Below you will find details of our open residential courses, which provide a week of group workshops and individual tutorials with a wide range of skilled and experienced writers; tutored retreats, where the focus is on one-to-one work with the tutors; and retreats, during which you can give your words dedicated time in our supportive and nurturing environment. More information on our different residential formats can be found here.
We also offer our warm Moniack Mhor welcome online – you can view our online courses, events and masterclasses by clicking here.
All Residential Courses & Retreats
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2617 April Retreat
Monday 20 Apr - Saturday 25 Apr
Fully Booked
The landscape around us is starting to awaken from its winter slumber – come gather inspiration for your writing at Moniack Mhor.
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2618 Late April Retreat
Monday 27 Apr - Saturday 2 May
Fully Booked
Dust off the wintery cobwebs and come join us for a burst of fresh creative energy at Moniack Mhor.
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2619 Neurodivergent Writing: with Kate Fox and Elspeth Wilson, Guest Reader Joanne Limburg
Monday 4 May - Saturday 9 May
Join Joanne Limburg and Kate Fox in exploring how neurodiversity can be found in literary forms from poetry to fiction and creative non-fiction – and look at how neurodivergent writers of all levels of life experience can play with, challenge or find a sense of home within these forms.
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2620 Wild Imagination: Writing for a Changing World with Anna Selby and Hannah Lowe, Guest Reader TBC
Monday 11 May - Saturday 16 May
In this course, we’ll draw on diverse examples from environmental and activist poetry, eco-memoir, climate fiction and multi-species storytelling to generate new and exciting work.
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2621 May Retreat
Monday 18 May - Saturday 23 May
Fully Booked
Immerse yourself in the fresh Highland air at Moniack Mhor to release your thoughts and ideas, in the glorious month of May as the evenings become lighter.
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2623 Crime: with Caro Ramsay and Michael J Malone, Guest Reader Kate Lyall Grant
Monday 1 Jun - Saturday 6 Jun
This course, with Michael J Malone and Caro Ramsay, offers an opportunity to craft compelling crime fiction. An immersive course to take you from blank page to polishing the final draft with entertaining workshops on the nuts and bolts for creating chilling villains, twisty plots and perfect prose.
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2624 Short Fiction: with Irenosen Okojie and Leone Ross, Guest Reader Tessa Hadley
Monday 8 Jun - Saturday 13 Jun
This week will be a deep dive into a continuum of approaches for short stories, from the plotted to the subversive, from the serious to the mischievous. For writers who have already tried the form and now want their short stories to be even better.
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2626 June Retreat
Monday 22 Jun - Saturday 27 Jun
Fully Booked
Summer starts to make itself known in the Scottish Highlands in June, as the days stretch towards the solstice. Make the most of extra daylight and stretch your metaphorical writer legs during our June retreat.
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2627 Midsummer Retreat
Monday 29 Jun - Saturday 4 Jul
Join us just after the summer solstice and make the most of the long days to inspire your writing.
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2628 Playwriting: with Simon Stephens and Eve Leigh, Guest Reader Omar Elerian
Monday 6 Jul - Saturday 11 Jul
Fully Booked
An active interrogation of the mechanics of playwriting, this course will creatively examine the use of dramatic action, character, location, narrative and structure in the making of a play. This course is useful both for playwrights at the beginning of their career and for writers who have written one or two plays and are looking to develop their craft.
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2629 Lifewriting: with Karen McLeod and Jarred McGinnis, Guest Reader Jackie Kay
Monday 13 Jul - Saturday 18 Jul
Fully Booked
Can fiction writers learn from memoir? And when using autobiographical material, where and how do you create the friction needed to make compelling stories? Whether you’re writing a memoir dressed as a novel, lightly taking from lived experience for a novel, or experimenting with shorter fiction, this course will help develop your writing.
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2630 Poetry: with Kim Moore and Clare Shaw, Guest Reader Abeer Ameer
Monday 20 Jul - Saturday 25 Jul
Fully Booked
Join award winning poets Kim Moore and Clare Shaw for an immersive poetry residential. Through workshops, readings and shared reflection, we’ll explore poetry as a powerful act of noticing – of bearing witness to the world around us and within us.
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2631 July Retreat
Monday 27 Jul - Saturday 1 Aug
Fully Booked
Take some time away from everything in the beautiful surroundings of Moniack Mhor to get some thinking and writing done on this summer retreat.
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2632 Course with Childcare with Samuel Tongue and Nuala Watt
Monday 3 Aug - Saturday 8 Aug
The lives we live now are full of a complex combination of challenge, exhaustion, anxiety, and the overwhelming love and novelty that children bring with them into this complex world. In this course, two parent poets, Sam and Nuala, will help you explore this multifaceted experience in your own writing.
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2634 Fiction: Starting Out with Kirsty Gunn and Kevin MacNeil, guest reader Duncan McLean
Monday 17 Aug - Saturday 22 Aug
Come to this week and discover your novel, whether that means beginning a book from scratch or whipping a current draft into better shape.
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2636 Late Summer Retreat
Monday 31 Aug - Saturday 5 Sep
It is harvest season – the perfect time to gather inspiration from the abundance of summer fruits and finish your work in progress.
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2637 Non-fiction: Writing Place with Horatio Clare and Monisha Rajesh, guest reader Cal Flyn
Monday 7 Sep - Saturday 12 Sep
This course will immerse you in our local landscape to help you explore how observation and place-based approaches can influence and enrich your non-fiction work.
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2638 The Sonic World of Poems with Hanif Abdurraqib and Jen Hadfield, guest reader Rachel Sermanni
Monday 14 Sep - Saturday 19 Sep
Immerse yourself in the sonic aspects of poetry and explore the ways words – or their absence – can create a sense of propulsion through sound and repetition.
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2640 Songwriting with Boo Hewerdine and Yvonne Lyon, guest reader Lady Nade
Monday 28 Sep - Saturday 3 Oct
Delve into the world around you to imagine, create and hone songs inspired by the stories of the things that surround you.
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2641 Making Fiction with Lesley Glaister and Ruth Thomas, guest reader Jacob Polley
Monday 5 Oct - Saturday 10 Oct
Whether you are a short story writer or a novelist, this general fiction tutored course is for you. We’ll look at all the main areas of the craft of fiction: character, sense of place, dialogue, point of view…
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2644 October Retreat
Monday 26 Oct - Saturday 31 Oct
As the nights get longer and the leaves begin to fall, cosy up next to the fire for some focused writing time.
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2646 Quiet Retreat with Kapka Kassabova and Caoimhe Keohane, guest reader Aonghas Phàdraig Caimbeul
Monday 9 Nov - Saturday 14 Nov
Join us for a quiet tutored retreat with Kapka Kassabova and yoga teacher Caoimhe Keohane to focus deeply on being present in your writing.
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2647 Writing for Audio Drama with Sebastian Baczkiewicz and Sarah Hehir, guest reader Katie Hims
Monday 16 Nov - Saturday 21 Nov
Learn practical tips for creating well developed characters for audio drama and focus on setting them in a structured story.
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2648 Poetry: Folk Tales with Liz Berry and Fiona Benson, guest reader Roseanne Watt
Monday 23 Nov - Saturday 28 Nov
Gather in to explore winter spells, folk tales, myths and rituals with a particular focus on tales of the north, and craft a portfolio of November poems.
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2650 Fiction Tutored Retreat with Louise Welsh and Zoë Strachan, guest reader Eimear McBride
Monday 7 Dec - Saturday 12 Dec
Join us for an end of year break to find inspiration in a peaceful, supportive environment and focus instensively on your work in progress.
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2651 December Retreat
Monday 14 Dec - Saturday 19 Dec
Embrace the slowness of winter and nurture your writing while cooried in by the fire – and with a hot drink by your side – to keep you warm.
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Radical Care Retreat & Courses with Childcare
Following the success of our Radical Care Retreats and Courses with Childcare, Moniack Mhor are continually developing plans for future delivery of similar retreats with childcare support. If this is something you would like to know more about, please email us to register your interest on radicalcare@moniackmhor.org.uk