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The Joytown Writing Club with Ramona Ausubel, a one-time Zoom Seminar on Saturday, March 7th, 2026
Regular price
$131.00

The Joytown Writing Club with Ramona Ausubel, a one-time Zoom Seminar on Saturday, March 7th, 2026


Unit price per

Saturday, March 7th, 2026

Live Seminar via Zoom from 11:00AM - 1:00PM ET

Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded. 

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

Ramona Ausubel's fifth book, The Last Animal, a novel, was published in April, 2023 from Riverhead Books. Her previous books are Awayland: stories, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, A Guide to Being Born and No One is Here Except All of Us. She is the recipient of the PEN/USA Fiction Award, the Cabell First Novelist Award and has been a finalists for both the California and Colorado Book Awards and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review daily, One Story, Tin House, The Oxford American, Ploughshares and elsewhere. She is a professor at Colorado State University, on faculty at the Bennington Writing Seminars and has taught at Tin House, Writing by Writers, the Community of Writers, Breadloaf Environmental Conference and elsewhere. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her family. 

What to Expect:

Writing is hard (and confusing and sad and mysterious) but it's not only those things. There is so much magic and luck and pleasure in making stories, poems or essays. Sometimes the world seems to tell us that the only way to feel valid is to suffer for your craft, but what if there was a way to enter your pages with sleeves rolled up, ready for effort and joy, both.  In this class, Ramona will offer exercises to enliven your pages and your orientation to your own work (you'll come away with at least 30 minutes of new writing), and there will be a lot of time reserved for questions and discussion and encouragement.

Who This Class Is For:

This class is for writers at any stage who want to reconnect with the joy, magic, and pleasure of creative writing while breaking free from the myth that suffering is required for good work.

Course Takeaways:

  • Practical exercises and techniques to enliven your writing and shift your relationship with your creative practice
  • At least 30 minutes of fresh, new writing generated during the session
  • A renewed sense of encouragement and community through live discussion with Ramona and fellow writers

Class Structure:

This two-hour live Zoom seminar combines guided writing exercises, generative writing time, and an extended Q&A and discussion period focused on craft, process, and creative encouragement.

TAKE THIS CLASS IF:

  • You're finding the constraints of your current writing practice too limiting.
  • You want exposure to a range of new approaches to bring to your writing practice.
  • You want an expanded sense of what is possible in your work in 2026 and beyond!

PRAISE FOR RAMONA AUSUBEL:

"Yeah, even better than I expected! I wasn't sure it would be generative, but was so happy to hear her talk about process and follow immediately with prompts. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. Ramona's joy for writing is so refreshing, it really feels directly transmitted to her work and her teaching. I felt immediately inspired and excited to return to work with these prompts. Can't wait for the whole book! Love you guys!" -former student

"I loved the hands-on writing exercises. Ramona is amazing. Take a class with her if you can.“ -former student

"This class met my expectations and they were excessively high. What did I find most valuable? It’s hard to choose. I wish I could have a Ramona living in my brain. She makes daunting challenges feel surmountable simply by seeing them so clearly." -former student

"This class far far far exceeded my expectations. A lot of very practical, step-by-step exercises with examples from her own work and process. Very comprehensive. This is the best writing workshop organization that I've found. Thank you!" -former student

"This seminar provided helpful and practical ideas for how to manage the various ways writers can and do get stuck. I came away inspired and motivated. Ramona always exceeds my expectations!" -former student

I know it’s hard to imagine, but The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel, is like a sweeter, more poignant version of ‘Jurassic Park. . .’ This shaggy elephant story is as much about surviving family grief as it is about living in a world doomed by climate change. And yet, The Last Animal takes flight with all the improbable buoyancy of a pterodactyl.”—Ron Charles, CBS This Morning

“Every family, after all, goes extinct eventually. The paradox that this novel confronts with such tender sympathy and humor is how to love the time we have left.”—The Washington Post

“This extraordinary story hops the globe, combining wild adventures aimed at reversing climate change with a fullhearted portrait of sisterhood, family and the ways we process grief. Charming, wry and original.” —People

“Soars where so many other books about family dynamics simply coast. . . Ausubel brings deep emotional truth to her work of dramatic fiction. . . Splicing wit and wisdom, The Last Animal is a bright-eyed meditation on what animates us, biologically as well as emotionally — but most of all, familially.”—NPR

“Sustained sorrow… underpins Ramona Ausubel’s new novel,The Last Animal. . The book also manages to be a mirthful romp of chicanery and derring-do.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Ausubel’s fourth volume of highly original fabulist fiction. . .marries an extraordinary and slightly bananas scientific adventure with a deeply felt portrait of a mother and daughters healing from terrible loss. . . .An amazing amount of humor, pizazz, wisdom, and wonder packed into a story that is essentially about processing grief.”—Kirkus, STARRED review

“The Ice Age meets the Anthropocene in this gem from Ausubel. . .Ausubel is at her best when exploring the ties that bind, especially in a family flung into unprecedented circumstances. In charting the parallel worlds of grief, scientific devotion, and adolescence, Ausubel comes up with a seamless global caper that brims with compassion and makes the reader glad to be alive.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

Saturday, March 7th, 2026. Live Seminar via Zoom from 11:00AM - 1:00PM ET.

Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

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.
  • Instructor: Ramona Aususbel

  • Saturday, March 7th, 2026

  • Live Seminar via Zoom from 11:00AM - 1:00PM ET

  • Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded.