THE UNEXPECTED shape™ writing academy

Award-winning author

New York Times bestseller

Redefining ambition

Teacher & speaker & founder of an

Online writing school

I’m a writer. My essay collection, The Collected Schizophrenias, was a New York Times bestseller; its publication is the result of having won the 2016 Graywolf Nonfiction Prize. My debut novel, The Border of Paradise, has received accolades and kind words from places such as LitHub, NPR Books, and the Chicago Review of Books; I was selected by Granta for their once-a-decade Best of Young American Novelists list of 21 authors under 40. In 2018 I received the prestigious Whiting Award for Nonfiction. I write essays that have been published in the Believer, Catapult, Hazlitt, and Salon. Finally, my short story, “What Terrible Thing It Was,” was featured in the Best American Short Stories 2018 anthology.

I’m also the founder of The Unexpected Shape™ Writing Academy, which is a full-service online writing school for people with limitations who want to write memoir and/or personal nonfiction. We've had phenomenal guest lecturers like T Kira Madden, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Leslie Jamison, and our students have gone on to nab book deals and publish in top-tier publications.

The One-Day Writing Kickstart

Feeling stuck with your writing? Is it truly difficult these days to get into the flow? The One-Day Writing Kickstart (a new Academy Essentials class) is on pre-sale for 20% off NOW until June 27.

learn more here

as seen in:

work with me

Write the book you’ve always wanted to without "overcoming" your limitations.

The Unexpected Shape Writing Academy 


We’re the online writing school for personal nonfiction & memoir writers who live with limitations such as chronic illness and disability, founded by myself, Esmé Weijun Wang, Whiting Award winner & New York Times-bestselling author of The Collected Schizophrenias.

We’re a full-fledged online writing school—with all of the seminars and high-quality curriculum that entails—that builds in support for ambitious, marginalized writers.

Eight recorded class modules taught by me, Esmé Weijun Wang, as well as brilliant writers like Leslie Jamison, Soleil Ho, Hanif Abdurraqib, and T Kira Madden. Co-writing sessions so that you won’t be writing alone, but with your fellow students. Chatting and sharing on Discord with your cohort. Monthly group coaching calls with me about whatever questions you have.

And in The Academy, you’ll skyrocket your skills on the journey to whatever your dreams are: publishing a bestselling book, connecting with underrepresented readers, and/or leaving a literary legacy. 

speaking engagements

I believe in eliminating the stigma around mental health so that we can create better policies and be kinder to others (and ourselves).

I believe in redefining ambition to better include people living with limitations like chronic illness and disability.

RECENTLY:
Princeton University
USC Gould Law School
Portland Book Festival
Zarrow Keynote
Starbucks Coffee Talk

 Representation

LITERARY AGENT
JIN AUH, THE WYLIE AGENCY
JAUH@WYLIEAGENCY.COM

ASSISTANT
CHLOE O'NEILL
CHLOE@ESMEWANG.COM

SPEAKING REPRESENTATION
Trinity Ray, The Tuesday Agency
trinity@tuesdayagency.com
Office: 319-338-7080 • Mobile: 319-400-9031

PUBLICITY
publicity@esmewang.com

"Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit—in state, in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever."


read my

essays/articles
books
short stories

Have your fill of essays, articles, short stories, and books that I've written over the years.

SOME PIECES

A Life in Banquets (Bon Appetit)

Peony (short story) (McSweeney's)

An Interview with Andrew Garfield (The Believer)

Revere (short story) (Lenny)

I'm Chronically Ill & Afraid of Being Lazy (Elle)

With
Love & squalor

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