No tuition, no grades, no power grid: why are people flocking to a ‘college’ in the middle of the desert?

A writers’ workshop at Mars College in the California desert. Photograph: Alex Welsh/The Guardian

A dozen writing students perched around a collection of weather-beaten couches, laptops balancing on their knees, ready to discuss their work. Next up to read was Ira Birch, a poet sporting black boots and a shag haircut.

“I told myself I was gonna share today,” Birch said nervously, looking around the circle. “But there are a lot more people here.”