the very opening:
  This is a love story, which, like all great love stories, is ultimately a story of loss. On January 10, 2011, my husband Rick and I received the worst possible news: that our son, Ronan, then nine months old, had Tay-Sachs disease, a rare, progressive and always fatal condition with no treatment and no cure.
 
I had been worried for some time. Ronan was experiencing developmental delays, missing important milestones. I would rush home from work each day hoping...
MORE | ARCHIVE

• Amy Shearn: In Poets & Writers magazine's Writers Recommend column, Amy Shearn recommends coffee. • Jennifer Keishin Armstrong: Simon & Schuster's blog Tips On Life & Love published Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's essay "Five Great Dating Tips From TV's Mary And Rhoda."  • Stacy Parker Le Melle: Stacy Parker Le Melle published on The Huffington Post her essay "To Be Free Like Malala," about the teenage writers participating in the Afghan Women's Writing Project, where she is Workshop Director. • Jane Ratcliffe: The New England Review published Jane Ratcliffe's short story "After." • Scott Cheshire: Scott Cheshire reads his story Romantics for the podcast In The Telling. • Amy Shearn: Amy Shearn interviewed herself about mermaids, dinglehoppers, and her novel The Mermaid of Brooklyn for The Nervous Breakdown.