Project
Transchool
2023—Present
An introductory creative writing workshop for emerging trans writers of all genres.
Questions?
transchool@alliesinarts.org
We are thrilled to release Transchool: Volume 1 & 2!
Published by Co—Conspirator Press with the support of Feminist Center for Creative Work and Allies in Arts.
Transchool: Volume 1 & 2 are creative writing anthologies drawn from the 2023 and 2024 Transchool cohorts. These volumes showcase multifaceted work — poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, and genre-defying writing. Featured authors include Transchool mentors Ali Liebegott, Andrea Jenkins, Thomas Page McBee, Cameron Awkward-Rich, torin a. greathouse, with introductions by Chase Strangio and Kyle Lasky of @Transanta, Drew Denny, and Ren Heintz. Transchool empowers the voices of trans writers across the country.
“The stories that you will read in this book are a product of what happens when trans people get to craft their stories in a safe and open space. This book will allow other trans people to see their stories reflected back to them.” – Dr. Ren Heintz
Support Trans Voices
How can we affirm queer youth in public space during this vulnerable time in their lives? Six queer and trans BIPOC artists designed affirming messages for trans youth, written by Transchool authors.
What’s Transchool?
Inspired by the stories and submissions to Transanta, and after the success of Transchool for the past three years, we are launching our fourth year of Transchool!
Twice a week throughout Pride month (June), 15 aspiring writers based in the US who write about trans stories and trans lives, will have the opportunity to craft their voice and put their narratives to paper in fellowship supported creative writing workshop. After workshopping their creative pieces, their writing will be published in an edited collection of trans narratives. Transchool is supported by our fiscal sponsor, Allies in Arts.
Workshop Details
2026 workshop starts in June!
Applications have closed.
In order to participate, you must be an 18 to 30 year old, US-based. This workshop is completely free and all writers are paid a fellowship stipend!
2026 Schedule
Workshop Sessions 1-8: June 9-July 2nd on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Writing Break: July 3-Aug 3
Final Workshop Session 9-10: Aug 4 & 5
Please note: The specific workshop times are not yet scheduled. We will update all prospective participants as soon as the workshop schedule has been finalized.
Applications due April 1st.
Applicants will be notified by May 1st if they will be part of the 2026 Transchool writers’ workshop to begin on June 9th
Questions? transchool@alliesinarts.org
For the June month of Pride, participants will meet twice a week on Zoom with Gender Studies and English Professor Dr. Ren Heintz (they/them). The workshop will take you through an introductory exploration of creative trans writing, in which we will read from award winning authors like Cameron Awkward-Rich and Torrey Peters. We will learn how trans folks have told their stories before us so that we can have the courage to tell our own stories now. Participants will practice writing their own personal stories, creative imaginaries, or poetry through writing exercises and peer workshops. The workshop will also have drop-in guest sessions, with cameos from prominent trans writers and activists, and a professionalization session with editors from Penguin Randomhouse to learn about pitching your work. In the aftermath of the workshop, participants will have the chance to publish their work in an edited collection.
In order to participate, you must be an 18 to 30 year old US-based writer. Participants will be meeting on Zoom twice weekly for 2hr workshop sessions, and will need to have access to a stable internet connection, as well as a video and microphone capable computer. Participants will need to fit these workshops into their weekly schedule. We receive lots of applications, so committing to the entire workshop is important, because someone else would happily take your spot.
In order to support your time commitment, each participant will receive a fellowship stipend. Just to make that point clear - this workshop is completely free! And all writers will be paid a stipend. Finally, you will be mailed a workshop kit, complete with all of the books you will read, a notebook, and a craft packet for drawing and other creative expressions. Our goal is to remove financial barriers that prohibit writers from accessing educational experiences.
Transchool is led by Dr. Ren Heintz.
Ren Heintz is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities at Cal State Los Angeles. Heintz received their Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, and their MA from the University of Pennsylvania. Heintz's scholarship has appeared in American Quarterly, GLQ, Feminist Media Histories, and TSQ, among others. Their working manuscript is titled The Obscenity of White Supremacy: The Antebellum History of Gender and Sexuality.They were awarded the Richard H. Brown/William Lloyd Barber Long-Term Fellowship at the Newberry Library and the Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship from Tulane University. Through their public humanities work, they are the inaugural creative writing instructor for the nonprofit initiative, Transchool. Heintz is the editor of the anthology Transchool: Vol. 1 (Co-Conspirator Press, 2024).
2026 Mentors
Agnes Borinsky
Agnes Borinsky (she/they) is a writer, performer, and theater-maker based in Los Angeles. She is interested in the unintended transformations that become possible when the things we’ve planned fail. Her projects include many plays (The Trees, A Song of Songs, Of Government, Ding Dong It’s the Ocean), experiments in participation (Working Group for a New Spirit, Weird Classrooms), and fiction (Sasha Masha). She has made work in collaboration with theater institutions – Playwrights Horizons, The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb – and outside of them. With Sky Lou Murray and Sunder Ganglani, she makes up the band The Bernadettes.
