Community Literature Initiative

The CLI Publishing Class is program of The Community Literature Initiative focused on teaching writers in the city how to create poetry and short fiction of a publishable quality. The CLI course is a 10-month (September to June) training program to refine works-in-progress into finalized manuscripts ready for publication. Classes are held at
The University of Southern California. At the conclusion of the 10-month program, all participants are guaranteed a first-book publishing contract with one of our partnering Los Angeles Small Presses. All students emerge knowledgeable, published authors! We only accept thirteen poetry students and seven short fiction students per year, so apply now! In addition to offering these courses, we also offer students the opportunity to intern for existing Small Presses to learn the business of selling books.