Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 29th Sep - Sat 4th Oct, 2025
All Day
Location
Moniack Mhor, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire , IV4 7HT
Finding the light: switching it back on!
Writing can be so hard.
Writing can be so easy!
Writing is about playfulness; keeping things light.
Writing is important. It matters deeply.
Join us for a glorious week of serious play and playful seriousness on the page. We invite new writers, and perhaps those who have taken some time away from their writing, for a generative week with us, a chance to produce lots of exciting new material.
Through energising exercises, open hearted conversation and discussion of diverse contemporary writers’ work, we’ll share practical tips about finding and shaping narratives. We’ll talk, too, about how to keep the joy alive while we encounter those inevitable walls and blocks when we write. We’ll have fun messing around with sentences to discover the poetry of prose and to uncover ways of expressing your voice.
Dreaming up characters will also be key: we’ll explore the process of creating richly layered people in our stories, whose histories and arcs are complex and compelling.
At the end of the week, you’ll leave bursting with writerly resolve, brimful of ideas and with a gleaming twinkle in your eye.
Tutors
Michael Donkor studied English at Wadham College, Oxford and then undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway. The Observer named him as one of 2018’s best debut authors for his first novel Hold (4th Estate) and in 2019, he was longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel Grow Where They Fall was published by Penguin in 2024. He has judged the Betty Trask Prize and regularly reviews for the Guardian and the i paper.
Ashley Hickson-Lovence is the author of The 392, Your Show, Wild East—overall winner of the East Anglian Book Awards 2024, and a poetry collection Why I am Not a Bus Driver. He has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia. His nominations include the Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature 2023 and the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2025. His forthcoming novel About to Fall Apart will be released with Faber in April 2026.
Guest Reader
Cecilia Knapp is a poet and novelist and the former Young People’s Laureate for London. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward prize for best single poem. She is the winner of the 2021 Ruth Rendell award and has been shortlisted for the Rebecca Swift Women’s prize. Her debut poetry collection Peach Pig was published by Corsair in October 2022. Her poems have appeared in The Financial Times, Granta and The White Review. She curated the anthology Everything is Going to be alright: Poems for When You Really Need Them, published by Trapeze in 2021. Her debut novel Little Boxes is published by The Borough Press. Little Boxes was longlisted for The Authors Club Best First Novel Award. She teaches creative writing in a number of settings.
Fees
The full fee for this course is £725. This includes your accommodation in a single room with shared bathroom, all meals, hot drinks and snacks from Monday afternoon until Saturday morning, and your tuition. For more information about the format and practicalities of our courses, tutored courses, and retreats, please visit our About the Residential Courses & Retreats page..
A limited number of en-suite rooms are available, which can be booked in advance for a £50 surcharge. We will also reserve an en-suite room for anyone who may need it due to a medical condition. This will be offered out as an upgrade nearer the course start date if it is not needed.
A limited number of Twin Room places are available at a discounted price of £675 per person. When booking a Twin Room place, please tell us in the comments box which gender you are and which gender(s) you are comfortable sharing a room with. This information will remain confidential.
A small single room with a skylight is available at a discounted price of £700. Please note this room does not have an ordinary window, only a small skylight.
A deposit is required to secure your place, which is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling-off period. The balance payment of £575 is due six weeks before the course begins. Refunds are not always available – please read our Terms & Conditions for full details about our cancellation policy. If you would like to pay the full amount in advance, please call our booking office on 01463 592 828 or email info@moniackmhor.org.uk.
Bursaries are always available, and you also have the option to pay in instalments. If you have any problems paying online, or wish to discuss paying in instalments or applying for financial help, or would simply like assistance, please contact us by emailing info@moniackmhor.org.uk or phoning us on 01463 592828.
Access
Please let us know in your booking form if you have any access requirements, for example a ground floor bedroom and / or access to a step-free accessible shower room. We also reserve one en-suite bedroom per course for anyone who may need this due to a medical condition. For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.
Terms and Conditions
Please read our Terms & Conditions before booking.