Past Courses & Events

Bringing it all together – now that your work has started appearing in magazines and journals, where do you go from here? This intensive tutored retreat will provide support and tailored advice to poets who are ready to put together a first publication.

A warm welcome and a well-stoked log fire await you at Moniack Mhor. Whether you want to work on your latest manuscript, play, or poems, this time is yours. Immerse yourself in your work in a supportive environment, away from any distractions.

How do flash fiction writers create dramatic urgency and emotional truth in a few words? In this exercise-driven small-group workshop, Meg Pokrass will focus on what makes a flash story exceptional.

Writing that sings relies on a writer undertaking a number of interlinked processes. On this course, you’ll learn practical, dynamic ways to improve your drafts, lift the level of your prose, serve your voice and ask more from your stories. 

Join Dan for the next Young Writers’ Cafe.

Dive into this creative week of songwriting, co-writing and explore the possibilities of telling a story through song, connecting words to music and sound, finding your inner voice and creativity.  

Join Joseph Elliott for an introduction to creative writing! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

People, Memory and Truth: learn how to write dazzling non-fiction which matters and moves. Tutors Horatio Clare and Amy Liptrot will cover a wide spectrum of techniques that will apply to journalism, memoir, biography, travel and nature writing. 

Join multi-award-winning author Mark Cocker online for six weeks exploring the essentials of nature and non-fiction writing

Join Graeme Roger, Dave Martin and Ross Carbarns and explore photography, film, sound and projection! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

In this historical fiction masterclass, Sean will cover how to do your research, how to write real historical characters in new ways, how to invent credible new characters to walk alongside them and discuss how to make language and tone convincing yet fresh.

Join Jem for an interactive journey where they demystify the comic-making process.

Join Jem Milton for a FREE comic making workshop! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

Steep yourself in the rich Highland autumn, and focus on your work in our relaxed and supportive setting. Enjoy space and time to write alongside seasonal food, crisp air, and the company of fellow writers over coffee and cake – perfect for enriching your writing practice.

With high demand for our untutored retreats, we have fitted in an extra week of writing space this autumn. Come along to relax in our beautiful surroundings and focus on your writing while we look after you.

Join John Moley, Richmond Clements and Rachel Humphries for a FREE gaming day! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

As the weather begins to turn, let Moniack Mhor be the backdrop to your latest writing project. Have a wander round the garden for a leg stretch, say hello to the Highland cows next door, and look out for the kites circling in the sky!

Join Alan Bissett for a FREE workshop learning how to develop characters! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

In this one-hour online session delivered via Zoom, sci-fi writer Justina Robson will read from her work and be in conversation with Ken MacLeod, writer and tutor of Moniack in a Month: Writing Science Fiction. There will also be a short time for questions from our audience.

Join Alan Bissett for a FREE workshop learning how to start your short story! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

At Home in Strange Rooms: Explore how to create a persuasive sense of historical place, create engaging characters, explore approaches research, and find ways to filter historical detail for the ends of your story.

In this one-hour online session delivered via Zoom, writer and reporter Samira Shackle will read from her work and be in conversation with Cal Flyn, writer and tutor of Moniack in a Month: Narrative Non-Fiction. There will also be a short time for questions from our audience.

Join William Letford to explore how sound and shape can be used to alter the form of your poems.

Join award-winning sci-fi writer Ken MacLeod online for a month of workshops to bring your sci-fi ideas, worlds, and characters to life. With guest reader, Justina Robson.

Poetry as Memoir: Join Hannah and Joelle as they show you how to create poetry that is passionate, political, and personal. 

Join Allan MacDonald for a FREE oil painting workshop! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

Join award-winning author and journalist Cal Flyn online for a month of workshops as she examines the art of narrative nonfiction. With guest reader, Samira Shackle.

This tutored retreat is an excellent opportunity to get expert feedback on your killer crime stories, with time to write and dedicated support to help you improve your works-in-progress.   

Join Lee Borthwick for a free workshop trying pyrography! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

Join us for this special evening of words from around the world at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness – melding Orcadian music with writing, poetry, and performance from Moniack Mhor’s Summer Writers-in-Residence.

You are invited to join us for an exciting evening of international words and music in Inverness!

Writers from West Africa, United Arab Emirates, and Scotland have come together to work with young people through Moniack Mhor’s Young Writers Festival to help them find their creative voice and hone their craft – now you can share in that creative energy at this cabaret of performance from all the participating writers, accompanied by music.

Join writer and visual artist Amanda Thomson in exploring nature writing. You’ll think about nature not in a vacuum, but as something that’s all around us, that impacts on us everyday, from the very personal and local, out into the wider world.

Join this workshop with poet Alycia Pirmohamed. It is aimed at generating new work in a variety of poetic forms and you will look at how contemporary poets use linebreaks and space in their work to construct a narrative.

Join us for the Young Writers’ Festival workshop with Mariam Alzarooni.

Join Nigerian British poet, playwright, and artist, Tolu Agbelusi in exploring how to write so that people remember, and how to put power into your performance so that you can own any stage

Join this workshop with Chika Jones to think about ways to include others in their work. You will leave with a better understanding of translation, an improved appreciation for sign language and a renewed interest in inclusivity.

What is the best way to tell your story? How do you find the right voice, perspective, tone, tense? This 2-hour masterclass is part of a series created in celebration of Moniack Mhor’s 30th anniversary, and includes short writing exercises and space for a Q&A.

Join fiction writer Heather Parry to turn your initial “what if?” idea into a novel with effective characters, a strong plotline and a hook that really works. 

How do we persuasively share our views when articulating our thoughts on the books we read? This 2-hour masterclass focusing on critical reading, reflecting and reviewing will also include space for discussion and audience questions. Part of a series celebrating Moniack Mhor’s 30th anniversary.

Join Billy Letford for a poetry workshop aimed at travelling through your own imagination and surprising yourself! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

Join Theodore Brogan and Ellenor Cowling for a day of exploring queer voices! Both workshops are FREE and open to all.

Join Michel Faber for our next Young Writers’ Café who will talk you through the rewards, rejections, challenges, weirdnesses and dangers of being a writer.

Push your work-in-progress to the next level in this fun and practical course for novelists – explore dialogue, sensory detail, pacing, and the relationship between fiction and fact.

Join Boo Hewerdine, Emily Barker, John Hegley and Kerry Hudson for a creative adventure in writing songs and stories! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

*Retreat description still required*

Join Priscilla Mante to explore how to start your story off strong.

Whether you’re new to writing the teenage voice, or already have a YA novel well under way, these experienced, award-winning tutors will guide you through the joys and challenges of finding your teenage voice in your fiction.

Join Angus Clyne to try your hand at woodturning! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

Join Hamish MacDonald to try your hand at poetry and spoken word! This taster is offered as part of the Creativity and Care Programme for care experienced young people aged 14-30.

In this one-hour online session delivered via Zoom, memoir writer Graham Morgan will read from his work and be in conversation with Catherine Simpson, writer and tutor of Moniack in a Month: Memoir. There will also be a short time for questions from our audience.

This course celebrates open-minded and weird-minded thinkers and writers. Bring a work in progress, a kernel of an idea, or a spark of curiosity and enthusiasm for language. 

Join us for the new monthly open writing space offering time and space to work on your project.

How does place write to us and how might we write in place? In this course we will practice being in, attending to and writing about place in poetry and prose.

Join this year’s Highland Book Prize Shortlisted authors, Ali Smith, Tony Davidson, Duncan Gillies, and Cynthia Rogerson, as we celebrate each of their books with conversation and readings online, before we announce the winner of the Highland Book Prize 2022.

Join writer Catherine Simpson online for a month and explore how to shape your own memoir: it’s your story. With guest reader, Graham Morgan.

Join poet Jen Hadfield online this summer for ‘Ecopoetics’, the last in her Three Seasons of Poetry exploring different themes and poetic forms.

Join Leyla Josephine to explore how your own identity and real life experiences can influence your writing within fiction or autobiographical pieces. 

This stimulating workshop will offer tools and techniques to help you start turning your life events into a narrative. This 2-hour masterclass is part of a series created in celebration of Moniack Mhor’s 30th anniversary, and includes short writing exercises and space for a Q&A.

As spring moves into summer, join Carys Bray and Wyl Menmuir for this tutored course in Fiction.

In a course aimed at new and developing playwrights, we’ll be discussing structure, form and voice, and focusing on how to apply those concepts to your work.

On Wednesday 17th May, it is exactly 30 years since Moniack Mhor officially opened our doors as a Writers Centre, back in 1993. Join us on an untutored retreat during this very special week.

Join us for the new monthly open writing space offering time and space to work on your project.

Non-fiction takes many forms — be it rigorous journalism, criminal investigations, lyrical travel essays, scientific writing, memoir, or celebrations of culture. How can we create work that matters and connects? 

How to shape a story from experience, hosted by Cynthia Rogerson. Two-hour in-person workshop held at Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre.

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.

Are you thinking about sources of inspiration for your writing? Crime Writer Doug Johnstone will help you own your story and shape it through editing techniques.

Do you have a killer idea for a crime novel but don’t know where to start? Join Johana Gustawsson and Lilja Sigurðardóttir for an inspiring week where you will get the know-how to start your crime novel.

Join us for the new monthly open writing space offering time and space to work on your project.

Take some time to recharge and focus on your own writing, in the beautiful springtime scenery here at Moniack Mhor.

Join Tony Davidson beside the fire at Kilmorack Gallery for this online event, as he discusses his book, Confessions of a Highland Art Dealer (Woodwose Books), longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2022.

Highland Book Prize Longlisted poet, Lydia Harris, will be leading a poetry workshop at Orkney Library, exploring how to write poetry from objects private devotion.  Hosted in the Orkney Room of the reference library, you will draw on books and objects as a venerable and rich source of ideas.

Join award-winning poet Caroline Bird online for a month as part of a group of 12 participating writers exploring Poetry and Dreams. 

This course is designed for writers wanting or willing to begin afresh. You might have a project in hand and want to give it new impetus and life, or you might be prepared to start again from scratch.

Are you interested in trying out spoken word poetry? Join Scotland’s 2013 National Champion of Slam Poetry, Carly Brown, at our next Young Writers Café and get your voice heard!

Join Jennifer Morag Henderson for this reader event at Waterstones, Inverness, where she will be talking about Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots, longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2022.

An immersive week of poetry, where you will be guided towards connecting to your voice and exploring the stories you want to tell, while keeping in mind the questions that drive so many of us to the page.

Join us here at Moniack Mhor in March to nurture the seeds of your creativity and allow your writing to bloom.

Join multi-award-winning author Mark Cocker online for six weeks exploring the essentials of nature and non-fiction writing

Join award-winning writer Jenny Valentine online for a month in a group of 12 participating writers exploring how to write for and about young people. 

Join us for the new monthly open writing space offering time and space to work on your project.

Join us online for this special Gaelic Highland Book Prize Longlist event, celebrating Crann-Fige le Donnchadh MacGillÌosa. Duncan will be reading from this Highland Book Prize longlisted collection of short stories, published in both Gaelic and English, and talking to Anne Frater about the book.

This online workshop with Jen Hadfield is a special event for supporters of the Moniack Mhor Friends’ Scheme. For more information about the Friends Scheme visit https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/writers/friends/

The award-winning writer Kirstin Innes will lead this first Young Writers’ Café for young people in Inverness and surrounding areas.

Join poet Jen Hadfield online this autumn for the second of three seasons of poetry, each exploring different themes and poetic forms.

Give your writing the time and space it deserves. Join us here at Moniack Mhor to share this beautiful month with other like-minded writers.

We are dedicating this time of year to the calm of retreats. Join us for this week only, or stay on from the previous January retreats.

Elizabeth Reeder’s online course, A Year of Writing, completes its final season, starting on 25 January 2023. New participants also welcome for a 3-month kickstart to your writing year!

While the cold dark weather surrounds us, warm up next to the cosy wood-burning stoves at Moniack Mhor to focus your attention and hone your writing. Join us for this week only, or stay on for the other January retreats.

Start your year with an untutored retreat at Moniack Mhor and give yourself time and space to focus on your project. Join us for this week only, or stay on for the next January retreats.

As Christmas approaches, join us for a festive retreat to cosy up to wood-burning stoves and twinkling tree lights as you relax and allow your writing to take centre stage.

Don your jumpers and join us here on the hill for some guilt-free time to read, reflect and write before the Christmas rush.

