Fall in 2020, what a strange time to be alive. Lives have moved online, everyone seeking connection from within their houses, and for the writers out there a whole, new world of perspective, imagery, and tenor has been thrust into our hands.

If ever there was a time to write, it’s now.

*Alyssa Morhardt-Goldstein, poetry instructor*

Since Wildwood’s founding in 2018, we’ve offered private, poetry writing lessons as part of our comprehensive, arts education. As an award-winning poet, Alyssa Morhardt-Goldstein has been spearheading our writing department. Alyssa is the author of Nympholepsy (Inside the Castle, 2018), which was a finalist for the 2017 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize selected by Bhanu Kapil. Excerpts from Nympholepsy are also forthcoming in the Best American Experimental Writing, fall 2020, selected by Joyelle McSweeney and Carmen Maria Machado. She is also the author of Quiet (The New School University Press, 2013), which was the winner of The New School University Press contest selected by Matthea Harvey; and semifinalist for the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize for her collection, Forniphilia, which is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press in 2020. Alyssa is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Diorama, a hybrid-life poetry series with events hosted by Atlas Obscura and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art; and the Founding Editor of [saUnd] Literary Magazine, the cross-genre publication on contemporary musico-poetics. During her years in NYC, Alyssa was the VP of Program Development and Design for The Poetry Society of New York, for which she created the NYC Children's Poetry Festival.

We’re now excited to announce the official expansion of our writing department! Created specifically for adults and teens, we’ve put together a fabulous collection of group writing classes, monthly writing workshops, and more private, writing lessons in a variety of genres now including poetry, creative nonfiction, and short fiction. (Note: Wildwood will also continue to offer private, poetry lessons to the 8yrs-12yrs crowd for our young writers.)

With this expansion, we’re thrilled to announce the addition of a new creative writing instructor — Brookes Moody. Brookes brings an exciting roster of new online classes to our existing curriculum, including courses on personal essay and memoir, short fiction, as well as more poetry lessons that have been a staple of Wildwood’s offerings.

Brookes is a Ph.D. candidate in English and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee currently completing her dissertation, a collection of intertextual poetry inspired by classic rock lyrics. While much of her own creative work explores referential art and the intersection of music and poetry, she has concentrated extensively on modernist English-language poetry during her graduate studies and is thrilled to be bringing that knowledge to learners here at Wildwood. Her other concentrations include place-based and nature writing.

We know — she couldn’t possibly be a more perfect addition!

Brookes comes to Wildwood having taught creative writing and literary journal production to undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin for three years. Over this time, she gained experience instructing students in numerous genres. She also has experience teaching composition and research writing at the college level. She is passionate about continuing education and enjoys the mutual intellectual and creative reward that comes from working with mature students. Outside of an academic structure, Brookes has experience instructing adult poetry workshops and a multi-genre course on nature writing during the summer at the Jamestown Art Center in her hometown of Jamestown, Rhode Island. Through her community outreach work, Brookes has lead writing workshops with the Kelly Senior Center in Cudahy, Wisconsin.

In addition to her teaching career, Brookes prides herself on the literary positions she has held with various publications and writing contests. For three years she served as a judge for the Delaware region in the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers’ Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards, assessing the work of middle and high school age students. Brookes co-founded an online literary journal called The Mackinac, which is on a brief hiatus, and has held the position of Development Manager of Cream City Review, a graduate literary journal operating out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Brookes assisted with live reading events for Cream City Review and conceived and implemented a community outreach branch of the journal. She was also one of the coordinators of the Eat Local::Read Local poetry series, a celebration of Poetry Month that showcased partnerships between local restaurants and poets from Wisconsin. Brookes was honored to supervise students publishing the undergraduate literary journal, Furrow, the 2018 winner of AWP's National Program Director's Content Prize. In that role, her duties included contributing to the course textbook, overseeing the marketing, fundraising, and event planning teams, and managing the magazine’s poetry editors.

Having published poetry and prose, Brookes is eager to lend her expertise as a writer, editor, and teacher to the Wildwood community. Whether you are looking for guidance as a novice writer, polishing up an existing manuscript, or feel your journey is somewhere in between, Brookes will have a course that is appropriate for you. We encourage writers high school age and above, to read more of Brookes’ course offerings and sign up for the Fall Semester.

For all details, day, and times for Wildwood’s new, fall writing courses and lessons, click here. We can’t wait to see what you’re writing!

Meet Wildwood's Writing Teachers