Begins Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Wednesdays, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM PDT

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PDT): 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM / Chicago (CDT): 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM / New York (EDT): 9:00 PM – 10:30 PM

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Bio

Instructor Christina Berke is a Chilean-American travel writer based in Los Angeles with an MFA in Creative Writing from UNLV and an M.Ed. from UCLA. She loves to travel and has been to 40 countries, 22 states, 4 continents, and numerous cities. She is the inaugural Carol Shields Prize Foundation Residency Fellow and the 2022 Katharine Bakeless Nason Contributor Award Recipient in Nonfiction at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Her work has been supported by Sewanee Writers' Conference, Hedgebrook, Storyknife, Vermont Studio Center, and Ragdale. Her writing is in The Sun, Lidia Yuknavitch's Khora, Pithead Chapel, Teen Vogue, and elsewhere.

Who is this class for?

This online nonfiction writing workshop is for writers with wanderlust who want to turn their experiences into a memorable essay or memoir. Whether your journey spans continents or unfolds close to home, this course welcomes writers at the introductory and intermediate levels who are ready to write place with depth and purpose.

What to expect:

For writers with wanderlust who want to turn lived experience into a memorable essay or memoir, this course explores how place shapes story, voice, and meaning. We'll move beyond postcard moments and surface-level description to examine how travel writing can reveal interior change, cultural tension, desire, loss, and belonging.

Through close reading of published essays, guided prompts, and craft discussions, students will learn how to write place as more than setting—using sensory detail, scene, reflection, and narrative arc to give travel experiences emotional and thematic weight. We'll look at questions of perspective, ethics, and power, and consider what it means to write about other places and cultures with curiosity, humility, and intention.

This 4-week online writing class combines craft instruction, generative writing, and workshop elements to help you produce polished, purposeful nonfiction rooted in place.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will draft a travel essay or memoir excerpt and receive instructor feedback on up to 5 pages. Writers will leave the course with a clearer sense of purpose on the page and practical tools for revising work that feels grounded, vivid, and alive—whether the journey spans continents or unfolds close to home.

Readings

Readings will include published travel essays selected by the instructor. 

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Why We Travel, Why We Write

Week 2: Scene and Setting

Week 3: Characters and Writing the "Other"

Week 4: Revision Strategies

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Draft a complete travel essay or memoir excerpt
• Learn strategies for balancing scene and reflection in nonfiction
• Develop revision techniques specific to place-based writing
• Explore ethical considerations when writing about other places and cultures
• Gain practical tools for using sensory detail, narrative arc, and thematic depth in travel writing
• Receive instructor feedback on up to 5 pages of work

TESTIMONIALS:

"Christina so thoughtfully curated this class and really opened my eyes to what is possible within the world of creative non-fiction. I left a better reader and writer, and now have a group of classmates to continue workshopping with in the months to come. This was an 8 week recharge for me as a writer." — Former Student

"The instructor, Christina, runs a terrific workshop that includes prompts, lecture, readings. Never boring. The course materials are varied and captivating. I loved learning about--and working with--various sub-genres of creative nonfiction that were new to me. Highly recommend this instructor and the course. This was my first course with WritingWorkshops.com, and it was terrific. The instructor is excellent, smart, professional and knows her material well. I'm taking a second WW.com course now, which is also first rate." — Former Student

"After taking this class, I feel more confident in writing overall. The professor really cared about creating a fun, healthy, and safe feeling environment for the class. The professor was very thorough with explaining assignments, as well as having clear instructions for each assignment." — Former Student

"This was by far my favorite class this semester--I really liked that all the writing projects were all fun to write. Professor Berke always brought positive energy to the class and is always willing to help her students." — Former Student

"This course taught me so much. I learned about new forms, styles, and formats of creative non-fiction that I feel like have given me a solid foundation to go forth and continue practicing the craft, and ultimately write my stories into their new, beautiful homes. I am also very grateful for the community space this course provided!" — Former Student

"This was my first class and Christina made me feel so welcomed and really sparked wonderful discussions among the students. She inspired me to write more and I am really grateful she taught the class. She clearly enjoys the subject as well!" — Former Student

"Christina is a wonderful instructor. I appreciated her intentionality in her selection of readings, and the ways that she guided us in working through examples and applying the principles to our own creative work. The free-writing prompts were also thought-provoking and have given me a lot of material to work with as well." — Former Student

"Christina is kind, humble, and helpful. She clearly has a heart that wants to help writers emerge into the literary world. Her class was helpful for learning how to pitch to editors. I'm sending my first pitch this week, and her class gave me the confidence to know that I'm covering the basics in the pitch. It also feels like I have one more person rooting for me as a writer." — Former Student

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $330 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Christina Berke
• Begins Wednesday, July 8, 2026
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Wednesdays, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM PDT
• Tuition is $330 USD.