Andrea Jenkins
Andrea Jenkins is a soulful poet. Oral historian, and political powerhouse. In 2017, she became the first out Black Trans woman elected to public office in the United States. She formerly served on the Minneapolis City Council.
She holds a Master’s degree in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University, a Master of Fine Arts from Hamline University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State University. Additionally, she completed the Senior Government and Executive Leadership program at Harvard University.
Her work and leadership have been featured in TIME Magazine, Essence, Teen Vogue, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine. In 2022, she was recognized on the OUT100 list by OUT Magazine, the Twin Cities Business 100 People to Know, and Fast Company’s Top 50 Queers.
Jaclyn Moore
Jaclyn Moore is a TV writer, filmmaker, and haver of existential dread who’s been working in writers’ rooms for over a decade. She’s written for shows like Dear White People, Based on a True Story, and Queer as Folk, and recently made her directorial debut with a short horror film about kink, possession, and the lies we tell ourselves. She’s thrilled to be returning to Transchool where she continues to learn more from her students than they learn from her, but don’t tell the students that or it would totally ruin her credibility.
Jen Richards
Jen Richards is an actor and writer best known for writing and starring in the web series Her Story, which was nominated for an Emmy and won Peabody, Gotham, and GLAAD awards. She was a writer on the Star Wars series The Acolyte and the upcoming ITV series Majesty, and is the creator of shows that have been in development at HBO and Amblin Entertainment. Her most recent feature script, Juliet, was recently named to the 2024 GLAAD List. She recently performed in La Jolla Playhouse’s production of As You Like It, and has been seen on screen in The Mayfair Witches (AMC), Framing Agnes (Feature), Clarice (CBS), Gossamer Folds (Feature), Mrs. Fletcher (HBO), Disclosure and Tales of the City (Netflix), Blind Spot (NBC), Better Things (FX), Doubt (CBS), Easy Living (Feature), and Nashville (CMT). In addition to her creative work, Jen is the Entertainment Partnerships Director for the nonprofit Resetting the Table, a leader in the field of social cohesion and bridge building through collaborative deliberation in the face of strong differences. Prior to coming to Hollywood, she had 20 years of experience in advocacy work and nonprofit administration. Jen was born in Mississippi and currently resides in Los Angeles with her wife and two dogs.
Oliver Baez Bendorf
Oliver Baez Bendorf is the author of three books of poetry, including Consider the Rooster (Nightboat Books, 2024), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry. A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and CantoMundo, he has taught creative writing for over 15 years in classrooms including the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and Warren Wilson College. Working where story, line, and image meet, he currently writes, draws, and mentors from exile.
Workshop Archive
2025 Mentors
Jaclyn Moore
Jaclyn Moore is a TV writer, filmmaker, and haver of existential dread who’s been working in writers’ rooms for over a decade. She’s written for shows like Dear White People, Based on a True Story, and Queer as Folk, and recently made her directorial debut with a short horror film about kink, possession, and the lies we tell ourselves. She’s thrilled to be returning to Transchool where she continues to learn more from her students than they learn from her, but don’t tell the students that or it would totally ruin her credibility.
Andrea Lawlor
Andrea Lawlor is the author of a chapbook, Position Papers (Factory Hollow Press, 2016), and a novel, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (Rescue Press, 2017; Vintage, 2019; Picador UK, 2019). Their stories, essays, and poems have appeared in publications such as Ploughshares, The Brooklyn Rail, jubilat, and The New York Times. They are the recipient of a Whiting Award for Fiction, as well as fellowships from Lambda Literary, Radar Labs, the Ucross Foundation, and Macdowell Colony. They are an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Mount Holyoke College, and live in Western Massachusetts. www.anderlawlor.com
Chris E. Vargas
Chris E. Vargas is a video maker & interdisciplinary artist currently based in Los Angeles, CA. His work deploys humor and performance in conjunction with mainstream idioms to explore the complex ways that queer and trans people negotiate spaces for themselves within historical & institutional memory. He is a recipient of a 2016 Creative Capital award, a 2020 John S. Guggenheim fellowship, and in 2024/2025 was a Latinx Artist Fellow. Vargas is the Executive Director of MOTHA, the Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art, a critical and conceptual arts & hirstory institution highlighting the contributions of trans art to the cultural and political landscape.
Eleanor Jean
Eleanor Jean is a screenwriter/producer in Los Angeles, CA. She’s a born-and-raised Texan from Amarillo, so she enjoys a good steak and has big opinions about the wind. She got her BA in Radio, Television, and Film at the University of North Texas (go Eagles! ), and her MFA in Dramatic Writing from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Eleanor’s written for 7 television shows, including Transparent (Amazon), Mrs. Fletcher (HBO), and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix). Her own writing centers around deeply flawed characters with big feelings and broken hearts (aka comedy), mostly in Texas or the American Southwest.
She loves fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, and is currently writing a short film and supervising a show for Adult Swim. She lives with her partner Jaclyn, as well as a dog and two cats and some plants and a ghost.
