When a Creative Writing Course Becomes an Invitation to Write

It started with a class.

In spring 2026, 17 students enrolled in Introduction to Creative Writing through Grand Valley State University's Bellamy Creek Program.

By the end of the course, the writing that the students produced, and the process of getting there, prompted a new question for faculty in GVSU's Writing Department: What if there were a way to create that kind of space for people at Bellamy Creek who were not

currently enrolled in the university's program?

That question became the starting point for a new three-part creative writing workshop series, supported through a MiCHEP Humanities Grant.

The workshops will explore three genres: creative nonfiction, fiction and poetry. The project will be co-led by GVSU faculty and select students from the Bellamy Creek Program, and participation will be open to people incarcerated at Bellamy Creek who are not currently enrolled at GVSU.

The idea is simple: create another opportunity for people at Bellamy Creek to write, experiment with different forms and develop their work.

But the project doesn't end with the workshops. Participants will select one piece to extend and revise for publication in a paperback booklet. The project will culminate in a showcase featuring readings by workshop participants and a speech by a formerly incarcerated author.

The event will also create a way for the writers' work to travel beyond the room where it was created. The showcase will be recorded, with a subsequent screening planned on GVSU's Grand Rapids campus. Audience members there will have an opportunity to hear the participants' work and take part in a faculty Q&A.

That conversation will then be recorded and shared back with the writers at Bellamy Creek.

The project creates a circle: writing, sharing, listening and responding.

It began with something relatively simple: a group of students sitting down to write.

The project is one of several MiCHEP Humanities Grants supporting new humanities programming across Michigan's prison education programs.