The Detroit Writing Room opened in June 2019 as an inspirational space in the heart of Detroit for people to work, write and connect with a community of writers and creatives.
Nine months later, the pandemic hit, halting our in-person writing workshops, coaching sessions, book talks and more.
But Covid wasn’t about to stop us. We took all our literary offerings to Zoom and continued to help aspiring and veteran writers publish novels, children’s books, memoirs, poems, articles and pursue other creative endeavors.
Since March 2020, our writing coaches have helped people across the country and world tell their stories.
The virtual opportunities allowed Detroit poets to connect with poets in India and London during open mic nights. Our coaches based in Detroit have helped people publish books from the west to east coast. And we’ve taught storytelling to high school students nationwide during our award-winning virtual summer journalism camp in partnership with our nonprofit arm Coaching Detroit Forward.
While there is a magic that happens when you meet a fellow writer and swap pages across the table, we discovered the same magic can transcend through a computer screen. In summer 2022, we ultimately decided to give up our physical space and focus on fostering our community of writers wherever they are. We also plan to partner with venues across Detroit to host select in-person workshops and book talks.
Members and guests have access to our 30 professional coaches who can offer feedback and editing for business materials — such as website copy, e-newsletters, social media content, professional bios, press releases, speeches or grants — or literary works such as fiction, nonfiction, essays and poetry.
The coaches are award-winning journalists, New York Times bestselling authors, English professors and PR professionals. We have a literary agent on the team to help with query letters and navigating the publishing industry. If you’ve always wanted to write a picture book, our children’s book coach will get you started. Our social media coach can help grow your following to attract more readers or clients, and our career coach will polish your resume and cover letter so you can land your dream job. Check out all our coaches at detroitwritingroom.com/coaches.
