For writers, a sense of belonging often begins in a room alone, perhaps around the edges of the day—early in the morning, late at night—when the world is quiet. We string words into sentences in the hope of finding our way by telling stories in the presence of ourselves that will eventually connect to another reader or listener. 

Belonging also arrives when we gather with others to share our creative discoveries. In the solitude of our dreaming across the page, we encounter a process—and a point of view—that only other writers can fully appreciate. The power of an image. The artfulness of a well-placed punctuation mark. The necessity of acknowledging our own and one another’s feelings. 

In this workshop we will engage in generative writing activities around the theme of togetherness, share insights with one another from our work, and reflect on what it is that drives us to write for and among others in the first place. In short, we will begin the work of transforming our writing practices into acts of situated belonging—to ourselves, to the art form, to each other, to the world.

Steve Edwards is author of Rare Good: Essays on Art, Autism, and Astonishment (fall 2026) and the memoir Breaking Into the Backcountry. His work appears in The Yale Review, The Sun, Orion, The Rumpus, Lit Hub, Longreads, & elsewhere.

You can find Steve Edwards on Instagram @The.Big.Quiet or on his website steveedwardswriter.com.

Rare Good: Essays on Art, Autism, and Astonishment is available through University of Nebraska Press.