"While we're proud of our expansive curriculum and multiple modes of honing craft, what our program fosters is so much more than becoming a 'good' writer. Rather, it's about fostering an interest in the craft of being present, artistic integrity, and grappling with it all within community."
– Shira Erlichman, ISL Founder and Director
WHO: You + writers from all over the world
WHAT: Dynamic daily prompts + community + incredible visiting artist talks + the opportunity for an hour long 1-on-1 session with Shira
WHERE: The world wild web (via email, Slack + Zoom calls)
WHEN: National Poetry Month! April 2026
WHY: To break out of the ordinary by creating, risking, sharing + growing together. After session ends, stay connected with the vast, dynamic network ISL alums (AKA ISLiens) via our "Afterlife" Slack community
PS: You can apply as an "Early bird" for the April and July 2026 sessions!
APRIL 2026 ISL is now open for applications!
Founder and Instructor
Shira Erlichman is an author, musician, visual artist and educator living in Brooklyn. A MacDowell Fellow, her work can be found in The Huffington Post, PBS NewsHour's Poetry Series, The Seattle Times and The New York Times, among others. Her debut poetry collection Odes to Lithium was released in September 2019 and won the Publishing Triangle's 2020 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. She is the author and illustrator of the children's book Be/Hold: A Friendship Book. She is a returning guest host on the poetry podcast The Slowdown. She is a visiting faculty in the Randolph College MFA program.
April is the 36th session of ISL.
Meet the Team
2025-2027 Fellow Shivani Gupta
(she/her) is a behavior researcher, poet and facilitator with work featured in BBC, Forbes, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Baby Teeth Journal, Ranger Magazine, The Well, and more. Her chapbook my mother is a mixed metaphor (Rockwood Press) is out in 2026. She serves as the Dev Committee Chair for the Chicago Poetry Center. She loves sauces, baked goods and all round silliness.
"The ISL universe feels like proof of sanity and faith in unexpected connection, in a growingly isolated world. There is nothing but gratitude and pride in playing a little part in holding this corner of the world together."
2025-2027 Fellow Jasmine Barnes
(she/her) is a facilitator, community builder, and multidisciplinary writer living on the South Side of Chicago whose greatest joy is creating supportive and inclusive environments that encourage self-expression.
"As a Fellow, I love witnessing poets and poetry-lovers from around the world come together to create and relish in the mystical, healing power of poems."
Media Manager Katia Engell
(she/her) is an artist, often leaping (or wandering) from medium to medium, returning most regularly to the art of collage and of poetry. She works with older adults and people living with dementia, using the arts to engage and bring joy, but also to challenge the deep stigmas associated with aging and memory loss.
"I joke that whenever I find a space where I feel welcomed and appreciated for exactly who I am - they'll never get rid of me! ISL is one of such rare spaces, and it's a feeling I hope to help re-create for everyone else in ISL, in collaboration with the rest of ISL's warm, thoughtful, and intentional team and community of alums."
PAST ISL FELLOWS: Ashna Ali (2023), Judith Ohikuare (2023), Geleisa George (2022), Michelle Lin (2022), Dante Clarke (2021), Kim Mayo (2021)
Clint Smith
Naima Green
Past Visiting Artists
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Tommy Pico
Safia Elhillo
Hanif Abdurraqib
Jay Deshpande
Ghislaine Fremaux
Monica Sok
Mira Jacob
Renia White
Patrick Rosal
Marie-Helene Bertino
H. Melt
Cody Cook-Parrott
Krista Franklin
Camonghne Felix
Edgar Kunz
Mahogany L. Browne
Eduardo C. Corral
Alex Cuff
Jeremy Michael Clark
Diana Khoi Nguyen
Nate Marshall
Hala Alyan
Brittany Rogers
Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
Chet'la Sebree
Patrycja Humienik
Chen Chen
Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Ana Boźičević
Amy Lin
Carrie Fountain
Taylor Johnson
J. Wortham
Patricia Smith
Raymond Antrobus
Kemi Alabi
Morgan Parker
Tara Hardy
Jamila Woods
Ashley C. Ford
Yanyi
Eve L. Ewing
Kevin Coval
Nicole Sealey
Saeed Jones
Maggie Smith
Paige Lewis
Danez Smith
Cameron Awkward-Rich
Molly Pershin Raynor
Session Schedule
31 juicy daily prompts: They appear, day by day, on a website. You can engage with them independently at your speed and rigor. They disappear when session ends.
Core Group: You'll be placed in a group of 3-4 writers. A poem from each of you is due in your shared GoogleDoc every Friday; with comments due back the following Wednesday. Depending on your "level" (1 lowest engagement - 5 highest engagement) a certain number of comments are due. You also have Burst! dates with your Core Group, which are 30 minute meetings to discuss poetry, process, and anything that's coming up for you as a human and writer! These are spread out over the course of the session, very casual and mostly an opportunity to get to know folks in the group in a more "live" way. They're for you to set up with your group and you can always meet for more or less time!