Supported in 2025 by
2024 Mentors
Cameron Awkward-Rich
Cameron Awkward-Rich is the author of two collections of poetry: Sympathetic Little Monster (Ricochet Editions, 2016) and Dispatch (Persea Books, 2019). His creative work has been supported by fellowships from Cave Canem, The Watering Hole, and the Lannan Foundation. His more critical writing can be found in Signs, Transgender Studies Quarterly, American Quarterly and elsewhere, and has been supported by fellowships from Duke University and the ACLS. Presently, he is an associate professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Esti Giordani
Esti Giordani is a Los Angeles based writer and producer. In addition to being a published author, Esti has written on an upcoming Apple TV+ series starring Owen Wilson as well as on multiple seasons of Vida (Starz) and I Love Dick (Amazon). As a producer, Esti worked on the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning series, Transparent. Esti lives in Los Angeles with two chihuahuas.
Generously supported by the Hollister Confidence Project, the California Arts Council, and a local impact grant from NBCUniversal and Telemundo.
torrin a. greathouse
torrin a. greathouse is a transgender cripple-punk poet and essayist. Her work is published in POETRY, New York Times Magazine, Copper Nickel, and The Kenyon Review. They are the author of Wound from the Mouth of a Wound (Milkweed Editions, 2020), winner of the 2022 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and DEED (Wesleyan University Press, 2024). She teaches at the Rainier Writing Workshop, the low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University.
Amos Mac
Amos Mac brings two decades of interdisciplinary work to the table as a writer, visual artist, magazine editor, and independent publisher. Mac currently works as a producer and screenwriter for film and television, including two seasons of GOSSIP GIRL (HBO Max), the process documentary NO ORDINARY MAN, and the forthcoming Laverne Cox comedy series CLEAN SLATE (Amazon). Mac gained prominence in art book publishing in 2009 as a founding editor of ORIGINAL PLUMBING, the first U.S. magazine dedicated to the culture and community of trans men. Featuring Mac's photography and writing, Original Plumbing concluded its ten-year run with a book, ORIGINAL PLUMBING: THE BEST OF TEN YEARS OF TRANS MALE CULTURE, published by The Feminist Press.
Sylvan Oswald
Sylvan Oswald (he/him) is a writer who creates text-based projects exploring trans identity, history, and nonviolent dramaturgy. Sylvan started writing roles for gender nonconforming people in 2000. Starting with the idea of a pants role, he later included roles for butch people, and today centers trans and nonbinary characters. His projects include Trainers: A Theatrical Essay (Gate Theatre, London, Oberon Books); High Winds (PICA's TBA Festival, Fusebox Festival, Yale's Theater Magazine, X Artists' Books), the essay "Towards a Trans Theater;" "Cut Piece", a personal history of play publishing; Play A Journal of Plays (2003-2011); and Outtakes, a web series. Plays include A Kind of Weather (Diversionary Theater, San Diego), Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb, New York), and Pony (About Face Theater, Chicago). A recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for 2019-20, a Soho Rep Dorothy Strelsin Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, a Rosati Fellowship from the Rubinstein Library at Duke University, and residencies at MacDowell and Sundance/UCross, Sylvan is an alumnus of New Dramatists and now heads the playwriting program at UCLA. sylvanoswald.xyz
Supported in 2024 by
2023 Mentors
Qwo-Li Driskill
Qwo-Li Driskill is a poet, performer, activist, and educator. They are the author of Walking with Ghosts: Poems and Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory. They are also the co-editor of Soveriegn Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature and Queer Indigenous Studies: Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature. They are an Associate Professor of Queer Studies in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University. They are currently working on their second poetry collection How to Make a Tear Dress.
Andrea Jenkins
Andrea Jenkins is a soulful poet, educator, artist, respected historian and political powerhouse. In 2017 she became the 1st out Black Trans woman elected to public office in the United States She is President of the Minneapolis City Council.
She holds a Masters Degree in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University, a Masters of Fine Arts from Hamline University, and Bachelors Degree from Metropolitan State University. Additionally she completed the Senior Government and Executive Leadership program at Harvard University.
She has been featured in TIME Magazine, Essence, Teen Vogue, The New York Times, The Guardian, Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine. In 2022 she was named on the OUT100 list by OUT Magazine, Twin Cities Business 100 People to Know, and Fast Company Top 50 Queers.
Ali Liebegott
Ali Liebegott is a writer and painter. She has published four books: The Beautifully Worthless, The IHOP Papers, Cha-Ching! and The Summer of Dead Birds. Her most recent solo painting "Rooms and Other Feelings" was at Ochi Gallery in Los Angeles.
Thomas Mcbee
Thomas Page McBee is an award-winning author, journalist, and writer/producer--most recently on THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, GQ, and many other publications. In the course of reporting his most recent book, AMATEUR, Thomas became the first trans man to ever fight in Madison Square Garden. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and dogs.
Jaclyn Moore
Supported in 2023 by