»Free Creative Writing Workshop with Richard Bausch

A free workshop open to non-Chapman members of the community, who will be selected via manuscript submission.

Man with blue baseball cap and glasses. Hand on his cheek. This free writing workshop is taught by renowned novelist and short-story master Richard Bausch. The workshop is only open to members of the community (not to students at Chapman, who already have many opportunities to take writing classes). "We don't put any limitations on applicants, either by age or by background. Who can tell where the next good writer will come from? A selected participant could be a high school student, unemployed, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a custodian or restaurant worker, a retired person, a truck driver. Frankly, the more diversity in the class, the better." said Bausch. We encourage everyone to apply – so dust off that manuscript you've been working on, or write a new one and submit it.

Accepting Applications until August 22, 2025

  • Forward writing samples/manuscripts to Richard Bausch at rcbausch@gmail.com. Writing samples can be up to 10 pages (please, no more then 10 pages). Double-spaced and numbered. Microsoft Word document (no PDFs). Prose Fiction or Creative Nonfiction, and file MUST INCLUDE all of the following: the writer's name, mailing address, phone number, and email address attached.
  • Submissions need not be completed stories, but should represent what you consider to be a good sample of your best writing.
  • Bausch will personally read and consider all manuscripts and select ten participants for the workshop, who will be notified shortly thereafter.
  • Free workshop and available ONLY to members of the surrounding Southern California community (OC, LA, Riverside, San Diego, etc.).
  • Class begins September 2, 2025, running the duration of the semester, through December 9, 2025, held on Tuesdays, 7-10p.m.

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Participant Testimonials

  • "Richard Bausch's community workshop quite literally changed the course of my life. I studied writing as an undergrad at USC, but after five years of post-grad struggle to hold several day jobs while writing novels on the side, I was ready to throw in the metaphorical towel. When I saw that Chapman was offering a free workshop, I applied without any real hope of getting chosen. After that, I enrolled in a postbac program with plans to go to medical school.

    But then Richard called.

    The semester I spent at Chapman in the community workshop was one of the busiest of my life. I had two jobs, was taking chemistry and physics at a college, and was still trying to write every day. If it weren't for Richard's mentorship and priceless creative wisdom, then I would have put my passions aside in the name of so-called pragmatism. But what could be more pragmatic than working from and with your passion? What good has ever come from giving up? I chose not to enroll in science classes for the next semester, realizing that I was a writer and could not wholeheartedly pursue anything else.

    Working with Richard is unlike any other workshop experience. He doesn't try to change writers; he helps them to grow organically into their own voices. After the workshop. I was awarded a fellowship to attend Chapman's MFA program in Creative Writing, and now I pursue writing very nearly full-time. As I said, the course of my life has changed irrevocably and for the better because I sent in that application."

    -Jenny Howard

    "When sitting in a room with Richard, you often forget that you are in the presence of one of America's most accomplished and award winning story tellers. His humility and kindness win out, and he makes you feel as if you are a colleague and not a student. However, his genius not only in the craft, but also in its instruction are never far away. I have not worked, or laughed as hard in any other workshop. I have made a number of dear and lifelong friends, chief among them is Richard himself."

    -Joshua Prichard

    "Mr. Bausch and the group helped me with two pieces of work, a travel essay and a short story.  Based on the workshop feedback regarding tonality and the through-line of the piece, I split the travel essay into two separate pieces and sold them both for publication. The short story, revised according to comments of the group and Mr. Bausch, has received interest from a publisher and is in its final stages of completion. I have not been to many other workshops, but this one stood apart for its emphasis on a free flowing discussion in a safe environment. Having this kind of camaraderie and a forum for sharing our work with smart, accomplished writers makes all the difference in the world."

    -Richard A. Smith

Submission Details

  • Submissions may be from 10 pages at the most.
  • Submissions must be prose fiction or creative nonfiction.
  • Submissions need not be completed stories, but should represent what you consider to be a good sample of your best writing.
  • Manuscripts should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents (NO PDFs).
  • All submissions must include all of the following: the writer's name, mailing address, phone number and email address. 
  • Applicants should live within driving distance of Chapman University (OC, LA, Riverside, San Diego, etc.)

 

About Richard Bausch

  • An acknowledged master of both the novel and short-story form, Richard Bausch has seen his work published in Esquire, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, GQ, and The Southern Review, among many others, and anthologized in New Stories from the South, The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, The Pushcart Prize Stories, The Vintage Book of the Contemporary American Short Story, The Granta Book of the American Short Story and more. 

    He is the author of thirteen novels and ten collections of stories, including the novels Violence; In The Night Season; Hello to the Cannibals; Peace; Before, During, After; and Playhouse; and the story collections The Selected Stories of Richard Bausch (The Modern Library), Wives & Lovers: Three Short Novels; Living in the Weather of the World; and, most recently, The Fate of Others. Three full length motion pictures have been made from his work. He has won two National Magazine Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, and the Prestigious REA Award for Influence on the Short Story as a Form. 

    Richard Bausch has taught at The University of Iowa, The University of Virginia, Hollins College, George Mason University, The University of Memphis, and Stanford University. He launched the first version of his free workshop at George Mason University in 1995.

    Prior to joining the Chapman faculty, Bausch taught creative writing on the faculties of George Mason University and the University of Memphis, where he also launched highly successful versions of his free Creative Writing Workshop.