Date/Time
Date(s) - Monday 17 Aug - Saturday 22 Aug, 2026
All Day
Location
Moniack Mhor, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire, IV4 7HT
A novel can be anything you like
It can start as a scene and grow from there. It can be a bunch of short stories that all find connections, or a fully thought-out project, complete with a cast of characters and resolution. It might be no more than a single idea, expanded and revisited, or be composed of dialogue, places, thoughts, a diary… Or even a kind of mosaic, fragments of drama and events of different kinds all finding their way on the page in chapters and sections.
Come to this week and discover your novel, whether that means beginning a book from scratch or whipping a current draft into better shape. Prize-winning novelists Kirsty Gunn and Kevin MacNeil will guide your work and help you discover what it is about your project that makes it so distinctive and special. They will be joined by acclaimed short story writer Duncan McLean as their special guest – himself no stranger to the idea of how novels and short stories might conjoin.
This course will be a powerhouse for new and established writers alike.
Tutors
Kirsty Gunn’s internationally published fiction has won Scottish Book of the Year, The Edge Hill Prize for Short Stories, a New York Times Notable Book, New Zealand Book of the Year, and the Robert Musil Prize for work in translation. She is Research Professor of Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee, and Associate Member of Brasenose and Merton Colleges, Oxford. Her latest collection of short stories, Pretty Ugly, was published in 2024.
Dr Kevin MacNeil is an award-winning writer and academic from the Isle of Lewis. He is the author of several books and works across fiction, poetry, and scriptwriting. His writing pays close attention to place, language, and contemporary life, with a soft spot for return journeys, uneasy belonging, and the comic negotiations of living alongside others. His creative practice is shaped by long-term contemplative attention and a persistent curiosity about where fiction ends and reality begins. He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Stirling, a dedicated cyclist, and a reluctant ultramarathon runner. He is usually thinking about sentences, his rescue greyhound Molly, and, occasionally, UFOs.
Guest reader
Duncan McLean’s books include Bucket of Tongues (short stories), Blackden and Bunkerman (novels) and Lone Star Swing (travel/music.) He has written extensively for the stage, including Aalst and Long Gone Lonesome (National Theatre of Scotland), Telling the Truth Beautifully (St Magnus Festival) and Treasure Island (Royal Lyceum). In the 1990s he edited the Clocktower Press, which introduced writers like Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner and Alison Flett; more recently he has published Orkney writers though the Abersee Press. Born in Aberdeenshire, he has lived in Orkney for over 30 years, where he writes a weekly column for The Orcadian.
Fees
The full fee for this course is £745. 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 small single room with a skylight is available at a discounted price of £720. Please note this room does not have an ordinary window, only a small skylight.
Two non-residential places are available on this course at the price of £440. This includes all meals, hot drinks and snacks from Monday afternoon until Saturday morning, and your tuition. You will not be assigned a room, but you will be able to access communal spaces and evening events throughout the week. You will not be able to stay overnight at the Centre. Read our non-residential frequently asked questions for more information.
A deposit is required to secure your place, which is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling-off period. The remainder of the course fee is due six weeks before the course begins. Please read our Terms & Conditions for full details about our cancellation policy. If you would like to pay the full amount in advance, please 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.
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.
We have a limited number of twin rooms available on site. If you need to book a twin room for access reasons, please book a standard single room and mention in the comments box that you will need a twin room.
For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.
Terms and Conditions
Please read our Terms & Conditions before booking.