Tutored courses start on a Monday evening with a welcome talk from staff at 6.30pm who will then join you for a meal. Your two tutors will lead an introductory session after dinner. Tutored Courses usually include workshops each morning from one or both of your tutors. A buffet lunch is provided at 1pm. Afternoons provide time free to write or explore the surroundings, as well as a 30-minute one-to-one tutorial with each tutor during the week.
Evenings are often spent in the company of your group. Tutors will read from their own work on a Tuesday, and lead a sharing of your work at an informal ceilidh on Friday. A guest author usually joins you on Wednesday for dinner, followed by a reading from their work and a Q&A session.
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Courses
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2418 Fiction: Short Story Flow and Form with Tom Conaghan and Camilla Grudova, Guest Reader Jessie Greengrass
Mon 29th Apr - Sat 4th May
Limited Places Available
In this inspirational week, we will look at elements of flavour, sense and surrealism in short fiction, and encourage flow in your writing to reconnect with creativity beyond any internalised expectations of form.
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2424 Poetry: Poetry Practice with Ann and Peter Sansom, Guest Reader Rachael Allen
Mon 10th Jun - Sat 15th Jun
Fully Booked
Applications are invited for this poetry practice course. Taking classic and contemporary poems as model and stimulus, you will move your practice on, while finishing several poems in just one week.
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2425 Fiction: Starting to write Myth into Fiction with Joanne Harris and Louie Stowell, Guest Reader Kevin Crossley Holland
Mon 17th Jun - Sat 22nd Jun
Fully Booked
As humans, we are embedded in a web of shared stories, handed down through the generations. Join Joanne Harris and Louie Stowell to explore how themes and characters from myths and folklore can help you unlock your own story.
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2426 Playwriting: Mechanics of Playwriting with Simon Stephens and Cordelia Lynn, Guest Reader TBC
Mon 24th Jun - Sat 29th Jun
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.
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2431 Writing Parenthood with Lucy Caldwell and Kerri ní Dochartaigh
Mon 29th Jul - Sat 3rd Aug
Fully Booked
In this course, which can include childcare, we will explore what it means to write contemporary motherhood in fiction and non-fiction, in all of its blood, guts, despair, sublimity, and soul. There are options for attendance on this course.
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2432 Life-Writing: Memoir and Memory with Ali Millar and Kat Lister, Guest Reader Dr Akira O’Connor
Mon 5th Aug - Sat 10th Aug
Fully Booked
Navigate the Fallible Past: Kat Lister and Ali Millar will explore memoir and memory, and where the two intersect, tackling the big question – can a writer trust such a capricious source?
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2434 Poetry: Nature and Poetry with Alycia Pirmohamed and Genevieve Carver, Guest Reader Tim Tim Cheng
Mon 19th Aug - Sat 24th Aug
How do we engage with the non-human world? How do our own personal histories intersect with our experiences in nature? In this course we will explore how environment, place and wildlife can inform our poetry.
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2440 Playwriting: Honing Your Voice with Ella Hickson and Al Smith, Guest Reader Douglas Maxwell
Mon 30th Sep - Sat 5th Oct
This course is aimed at new and developing writers; you’ll be discussing structure, form and voice and focusing on how to apply those concepts to your work.
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2442 Fiction: Writing Different with Cynan Jones and Samantha Harvey, Guest Reader Alan Warner
Mon 14th Oct - Sat 19th Oct
Sometimes, writing requires an unconventional approach. Challenge common ideas about narrative, language, and other vital elements. This course will focus on the ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘whether you should’ of writing differently.
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2444 Creative Non-Fiction: Writing From Life with Adam Farrer and Miranda France, Guest Reader Alice Jolly
Mon 28th Oct - Sat 2nd Nov
Drawing on a range of examples, we’ll explore ways to write freely and imaginatively about your own and other other people’s experience.
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2447 Writing Climate – Open Form: Writing Towards the Great Turning with Monique Roffey and Owen Sheers, Guest Reader Charlie Hertzog-Young
Mon 18th Nov - Sat 23rd Nov
In this open-form course we explore what ecologically informed and engaged writing looks like. And what, if anything, can our writing contribute to the challenge of what Joanna Macy calls ‘the Great Turning’ – a turning towards nature, an era of peace, justice and environmental restoration.
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2448 Writing for YA: Turning Ideas into Stories with Melvin Burgess and Emily Barr, Guest Reader Liz Flanagan
Mon 25th Nov - Sat 30th Nov
This week is designed to help you with the entire process of writing for young people, from turning original ideas into full length story ideas, through structuring, polishing and editing your work to completion.
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