6 calls (4 Visiting Artist calls and 2 Opening Call/Closing Call): Each of these is optional (though highly encouraged). They are always recorded for those that can't make the live call. All calls are 7:00-8:30 PM EST on weeknights peppered throughout the session. The Opening Call falls on the first day of the month. The Closing Call falls on the last day of the month.
Slack: While you have the GoogleDoc and Bursts! to connect with your Core Group, we use Slack as a platform to connect with the whole group. Slack is always available for getting to know your community, chatting, dropping poems into the space, photos of our pets, food we've been cooking, etc. It's a general space to just be together.
If you have questions about the structure of the program, feel free to email insurreallife@gmail.com
How much
does it cost?
ISL is about community,
so there are many ways to join.
There are 48 spots in every session. We offer various ways to join:
Flat fee + 1-on-1 session with Shira (13 spots): sliding scale $475-$550
Flat fee (22 spots): sliding scale $350-450
Nominate a Surreal Scholar* (14 spots): FREE
*Surreal Scholar positions are awarded to People of the Global Majority/non-white/historically oppressed writers who would not otherwise be able to financially afford the program. A Surreal Scholar is an artist (poet, writer, journalist, dancer, collagist, activist, parent, etc.) who you feel would enrich and be enriched by ISL. You believe in them and their power ad you want to add fuel to their rocket ship. We look over all scholar nominations to award 12 brilliant scholars a tuition-free spot, with the generous help of donations. Queer + Trans People of the Global Majority will be prioritized. Yes, you can nominate yourself! FYI: The Surreal Scholar plan is equivalent to the flat fee plan, which does not include a 1-on-1 with Shira.
All Surreal Scholars (as well as all poets who are People of the Global Majority in attendance that session) are welcome to be a part of a Break Off Group. This is a space to connect separately from the greater group. Alongside support and connection within the group, the group will have an exclusive Visiting Artist talk with a Visiting Artist.
Surreal Scholar positions are made possible by you, the community. To make a donation to the Surreal Scholar Fund, establishing 14 permanent, tuition-free ISL spots for non-white/historically oppressed writers, click here:
Testimonials
Jen Haines
24X Surrealist
"Imagine being surrounded by a new group of best friends and you’re up all night creating your best and most outrageous work together. And at the same time, you’re trying to save the world through solidarity and poetry through an activist lens. That’s what October ISL was like!”
Mahira Kakkar
August 2020 Surrealist
“Shira is one of the most incisive, thoughtful and generous teachers I have ever met. She met me at the edge of my learning and with a few questions was able to help me go further - she gave me a bunch of tools I didn't know were available to me. Her love of teaching and her respect for learners, their humanity and their work was so evident. It felt like a great gift to be exposed to her way of thinking, her rigor (which also felt like committed play) and consideration. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and hope to be able to take this class and do a one on one with her again, in the future.”
Molly Pershin Raynor
4X Surrealist
Kristin Lueke
August 2020 Surrealist
“GODDAMN MAGNIFICENT. i cried. i laughed! i cried some more. how did we generate 6 drafts in under an hour? how did i learn the life-changing magic of giving a poem a name?! shira lovingly pushed me to consider not just my practice but my perspective; she offered beautiful insight, clear strategies and, most critically, she modeled for me what a playful, curious approach to poetry can look and feel like, and it's exactly where i'd like to build my castle. i do believe i am changed through this experience. all my love forever.”
"Wow. I felt as if I grew leaps and bounds with that session. It put to words so much that I hadn't known how to articulate before, and made me feel like I was a real poet...It was so special – Shira's generosity was so appreciated, and I felt as though I was uncovering so much about my work in that hour."
Emma Younger
August 2020 Surrealist
Brett Burns
August 2018 Surrealist
“I think you’d struggle to find a better writing class for the money. First of all, I was blown away by the brilliance and creativity of the writing prompts themselves—always thoughtful, thought provoking and inspiring. In addition, the conversations with the visiting poets fascinated everyone. How often do you get to hear directly from a writer about their own process and practice?? Last but not least, definitely book a 1-on-1 session with Shira!!! Aside from helping me expertly edit and revise two pieces I’d worked on from the class, Shira left me feeling encouraged and capable. What a gift!!!”
Laurel Shimasaki
January 2020 Surrealist
“A new prompt in your inbox! Everyday! There's no better way to kill a case of writer's block. While the pace is intensive, ISL is the warmest and most encouraging workshop experience I have had. Shira does an amazing job at setting the tone and it is contagious. It's a wonderful environment to experiment and make new work.”
"Thank you for making this such a safe space to share. This workshop helped me become fluent in poetry again. When I'm writing consistently, everything goes from mundane daily details to possible material for a poem, so thank you, thank you."
e bond
October 2023 Surrealist
"I was so inspired by the visiting artist calls. Let's face it, October 2023 was a tough time to be human and those calls made me feel connected and inspired even when everything felt a bit futile."
Paulina Ukrainets
January 2020 Surrealist
“ISL has been the most powerful reminder of the kind of magic you're able to generate just through paying attention. Shira's spectacular prompts & the greater ISL community have created the most tender space, in which I was able to fall in love with so much of life, because so much of life was suddenly deemed worthy of attention.”
