Workshops

You can attend any workshop I facilitate through this webspace for free by submitting proof of a $15+ contribution to Trans Defense Fund LA or the Sameer Project.

Every workshop I facilitate is indebted to countless projects that came before it, including but not limited to: the Bruce High Quality Foundation, Relatively Queer, fifth wheel press's workshop series, Workshops 4 Gaza, and, of course, Art, Strike!.

2026

Promo slide for my workshop "Life Beyond the Real: Intro to Speculative Memoir," from an Instagram slideshow called "A little primer on speculative memoir," the title handwritten at top above the covers of five books (The Night Parade by Jami Nakamura Lin, Zami by Audre Lorde, Flight from Nevèrÿon by Samuel R. Delany, The Story Game by Shze-Hui Tjoa, and In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado). Below that, the workshop info: Sunday, June 28, 2026, PST: 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM, EST: 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, $10 to 25, sliding scale, or free with $15+ contribution to Trans Defense Fund LA or The Sameer Project. Each slide has a different pastel background, the border a colorful collage by me.

Intro to Speculative Memoir

June 2026

Virtual, via Google Meet Hosted by fifth wheel press on June 28, 2026

Overview

As the boundaries between genres continue to blur, the cross-genre blend called speculative memoir has emerged as a powerful tool for writers seeking to “tell all the truth but tell it slant.” Instead of asking our retellings of reality to stick to the details as they occurred, speculative memoirs encourage us to imagine history-writing as being more like our memories: complex, fluid, and tangled up with dreams, myths, and fantasies.

This workshop explored speculative memoir, an exciting and emerging genre that has its roots in a variety of experimental and interdisciplinary approaches to historical writing.

Together, we:

  1. traced the genre’s historical roots as a means for engaging with histories that have been erased, destroyed, or otherwise distorted by different forms of power, oppression, and violence;
  2. read excerpts from recent entries in the genre; and,
  3. built a toolbox of strategies and prompts for writing speculative memoir ourselves.

Content

During this two-hour workshop, we examined excerpts from:

The asynchronous version also looks at the methodology used by Saidiya Hartman in Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, itself a product of speculative archival work that Hartman calls “critical fabulation,” as well as a new form of speculative memoir called “autofabulation,” which I develop in my forthcoming book, The Ecology of Art, Strike!.

Finally, we worked through a series of prompts that allowed participants to walk away from the workshop with initial drafts of flash pieces in the genre.

Availability

This workshop will be held live by fifth wheel press via Google Meet.

An asynchronous version will be available via Itch.io soon.

Compensation

Workshop sales were split three ways between fifth wheel press, fifth wheel press's workshop coordinator, and the workshop facilitator. 100% of sales of the asynchronous version go to the facilitator.

2025

Promotional image for “Intro to Hybrid Writing,” a virtual workshop hosted by fifth wheel press and facilitated by Erica Rivera (February 15, 2024, at 12 PM PST / 3 PM EST). The workshop info is presented on a beige ticket, atop a lavender background with wisps of white and aquamarine.

Intro to Hybrid Writing

February 2025

Virtual, via Zoom Hosted by fifth wheel press on February 15, 2024 Asynchronous version available on a pay-what-you-can basis via Itch.io

Overview

This workshop covered a broad range of approaches and strategies to incorporating elements from other artistic mediums into your writing, across four categories of hybrid works:

  1. prose poetry/lyric essays;
  2. audio art that combines sounds/music with text/narration;
  3. visual works that blend aspects of photography, collage, sculpture, and art installations with text; and,
  4. writing that incorporates “non-artistic” disciplines, like history, science, and math.

Content

The 90-minute workshop was broken up into four approximately twenty-minute segments, during which we spent:

Availability

An asynchronous version of the class is available via Itch.io, and includes the following downloadable items:

  1. a 90-minute video recording of the workshop;
  2. a PDF written transcript of the video recording; and,
  3. a PDF booklet of all the readings presented and referenced in the workshop.

Compensation

The first $200 of sales of the asynchronous version of the workshop available via Itch.io will go to Workshops 4 Gaza, to cover spots in their workshops for participants who can't afford the suggested donation. (As of May 2026, $7 have been raised towards this goal.)

Every dollar after the first $200 of sales will go to Gazans currently being prioritized by Crips for eSims for Gaza.