World BuildingMaster ClassIn-Person
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2026
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m
Location To Be Announced
The world around us is a construct. We could have built it differently—with different ways of life, different laws, different rewards, different taboos. When a writer imagines and builds a new world, it helps us “see the seams” in our own society’s fabric, which is the first step toward positive change. In this creative workshop, inspired by the work of N. K. Jemisin, we will try our hands at building imaginary worlds and then turn our attention to creating compelling characters to inhabit them.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, CREATIVE WRITING
N. K. Jemisin
N. K. Jemisin is a fantasy author and 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Since beginning her professional career in the early 2000s, her short fiction and novels have been recognized with multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Most of her works have been optioned for television or film, and collectively her novels, including the Broken Earth trilogy, have sold over two million copies. After twenty years working in higher education as an applied counseling psychologist, she “retired” in 2016 to become a full-time writer, writing instructor, and public speaker. Her speculative works range widely in theme, though with repeated motifs: resistance and oppression, loneliness and belonging, and Wouldn’t It Be Cool If This One Ridiculous Thing Happened. In her spare time, she enjoys tabletop and video games, biking, fanfiction, and urban gardening. She lives and writes in Brooklyn, with her son and two cats.
Headshot photo taken by laura hanifin.