The 2nd and 4th Monday of each month at 6:30 – 8:00 EST on Zoom.
Writers read to become better writers by teasing out the brilliance in the stories we love. And then trying things out for themselves. Fiction writer Riki Moss brings us short stories from The New Yorker, Granta, The Paris Review, etc.; stories picked for their unique voices, or a stunning first paragraph, exquisite sentences, unexpected endings, the way tension builds in a conventional narrative or circles in fragments: like that. How does the writer pull it off? Prompts are provided for generative writing, so we hear each other’s voices without judgement. A two month schedule will be posted in advance, the files provided with enough time to read before each workshop. That’s what we ask of you; Read the story, pull it apart, delight in the conversation and write.
To join a session, email [email protected]. We’ll respond with the file and a zoom link. It’s that simple.
Here are the currently scheduled workshops for 2026 (Note: Feel free to email the host if you need any information [email protected]):
Currently Scheduled Workshops
10/12/2026 Flash fiction: 9 pieces by Emily Renkima, Lynn Mundell, Dawn Tasaka Steffler, Jennifer Murvin, Diane Williams, E. G. Ware.
10/26/2026 Bruno Schulz: Father August.
11/9/2026 Addie Citchens: The City is a Graveyard.
11/23/2026 Nona Fernández: The Illumination of Santiago.
Annie Ernaux
Amor Towles
Amos Oz
Andre Dubois
Alexander Lumens
Alexander Pushkin
Alice Munro
Andrew Martin
Anton Chehkov
A. S. Byatt
Banana Yoshimoto
Ben Okri
Ben Lerner
Benjamin Kunkel
Bud Smith
Carmen Maria Machado
Carrie Brown
Clare Sestanovich
César Aria
Claire Keegan
Clarice Lispector
Claudia Ulloa Donoso
Colson Whitehead
Cynthia Ozick
Conrad Aiken
David Means
Denis Johnson
Deb Olin Unferth
David Parks
Deborah Eisenberg
Dino Buzzati
Deborah Levy
Donald Barthelme
Don DeLillo
Emma Kline
Elizabeth McCracken
Francesca Melandri
Gobs of flash fiction
George Saunders
Ghada Al-Samman
Grace Paley
Gwen E. Kirby
Han Kang
Haruki Murakami
Hilary Mantel
Italo Calvino
Ian McEwan
Jason Mott
Jesse Ball
Jamaica Kincaid
Jenny Offill
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jon Fosse
Jorge Luis Borges
Julio Cortázar
James Salter
Joy Williams
Jeanette Winterson
James Clark
Joshua Ferris
Katherine Mansfield
Keri Miller
Lauren Groff
László Krasznahorkai
Lavie Tidhar
Leonard Michaels
Liliana Colanzi
Lucia Berlin
Lorrie Moore
Lydia Davis
Mavis Gallant
Michel Houllebecq
Michael Ondaatje
Milan Kundera
Mircea Cărtărescu
Mariana Enriquez
Margaret Atwood
Martin Amis
Mary Galbraith
Mary Gaitskill
Nicole Krauss
Olga Tokarczuk
Pam Houston
Paul Auster
Paul La Farge
Roberto Bolaño
Raymond Carver
Robin McLean
Rachel Cusk
Rivka Galchen
Roddy Doyle
Russell Banks
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Sally Rooney
Samanta Schweblin
Sarah Bernstein
Sequoia Nagamatsu
Sherman Alexie
Shirley Hazzard
Shirley Jackson
Silvina Ocampo
Tom Drury
Tommy Orange
Tony Early
Toni Morrison
TC Boyle
Vladimir Nabokov
William Faulkner
Yoko Tawada
Workshop leader Riki Moss
…Born in Brooklyn, then University of Chicago, San Francisco Art Institute, then ten years in a NYC loft working in clay, then Vermont. A master’s degree at VT College recreating the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii. Creating mummified bodies, first in wax, then plaster, resin and wire, then abaca paper. Showing throughout the country, as well as Japan and the Netherlands. Highlights: The Smithsonian, Art Matters Grant, The Philadelphia Museum, American Craft Museum, Shelburne Museum, Burlington City Arts. All good until 2008 happened.
Luckily, there was a novel in process. North Atlantic picked it up.When it went out of print, it was rewritten and self-published. Her work has been published in Unpsychology Magazine, Zine, Anthologies: For She is The Tree of Life, Aikido Is not just for fighting, Mud Season Review, (Print.) and others. A novel in process breaking down into linked short stories. Currently living with her dog in Burlington, Vermont.
In Read Like A Writer, I pick stories from the Paris Review, New Yorker, Granta, etc. We pull it apart. What works? What’s the voice, the narrator, the history? What’s magical realism anyway? Backstory? Structure? How does Kafka build tension? Empathy? And finally we bring it home writing through prompts, struggling to understand our place in this crazy world.”
rikimosswriter.com
rikimossstudio.com