This summer will see the launch of mystery fiction’s first-ever live-in writing workshop at Newberry College in South Carolina. Learn all about the program, from how it started to what it will feature, to how to apply, in this informative post by organizer and EQMM regular Michael Bracken
The science fiction/fantasy genre has long had the annual Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop (established in 1968), its progeny Clarion West, and similar workshops featuring intense multi-week live-in programs that serve as training grounds for new generations of SF/F writers. The crime fiction genre has not.
Until now.
What has become crime fiction’s first Clarion-like workshop began on February 23, 2023, when I posed this question on my Facebook feed: “If I or any other Mystery Writers wanted to improve our craft in a multi week workshop setting, what would we do? Science Fiction and fantasy have the Clarion, Clarion West, and Odyssey workshops. Literary writing has similar workshops. What does the mystery field have?”
The next day I learned Warren Moore had pondered the same question and that we had both dreamed of an intensive in-person workshop for crime fiction writers similar to Clarion. We discussed establishing one, had conversations with Clarion and Clarion West organizers, developed a plan, and Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina—where Warren is a professor of English and Creative Writing—agreed to host the intensive four-week workshop.
The Launch
This summer sees the launch of the Newberry Crime Writing Workshop, an intensive, in-person, four-week workshop focused on the fundamentals particular to the writing of crime, mystery, and suspense fiction held July 6–31, 2026, on the campus of Newberry College. Each week’s session will be led by an established crime fiction author, and the 2026 instructors include Joe R. Lansdale, Cheryl Head, Warren Moore, and me.
Workshop participants will be selected from applicants who demonstrate potential for successful writing careers, based on writing samples accompanying applications. Though the workshop is targeted at writers in the early to middle stages of their writing careers, more advanced writers are also welcome.
The fifteen participants will be housed in college apartments with classes held in nearby seminar facilities. Lunch and dinner will be provided in the dining hall, and continental breakfasts with coffee will also be available. The writers-in-residence will live nearby and be continuously available to students. Mornings will be devoted to critiquing manuscripts in a workshop setting. Afternoons, evenings, and weekends will be devoted to individual writing, conferences with the current writer-in-residence, and the completion of class assignments.
Tuition and fees include the workshop, housing in one of the college’s newer residence halls, and meals. A limited amount of financial aid is available.
To learn more about the Newberry Crime Writing Workshop, visit the website.
To learn when applications open, sign up here.
It’s been two years since I first posed the question about a Clarion-like workshop for crime fiction writers and Warren responded, and I’m looking forward to greeting our first participants this summer.
SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN 