At Gotham, we believe that teaching is every bit as much of an art as writing, and we know through vast experience that the ability to teach creative writing is a unique and valuable skill. That's why all of our teachers are professional writers and professional teachers. They know what it means to work at the craft of writing - they've been in the trenches - and they are expert at conveying the larger concepts and nuances to students of writing. And, most importantly, they don't just talk about writing, they get you writing.

by Britt Gambino

Gotham Songwriting teacher Jody Gray’s father worked on steamship lines, designing cruises and tours, which came with several fringe benefits—one of which was exposure to world music. His father brought records back from Sweden and the Caribbean and everywhere in between.  Later the family moved to Ireland where as a teenager Jody frequented pubs near Dublin, experiencing a wide variety of live music.

Jody then spent almost a decade experiencing European music in and around the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Holland. The more he traveled, the more musical influences Jody found. He was interested in literary and poetic traditions as well. “When I was a kid I got sidetracked into writing,” Jody says. “Then I realized girls wanted musicians, not dark poets sitti...
MORE | ARCHIVE Gotham Teacher Gregory Fallis has recently released the mystery book Dog On Fire.  It’s a series of eight linked short stories set in New England and featuring the same two investigators—Kevin Sweeney, a former police detective, and Joop Wheeler, a Southerner transplanted to the Massachusetts seacoast. They can’t afford to be choosy about their clients, so they end up with odd cases such as man worried his daughter is worshipping a pagan idol and a family puzzled by the human skull they find in an old trunk.
 
Here’s a snippet from the title story, “Dog on Fire,” in which the owners of an art gallery are desperate to find a troubled painter:

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 We were meeting new clients—Marissa M...
MORE | ARCHIVE

• Heather Swain: Perigee Trade published Heather Swain's craft book Play These Games: 101 Delightful Diversions Using Everyday Items. Learn more at amazon.com. • Tania James: Alfred Knopf published Tania James' story collection, Aerogrammes and Other Stories. Learn more at taniajames.com. • Porter Fox: Nowhere Magazine published Porter Fox's article 'Lost.' Read it at nowheremag.com. • Alison Espach: The Rumpus published Alison Espach's essay "Things I Wanted To Write Off As A Business Expense But Didn't." Read the essay at therumpus.net. • David Yoo: Grand Central Publishing will release David Yoo's humorous essay collection The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever on June 19. Learn more at daveyoo.com. • Melissa Febos: Salon.com published Melissa Febos' article "Rebel Girls." Read it salon.com.