Begins Tuesday, March 17th, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays at 7PM - 9PM Eastern

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us. 

Micaela Blei is a storytelling expert, educator, and performer with a PhD in Education focused on narrative identity and storytelling performance. She is a two-time winner of The Moth GrandSLAM championship, and her stories have been featured on This American Life, The Moth Radio Hour, Risk, and Family Ghosts, among other platforms. Micaela’s debut memoir, You Will Not Recognize Your Life, was published as an Audible Original and hit the #2 spot among memoir and pop culture titles for the year. Her full-length memoir is forthcoming from Harper One in 2026. Micaela is the former founding Director of Education at The Moth. She specializes in helping people figure out they’re very, very interesting.

Learn more about Micaela in our Meet the Teaching Artist series.

Listen to The Story Letter podcast with Micaela Blei.

This course is for writers who want to find and shape stories from their lives – whether you're working toward a memoir, personal essays, or simply want to tell better stories out loud! Open to all levels.

Storytelling is an art form AND a powerful creative tool. By working on your own personal stories, you’ll learn how to engage your audience, figure out what you want to write & talk about, and really nail your story structure. You’ll also learn more about yourself and what’s truly important to you, both in and out of your creative life.
 
In this 6-week intensive, you'll find stories from your life that you want to tell and learn how to make those stories compelling AND fun to tell. You can use these stories as the beginning seeds of written pieces or performed stories onstage (think The Moth).
 
We’ll conclude the class with a celebratory “share” of our work with each other, and you’ll leave with strategies and ideas for bringing these new tools into whatever genre of writing you work in.
 
This class is perfect for writers interested in new techniques for memoir, personal essay, creative nonfiction, or anyone who wants to bring more narrative skill to their storytelling in any medium.

COURSE TEXTS

We will be listening to (and reading) personal stories from The Moth and other similar podcasts. We will also read a selection of essays about storytelling.

WRITING GOALS

Students will work on (and possibly complete) up to 3 personal narrative pieces (about 1,000 words each) and develop a toolkit of strategies for personal storytelling.

FEEDBACK

Students receive written feedback on all submitted work, as well as real-time coaching during live sessions.

CLASS OUTLINE:

Week 1: Find your story: What makes a story that YOU want to tell? What are you bringing with you to class? Let’s map our memories and get to know each other. We’ll brainstorm with journal prompts and out-loud prompts. Don’t worry — we’re getting in the pool whatever pace you like.
 
Week 2: From idea to story: what makes a story REALLY work? We’ll talk about some very simple but powerful concepts in personal storytelling, listen to some examples and start to take your idea into capital-S Story territory.
 
Week 3: Structure and Time: when is story structure helpful, and when do we want to leave it behind? We’ll look at structures you can use to make sure your story does what you want it to do.
 
Week 4: Theme: what is your story REALLY about? We’ll try out our drafts with each other and talk about some of the best ways to edit a story. We’ll read and listen to some great examples of VOICE.
 
Week 5: Old Structures & New Stories: what else do you want to tell or write about, and how can you bring your new storytelling skills to even more story ideas and narrative projects? We’ll talk about what this work can bring to your writing in other genres.
 
Week 6: Sharing and Next Steps: A celebration of your stories! We’ll reflect on what we’ve done, share our works in progress, and set some intentions for our storytelling lives after this. Keep in touch, please.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS: 

Students will work on (and possibly complete) up to 3 personal narrative pieces (about 1,000 words each) and develop a toolkit of strategies for personal storytelling.

Identify Story Material: Recognize what you want to be writing or talking about, and how to find an angle or focus for a particular story. Practice being kind to yourself about telling what you want to tell, no more, no less.
 
Develop Personal Voice: Find and trust your unique perspective and style. Your storytelling voice can become your writing voice and vice versa!
 
Master Narrative Structure: Understand how to shape a story so that it feels complete, engaging, truthful and safe to tell.
 
Build Revision Skills: Develop some concrete tools for editing and strengthening your narratives AND for helping others strengthen theirs.

TESTIMONIALS:

"Micaela was truly a delight. She is open, honest, and provides a wonderful model for the type of teaching I'd like to do... She was very clear about expectations, the rationale behind her assignments, and was not afraid to stray from the exact curriculum for our class's unique makeup. The reason I wish this class was longer is so that we could spend more than 4 quick days learning from her."

"Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us and leading us through this empowering, bonding, transformative experience. I've learned so much about storytelling, but even more about myself; the past few weeks have been incredibly special for so many reasons. Thank you for making space in which we could be both safe and courageous. I will truly never forget this experience."

"You were marvelous beyond expression. Thank you so much for being exactly what they needed (and wanted) at this point in their training. Your listening skills, your cultural sensitivity, your ability to connect with the 'audience' of new teachers through the Zoom screen and embody what you were teaching was wonderful. One of the participants who is a professional educator said that not only was the content brilliant and illuminating, but that the level of pedagogy and teaching method was so incredibly sophisticated and impactful."

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class meets weekly via Zoom. Come prepared for a super fun class with live interaction on Zoom each week and plenty of writing, reading, and talking.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

• Instructor: Micaela Blei
• Begins Tuesday, March 17th, 2026
  
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays at 7PM - 9PM Eastern
• Tuition is $445