Courses
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2564 Online: Moniack in a Month – Demystifying Poetry with Ella Frears
Wed 7th May - Fri 30th May
Online
In this course you’ll look carefully at different elements of poetry writing, demystifying things like line breaks, shape, rhythm, rhyme, voice, language, and form. You will write new poems – trying on these techniques, seeing how they feel and exploring what they can do for you and your work.
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Young Writers’ Café with Eris Young
Thu 8th May
Join Shoreline of Infinity Magazine’s fiction editor, Eris Young, for a sci-fi workshop, exploring what “science fiction” really is, and how to use science and tech to create conflict and shape character.
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2585 Online Highland Book Prize Event: The Lost Voices of Orkney with Peter Marshall
Thu 8th May
Online
How can we hear the voices of ordinary folk, when we are forced to rely on fragmentary sources seldom created with their perspectives in mind? Drawing from his work on Orkney – a place long considered peripheral to the ‘real’ history of Scotland and Britain – historian Peter Marshall seeks to answer that question in this 90-minute online event.
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2520 Tutored Retreat: Writing on Climate Change with Nick Drake and Nancy Campbell, Guest Readers Anna Selby and Genevieve Carver
Mon 12th May - Sat 17th May
A tutored retreat for those engaged on work in progress responding to climate change, in any genre, who would value a concentrated period of time in which to write, to engage with feedback, and to enjoy focused, supportive conversations with tutors and fellow writers.
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Celebrating Creativity and Care: Festival 2025
Sat 24th May
You are invited to join us for a festival of creativity in Inverness!
From 2022-2025, Moniack Mhor’s Creativity and Care Programme has worked to enhance the creative development opportunities for care experienced young people aged 14-30 across Scotland.
Join us between 12pm-8pm on the 24th May to view and experience just some of the images, music and words which have been developed thanks to the project.
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2523 Non-Fiction: Essay Writing with Jen Stout and Peter Ross, Guest Reader Kathleen Jamie
Mon 2nd Jun - Sat 7th Jun
Fully Booked
This course will cover a range of techniques and issues, drawing upon examples of excellent non-fiction from across decades. Topics are likely to include: ways to structure; the ethics and challenges of writing about self and others; finding your voice; creating a sense of place.
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2524 Myth: Prose and Verse with Daniel Morden and Catherine Fisher, Guest Reader Dimitra Fimi
Mon 9th Jun - Sat 14th Jun
Limited Places Available
A course exploring Norse and Celtic myth, with a sprinkling of Arthurian legend, and the ways of weaving them into modern tales, novels and poems.
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2525 Midsummer Retreat
Mon 16th Jun - Sat 21st Jun
Fully Booked
Immerse yourself in the bright hills of Moniack Mhor and embrace the energy of the summer solstice.
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Highland Book Prize Literary Afternoon Tea: Pam Brunton
Sun 22nd Jun
Join us up on the hill at Moniack Mhor for this special Literary Afternoon Tea event with Pam Brunton, who will read and discuss her Highland Book Prize Longlisted book Between Two Waters.
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2526 Late June Retreat
Mon 23rd Jun - Sat 28th Jun
Limited Places Available
Whether you’re up early or late to bed, your creativity will benefit from a wander through the woods or along the single-track roads. Let the natural environment around the centre inspire your writing.
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2527 Life Writing with Salena Godden and Louisa Young, Guest Reader Michel Faber
Mon 30th Jun - Sat 5th Jul
Fully Booked
This is an exciting course with award-winning authors Salena Godden and Louisa Young, for writers who are exploring writing about or from their own life experiences, at any stage of their project.
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2586 Online Masterclass: Inhabiting your Fiction with Cynan Jones
Thu 3rd Jul
Online
This online masterclass will demonstrate how existing sentences can be interrogated for narrative opportunities you may not otherwise have considered and as starting points to enrich description and action so that you can create a more inhabited, encompassing story.
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2528 Early July Retreat
Mon 7th Jul - Sat 12th Jul
Limited Places Available
Bring your ideas and your writing materials for a week with like-minded writers and the chance to make some headway with your writing projects.
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2529 Fiction: Make Real Progress with Jessie Greengrass and Kevin MacNeil, Guest Reader Lesley Glaister
Mon 14th Jul - Sat 19th Jul
Fully Booked
On this course, writers Kevin MacNeil and Jessie Greengrass will help you navigate through frequently encountered obstacles including pace, setting, and dialogue. They will show you how to strengthen your work’s foundations by considering meaning, purpose, and direction.
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2530 Late July Retreat
Mon 21st Jul - Sat 26th Jul
Fully Booked
Surrounded by breathtaking views and the company of fellow writers, find the focus and time you need to bring your words to life.
