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.
K Hank Jost

Faculty Profile

Meet K Hank Jost

If you spend any amount of time with K Hank Jost, you’ll know reading and writing are his favorite things in the world.

It’s a love that colors everything he’s done—as a Gotham Fiction Writing teacher, a novelist, a founder of a literary journal, and even as a bartender.

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Kyleigh Leddy

Faculty Profile

Meet Kyleigh Leddy

But, like most writers, she grappled with self-doubt and the need for stability. These challenges often tested her resolve to pursue her writing. She fostered her other interests, keeping practicality in mind, and studied psychology at Boston College before completing a Master of Social Work at Columbia.


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The teacher was kind but thorough. She would ask why a character would say or do something, or point out that the dialogue was good, but there was too much of it, or a scene needed to be grounded so the reader would know where it was, what it looked like, etc. And she would ask “how did you feel about that?” I learned a tremendous amount from this.

Joanne Lupton, distinguished professor, emerita

Faculty Excerpts

Shaken

Shaken

James Preller
This is an excerpt from James Preller's latest middle-grade novel, Shaken.***It was the first time Kristy was alone for the day in an empty house. No problem. She’d just take it slow, recover.That was the word, over and over, recover.“That’s...
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All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey

All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey

Teresa Wong
Teresa Wong's forthcoming graphic memoir is about the legacies of upheaval, a longing for family, and the barriers one daughter faces in trying to connect with her immigrant parents. You can view an excerpt of the graphic memoir here.***Shared with...
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Faculty Articles

Robert Repino

The Essential Storytelling Device that Fuels Superman and The Matrix

Robert Repino
I am both proud and slightly horrified to say that my first published novel took over a year to write, and three long years to rewrite. And that’s not counting the failed book projects that preceded it over the previous...
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

On Revision

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Writers have a love­/hate relationship with revi­sion. On the one hand, we hate it because we want our pieces to come out right the first time, and the drafting process is so much more fun, full of prom­ise and discovery,...