Speculative writing explores futures, otherworlds, and “what if”s as ways to process the personal, political, and planetary complexities of the present. This workshop will dive into the craft of creative and literary speculation—utopian, dystopian, or otherwise—and look at sampled visionary works for inspiration. With emphasis on concept development and storytelling, we’ll discuss, write, and share work on experiments of technique and form and foster constructive feedback. We’ll end the course with a sense of how to continue writing on the concepts you began. We’ll read works by literary writers who have embraced speculation, such as Octavia E. Butler, Philip K. Dick, Amal El-Mohtar, William Gibson, Jonathan Hickman, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ursula K LeGuin, Emily St. John Mandel, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Carmen Maria Machado, Nnedi Okarafor, George Wylesol, and/or Jeff VanderMeer—as well as texts that students bring to the group.