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2531 Poetry: Vital Ingredients with John Glenday and Helen Mort, Guest Reader Kit Fan
Mon 28th Jul - Sat 2nd Aug
Fully Booked
Aimed at writers at all stages in their careers who are keen to put some spice back into their writing and live a healthy, sustainable life as a poet. We’ll use workshops, discussions, examples and ladlefuls of useful tips to guide you through a sequence of dos and donts that will help revitalise your writing and enrich your poems with a longer shelf life.
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2532 Early August Retreat – Week 1 of 2
Mon 4th Aug - Sat 9th Aug
Summer is upon us, and Moniack’s gardens and the fields around us are bursting with life. Bring this rich energy to your writing practice with dedicated writing time on this first of two August retreat weeks.
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2533 Mid-August Retreat – Week 2 of 2
Mon 11th Aug - Sat 16th Aug
In this second of two August retreat weeks, keep your writing flowing in the long summer days. Write by an evening fire in our stone circle, or in the cool shade of the stone walled living room surrounded by flowers cut from the gardens, and nourish your self and your words.
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2535 Nature Writing: The Wild Into Words with Mark Cocker and Karen Lloyd, Guests from Aigas Field Centre
Mon 25th Aug - Sat 30th Aug
The aim of this course is to explore nature and wildlife, as well as the way we use language and the ethics of writing about a world we have so diminished. Central to the week is understanding how direct observation and internalising experience can be processed into high-quality poetry or prose.
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2536 Songwriting: Things Found in Song with Boo Hewerdine and Yvonne Lyon, Guest Reader John Hegley
Mon 1st Sep - Sat 6th Sep
Delve into the world around you to imagine, create and hone songs. Drawing on the wonderfully random ephemera of life, you will look at elements such as form, melody and lyric to explore what makes a powerful song.
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2537 Poetry: For Resistance and Survival with Hannah Lavery and Harry Josephine Giles, Guest Reader tbc
Mon 8th Sep - Sat 13th Sep
In this course, we’ll inspire each to write politically, to try out techniques that challenge power, and to explore strategies of creative activism. We’ll look at the possibilities and pitfalls of methods like satire, witness, testimony and celebration, finding ways to write meaningfully for ourselves and our times.
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2538 Crime Writing: From Stuck to Finished with Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Johana Gustawsson, Guest Reader Karen Sullivan
Mon 15th Sep - Sat 20th Sep
In this immersive crime writing course, bestselling crime authors Johana Gustawson and Lilja Sigurðardóttir will guide you through the roadblocks keeping you from finishing your novel. Through focused workshops, hands-on exercises, and personalised one-on-one sessions, you’ll gain the tools, insights, and confidence to move forward.
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2540 Fiction: Finding the Light with Michael Donkor and Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Guest Reader Cecilia Knapp
Mon 29th Sep - Sat 4th Oct
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.
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2541 Early October Retreat
Mon 6th Oct - Sat 11th Oct
As the colours turn and the nights begin to draw in, join us at Moniack Mhor for an uninterrupted week of writing. There will be roaring fires, company in the evenings, and plenty of delicious food to fuel those literary fires.
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2544 Late October Retreat
Mon 27th Oct - Sat 1st Nov
As the nights get longer and the leaves fall, cosy up at Moniack Mhor and get some focused writing time. There will be company if you want it, hearty meals in the evening, but most of all, time and space to concentrate on your project without any distractions.
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2546 Short Fiction: The Adventure Starts Here with Kirsty Gunn and Meaghan Delahunt, Guest Reader Duncan McLean
Mon 10th Nov - Sat 15th Nov
Do you have ideas for stories you’ve never got around to writing? Or need inspiration and a kick-start to writing them? This course, designed for anyone interested in short fiction, is an adventure in creative writing.
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2548 Historical Fiction: The Cathedral of Mist with Andrew Miller and Lucy Jago, Guest Reader Anna Frame
Mon 24th Nov - Sat 29th Nov
For writers with a special interest in historical fiction, the week will be a chance to start new projects or push on with work in progress. Through workshops, discussions and tutorials, we’ll explore a type of storytelling that remains hugely popular with readers, that inhabits genre but also transcends it.
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2550 Fiction: Tutored Retreat with Louise Welsh and Zoë Strachan, Guest Reader Francis Bickmore
Mon 8th Dec - Sat 13th Dec
This week-long tutored retreat offers an opportunity to focus intensively on a work-in-progress: any kind of prose writing welcome! Zoë and Louise will be on hand to help you hone characters and structure, develop style, shift blocks and think about next steps.
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