Our Story
Briallen Hopper and Rebecca Rainof headlining an event at Princeton Public Library in 2019 as part of the Hard to Love book tour.
Plumfield Writing Workshops are taught by Briallen Hopper and Rebecca Rainof— writers, educators, and friends. Briallen is the author of Hard to Love and teaches in the MFA program at Queens College, CUNY. Rebecca is the author of The Victorian Novel of Adulthood and teaches in the English department at Princeton.
We met in grad school at Princeton almost twenty years ago, and we’ve been talking about writing and teaching ever since. In 2018, we designed our first class together, Writing about Family, and taught it “separately together”— Rebecca at Princeton, Briallen at Yale. We could tell right away that the class was special. We’ve each taught it several times since, to both undergrads and MFA students, and it’s always a wonderful and transformative experience. Students have described it as
“one of the best classes I’ve ever taken in my life”
“the most well-crafted course I’ve ever taken”
“so much more than a class about writing”
“timely and crucial”
“rich and deep”
Plumfield Writing Workshops are a way to bring some of the classes we’ve created at Princeton, Yale, and CUNY to a wider group of creative writers around the country, including juniors and seniors in high school, current college students, and adults at any stage of life interested in creative writing and connection. Plumfield Writing Workshops also help support causes we care about in our communities, including HomeWorks Trenton and Elmhurst Community Fridge.
Upcoming 2022 Workshops will be announced soon!
Past Workshops
Writing about Family
July 5-9, 2021
The Writing about Family workshop offers new and experienced writers the chance to read and discuss short pieces of creative nonfiction; to learn new ways to incorporate interviews, images, and family history into their work; and to experiment with techniques for evoking memory and structuring stories. Whether you’re working on a memoir or an application essay, the workshop will provide you with skills and inspiration to support your writing.
We will meet on Zoom from 11 am-1 pm Eastern/10 am-12 pm Central/9-11 am Mountain/8-10 am Pacific. Feel free to bring your lunch or breakfast, depending on your time zone!
This workshop is $550 and is limited to 16 participants. Scholarships are available. Email plumfieldwritingworkshops at gmail if you’re interested in signing up.