IWL 2026 Application are now open! Submissions Close 3/22

Submissions for IWL 2026 are open until Sunday, March 22nd! We’re excited to announce this year’s instructors including Shelley Wong, author of As She Appears (National Book Award Longlist), Shruti Swamy, author of The Archer (Winner of the California Book Award), and Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, Yosimar Reyes!

Class Schedule (in-person at Kearny Street Workshop @Arc Gallery & Studios):

• Session 1 Poetry with Shelley Wong (Thursdays 6:00-8:30pm): June 3, 10, 17, 24

• Session 2 Prose with Shruti Swamy (Wednesdays 6:00-8:30pm): July 1, 8, 15, 22

• Session 3 Writing for Performance with Yosimar Reyes (Wednesdays 6:00-8:30pm): July 29, Aug 5, 12, 19

• Tuition is $600 for the entire program

• Limited scholarships are available (2 full, 2 partial)

If the application fee is a barrier for you we’ll provide a waiver, please contact iwl@kearnystreet.org to learn more.

If you’d like to sponsor someone’s application fee, please contact info@kearnystreet.org for more information.

Shelley Wong

Shelley Wong is a poet and the author of As She Appears (2022), longlisted for the National Book Award and winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review, New England Review, and Poetry Northwest, and anthologies, including We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word; Essential Queer Voices of U.S. Poetry; and They Rise Like a Wave: An Anthology of Asian American Women Poets. She has led creative writing workshops at University of San Francisco, the Ohio State University, and Kenyon College. Her honors include fellowships and support from MacDowell, Kundiman, Hedgebrook, and Montalvo Arts Center. She lives in San Francisco.

Yosimar Reyes

Yosimar Reyes is the current Santa Clara County Poet Laureate and was named the 2024 Creative Ambassador by the City of San José.

A writer, poet, and performer, Reyes is widely recognized for his compelling storytelling and exploration of the undocumented and queer experience.

His autobiographical solo show Prieto—a recipient of the Gerbode Special Awards in the Arts—has toured nationally to universities and cultural institutions across the country.

Reyes is currently developing two new theatrical works: No Llegamos Aquí Solos, in collaboration with Teatro Visión (premiering Spring 2026), and Si Dios Quiere, Regreso, a solo piece set to premiere in Fall 2026.

Shruti Swamy

Shruti Swamy is the author of the story collection A House Is a Body, and a novel, The Archer. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Elizabeth George Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Council, and Vassar College, and is a 2024 Rome Prize Fellow in Literature. Shruti’s work has appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeny's, AFAR Magazine, and The Believer,and twice won the O. Henry Prize. Her introduction to Ursula K Le Guin’s masterpiece Always Coming Home appears in the novel’s 2023 reissue. She teaches writing with the collective The Dream Side.

image credit: Shawn Poynter