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THE UNEXPECTED shape™ writing academy

Hi, loves. I'm Esmé (EZ-May)

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 Unexpected Shape™ Writing Academy is a singular experience to develop the skills of students living with chronic illness, disability, caregiving responsibilities, or any other limitations that stand in the way of their writerly dreams. 

In an world where everyone else seems to be able to squeeze every ounce of juice from the 24 hours they have per day, chasing down YOUR dreams of becoming a working writer can feel impossible.

While somehow it all just seems to glide along for everyone else, you’re stuck wondering if your limitations are too much for you to ever become the award-winning, best-selling writer that you want to be. 

The answer is NO.

You may not have the same 24 hours per day as Beyoncé, but…

I’m here to help you become a more confident, skillful, published writer with a cadre of brilliant guest lecturers, a series of modules from pre-writing to writing to publication, a community that’s ready to embrace you, and group calls with me so that I can answer your questions about any component of what you’re learning. 

You don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an MFA to become the working writer that you want to be.

Let’s stop writing for no purpose—and choose the path toward an exhilarating life as an author that you’re ready to tackle for years to come.

It’s time to be excited about approaching the writing that you want to do, and gain the structure & confidence to go forward with your literary legacy… all with a mapped-out game plan for how to actually get it done.

I’ll give you the curriculum and confidence to finally feel like the working writer that you want to be.

Because in today's largely homogenous literary canon, the publication of your voice— or NOT—can mean the difference between your story making a difference while printed between two covers, or dreaming about writing your dream book forever and ever. 

As a student in The Unexpected Shape™  Writing Academy, you can:

  • Feel confident with the personal nonfiction that you create
  • Understand how to go from pre-writing, to writing, to publication
  • Step into the life of a working, publishing writer 

You need someone on your side who understands both what it’s like to write while living with limitations and also to create literature that expands the voices read and heard in the canon.

Everywhere I looked, I saw MFA programs that required long applications, five-figure fees, and moving to Anytown, USA— which is hard for so many people to do, but particularly when you live with limitations like chronic illness and disability.

Writing personal nonfiction isn’t for the faint of heart—being a marginalized, ambitious writer also means often being overlooked—even if you have a relationship with a literary agent, and even when you’re a best-selling, award-winning author.

That’s exactly why I got into what I do.

Now, I’m an author of The Border of Paradise: A Novel and The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays, and a speaker represented by the Tuesday Agency. I also created an online writing school for ambitious writers living with limitations—just like you—so you can live the life of a writer that you have always wanted to try.

Yes! I want to find out if the Academy is right for me!

work with me

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

I'm the founder of the only 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.

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LORRAINE, an academy student, HAD A DEBUT PIECE PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORKER

“It's about my experience with heart arrhythmias, and I don't think I'd have had the guts (or coping mechanisms) necessary for writing it without The Unexpected Shape.

"Being a member of that community and hearing from speakers like Carmen Maria Machado and Suleika Jaouad taught me so much about sharing the painful, challenging moments of my own life—as did the courses you taught, Esmé, and your own book. I'm hoping to use this essay as the launch pad for a book on chronic illness, similar to The Collected Schizophrenias.

Again, thank you so much for creating a space to talk about our limitations, learn to live with them, and write alongside them. It's really hard being in a disabled/chronically ill body, but having other people who understand makes all the difference.”

"Being a member of that community and hearing from speakers like Carmen Maria Machado and Suleika Jaouad taught me so much about sharing the painful, challenging moments of my own life—as did the courses you taught, Esmé, and your own book. I'm hoping to use this essay as the launch pad for a book on chronic illness, similar to The Collected Schizophrenias.

Again, thank you so much for creating a space to talk about our limitations, learn to live with them, and write alongside them. It's really hard being in a disabled/chronically ill body, but having other people who understand makes all the difference.”

“I finally found the courage to pursue my dream of opening my own homewares boutique all thanks to Kate.”

Melanie chased her dream:

Next

as seen in:

The Academy 101 classes

Take one of our affordable Academy 101 classes: Building a Writing Habit While Living with Limitations, Your Best Nonfiction Topic, and/or the One-Day Writing Kickstart.

learn more here

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

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 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."


chinua achebe, anthills of the savannah

read my

essays/articles
books
short stories

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

WRITING→

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

Receive regular love notes from me, including 5 Words (five interesting words), Terrific Links, and musings on gay holiday movies, childhood myths, which cereals to avoid, my favorite cardigans—AND MORE, including a FREE Notion Template for Writers.

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Notion Template for Writers

Do you want to keep your writing life organized? Does the idea of using yet another Excel spreadsheet or Google doc (why, oh why do they have to be so inherently hideous) make you want to pull your hair out by the roots? Stay inspired and on top of things with this free Notion template for writers.

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