Meet our talented family of teachers—each an accomplished writer and trustworthy guide. Leaf through our faculty bios, profiles, book excerpts, and writing advice articles. You’ll like the people you meet.
Emily Rapp Black

Faculty Profile

Meet Emily Rapp Black

“I have never had an expectation of privacy,” says Gotham instructor and memoirist, Emily Rapp Black. “People have asked me personal questions about my body my whole life and I used to, as a kid, answer them, but now of course I don’t. I just say ‘I wrote a book. Read that.’”

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Doug Katz

Faculty Profile

Meet Doug Katz

“I’ve been really lucky in my life,” explains Gotham instructor Doug Katz, whose career as a screenwriter, producer, and director has been deeply motivated over the years by the generosity of teachers.

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The instructor is a master of her craft. Her understanding and insightfulness, combined with her vast knowledge, made this the most enjoyable writing class I have ever taken.

Thomas Rogers, sales trainer

Faculty Excerpts

<em>Florida Man</em>

Florida Man

Tom Cooper
The boy came inside the girl.Reed Crowe rolled off Heidi Karavas with a final shudder and moan and lay next to her in the gunwale of the rocking aluminum skiff. Some wee morning hour, the August air sticky with heat....
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Winter Honeymoon

Winter Honeymoon

Jacob M. Appel
During the final weeks of her husband’s illness, Edith befriended the demented priest in the neighboring bed. Father Petrica was a cheerful, silver-haired man in his early sixties who spoke seven different languages with a thick Romanian accent. He’d fallen...
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Faculty Articles

Josh Sippie

A Surefire Technique for Finding Your Voice

Josh Sippie
No matter what stage in the writing process you’re at, it’s hard to describe what your own writing voice is. From beginners to experts. It’s an abstract concept. Like, what makes your favorite pizza unique? Great question. Because you may...
Josh Sippie

How to Stop Worrying and Love the Query

Josh Sippie
Writing a novel is one thing. You set aside months, years of your life to flesh out characters, twist and bend the plot, build a world that is so believable that readers could practically live in it, and then you...