March 2026 Modules

Has your draft reached the dreaded muddy middle? In this module, you will learn skills and strategies to examine a novel draft with fresh eyes. You will learn to do large-scale edits for topics such as plot, character arcs, and stakes to shape your story to your vision. We will also use collaborative feedback and discussion during class as you discover your own revision process.

Year of the Novel Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Year of the Novel modules at any time. Each module is designed to stand alone without prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the carefully planned sequence of modules will carry you from blank page as far as you want toward completing your novel. In a writing journal, you will track your progress and moments of unexpected, joyful discovery as you continue your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video here.

Last Seen Wearing (1952) by Hillary Waugh is hailed by genre scholars as the first acclaimed “police procedural” novel, a pioneering work of crime fiction that shifted the focus from the lone single detective to investigative team members and their process. Paving the way for modern police procedural novels – not to mention television phenomena such as Law and Order, CSI, Criminal Minds, and other series – is distinction enough, but Last Seen Wearing is also of literary interest for other reasons. The novel uses a real-life true crime case as a springboard for its fictional investigation, and, in its exploration of a missing student at an elite women’s college, it also builds on the tradition of the campus mystery, employs ingredients of the New England Gothic, and anticipates the rise of dark academia.

In this module we will consider how Last Seen Wearing serves as both a pioneering novel and a window into its moment in time. What does Last Seen Wearing tell us about the intersection of fiction and true crime? Gender and the Gothic? What has “aged well” in the story and what hasn’t, and what does this tell us about the evolution of mystery-related storytelling? And what can we learn about the blending and blurring of genres from this fictional solution to a real-life cold case?

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Lecture 1: Crime Fiction and Its Evolution
	Discussion 1: Part 1 of Last Seen Wearing
Week 2	Lecture 2: True Crime, Campus Mystery, and the Imagination
	Discussion 2: Part 2 of Last Seen Wearing
Week 3	Lecture 3: The Police and the Process
	Discussion 3: Part 3 of Last Seen Wearing
Week 4	Lecture 4: The Meaning and Legacy of Last Seen Wearing
	Discussion 4: Themes and Takeaways

An adult introductory piano course for those starting fresh on the piano, or returning to it after years of not playing.

Ready to begin learning Old English? This series of modules introduces students to the vocabulary and structure of the earliest recorded form of the English language. One year of modules prepares the student to read texts from over a thousand years ago! Each one-month module builds on the previous one, so students ready to learn Old English will communicate with our Director and Professor Swain to make the right placement for everyone.

Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.

Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times.

Called iyashikei - 癒し系 literature, this Japanese literary genre actually (and catually – there’re plenty of cats) means ‘healing’. These lighthearted, warm short novels are designed to soothe the heart and mind and to help us find refuge in stories that make readers reflect on what is important in their lives.

In this series, we will read a complete novel per module. We will explore the themes, the characters' arcs, and personal takeaways as well as the Japanese cultural aspects.

Each module stands on its own and you can join any month you’d like. If you’re looking for a relaxing escape into soothing worlds and discussions come join us!

This course examines how J.R.R. Tolkien constructed his secondary world with the deliberate craft of a mythmaker and the precision of a master architect. Designed for participants already familiar with Tolkien's major works, the course delves into the rich philosophical, linguistic, and cultural foundations of Middle-earth.

Each discussion session analyses the building blocks of Tolkien's mythological framework: his theory of subcreation, cosmological blueprints, linguistic foundations, character archetypes, moral frameworks, environmental design, and how these elements combine to create an enduring fictional universe.

Participants will engage with primary texts alongside Tolkien's essays, letters, and posthumously published materials to gain deeper appreciation of how his scholarly background in philology and medieval literature informed his creative vision—illuminating how Tolkien constructed one of literature's most enduring secondary worlds.

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure and Reading List by Session	Readings List
Week 1	Session 1: The Mythmaker’s Vision	Session 1 Reading list: - "On Fairy Stories" (essay): Focus on concepts of "subcreation," "recovery," "escape," and "consolation" - "Mythopoeia" (poem) - Complete - Letter #131 to Milton Waldman - Selected paragraphs on Tolkien's passion for myth and fairy-story
	Session 2: Creation Myths and Cosmology	Session 2 Reading List: - "Ainulindalë" and "Valaquenta" from The Silmarillion - Complete - "The Music of the Ainur" from The Book of Lost Tales, Part One - Focusing on differences from the published Silmarillion version - Selected passages from Morgoth's Ring - "Myths Transformed" essays I and II
Week 2	Session 3: Languages as Cultural Foundation	Session 3 Reading List: - Appendix F from The Lord of the Rings: "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age" - "The Lhammas" from The Lost Road and Other Writings - Introduction and sections on Elvish languages - Elvish poems with translations: "Namárië" and "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" - Complete texts with pronunciation guides
	Session 4: The Hero’s Journey Through Ages	Session 4 Reading List: - "Of Túrin Turambar" from The Silmarillion - Sections describing Túrin's character and major confrontations - From The Hobbit: "Riddles in the Dark" and "The Last Stage" - Complete chapters - From The Lord of the Rings: "The Shadow of the Past" and "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm" - Complete chapters
Week 3	Session 5: Power and Corruption	Session 5 Reading List: - "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" from The Silmarillion - "The Council of Elrond" from The Fellowship of the Ring - Discussions of the Ring's history and power - "The Mirror of Galadriel" and "The Breaking of the Fellowship" from The Fellowship of the Ring
	Session 6: Death, Immortality and Time	Session 6 Reading List: - "Akallabêth" from The Silmarillion - Sections about the Númenóreans' growing fear of death - "Leaf by Niggle" - Letter #153 - Sections discussing the "doom and gift" of mortality
Week 4	Session 7: Nature, Technology and Modernity	Session 7 Reading List: - "Treebeard" and "The Voice of Saruman" from The Two Towers - "The Scouring of the Shire" from The Return of the King - Tolkien's foreword to the second edition of The Lord of the Rings - Letter #178 - Sections discussing industrialization
	Session 8: Legacy and Influence	Session 8 Reading List: - "The Quest of Erebor" from Unfinished Tales - "The Notion Club Papers" from Sauron Defeated - Frame narrative and discussions of time and memory - "Epilogue" from The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth - Selections from The Road to Middle-earth by Tom Shippey - Chapter 1 "Lit. and Lang."