We’ll explore ideas of home, where human meets wild, and the wild in us, poetic strategies for processing loss and fear, and universal and overwhelming experience.

Join Kenny Anderson, known better under his stage name King Creosote, and Emily Barker for an inspired week in the hills full of song, discussion, writing, imagination and a visit from special guest Emma Pollock.

In this one-hour session delivered via Zoom, Cathy Rentzenbrink will read from her bestselling books and discuss memoir writing with her audience

In this practical and immersive course on the art of writing memoir, Chitra Ramaswamy and Colin Grant will guide you through the process of constructing your story, offering tips and hacks on voice, structure, and what to leave in and take out when telling the story of your life.

Join poet Jen Hadfield online this autumn for the first of three seasons of poetry, each exploring different themes and poetic forms.

Give yourself the time and space you need to read, reflect and write – in the beautiful surrounding of Moniack Mhor, with delicious food, beautiful views and like-minded company.

Want to write fiction that sends shivers up the spine? How about mastering the important art of suspension of disbelief? Take your writing to the next level with award-winning gothic novelists CJ and Natasha .

In this unique week-long course, dedicated tutors will be on hand to help you with your writing. Childcare support will be provided by the team at Abriachan Forest.  

This tutored retreat, most suited to people who have a work in progress, will give you time to write and meet with fellow writers, and also time to discuss your ideas with Gillian and Romesh.

Join us for an uninterruped writing week at Moniack Mhor during the Autumn Solstice light. Take the time and space you need to get your thoughts going and your words flowing.

Elizabeth Reeder’s online course, A Year of Writing, continues throughout this year and the third term begins on 14 September.

On Monday 5th September we are hosting the fourth of five special writing workshops, Writing about Place with Jen Hadfield, delivered in collaboration with Spirit Advocacy and HUG: Action for Mental Health.

Tutored by poet Aoife Lyall this two hour workshop will open up the world of poetry, using the HUG project as a springboard to creative expression.

The genre of life writing is bigger and broader than ever. This course will look at the many and diverse ways you can write about your life or other peoples’.

The essay is a broad and rich literary form that can articulate and explore ideas, experiences, emotions and the everyday. This course will cover a range of techniques and issues, drawing upon examples of fine work from across decades.

Think, reflect and write from Monday to Saturday and give your work-in-the-progress the attention it deserves.

Findlay Napier and Boo Hewerdine write songs from observations and real life experience. During this week long course, you too, can learn the power of turning narrative into song. You’ll spend the week honing your writing skills, starting from the very basics to well-crafted, finished pieces.

Inspired to write but not sure where to begin? Or perhaps you’ve lost momentum with a work-in-progress. This online course will give you the tools and motivation to tackle a story head on and develop your own piece of short fiction, with regular workshops over the course of a month.

This year, we are delighted to offer a retreat with childcare.  With summer in full swing, we want to offer writers with caring responsibilities to be able to have the space and time to think and write.  

On Thursday 28th July we are hosting the third of five special writing workshops, delivered in collaboration with Spirit Advocacy and HUG: Action for Mental Health.

Tutored by A.L. Kennedy this two hour workshop will open up the world of comedy writing, using the HUG project as a springboard to creative expression.

Believable characters, a strong story, emotion, continuity and settings are all important when creating a picture book for children. This course will give you tips, techniques, professional advice and encourage experimentation.

Wherever you are in your Fiction project, this course will help you take small (or maybe bold) steps to generate ideas, connections and energy and to love the writing (again).

Katharine and Niall will share their writing experience and help you find strategies to write your truth and make it compelling to the reader.

On Thursday 30th June we are hosting the second of five special writing workshops, delivered in collaboration with Spirit Advocacy and HUG: Action for Mental Health.

Tutored by poet Aoife Lyall this two hour workshop will open up the world of poetry, using the HUG project as a springboard to creative expression.

Taking advantage of Moniack Mhor’s beautiful setting, this course will take you out into the hills and glens around the centre, using the landscape and local history to inspire some great new writing.

Long, light nights here in the Highlands in the middle of summer create a wonderfully energised atmosphere for reflection and writing. Immerse yourself in the bright hills of Moniack Mhor and make the most of the summer solstice.

Do you have a novel in your head but not much of it down on paper yet? Or do you have plenty of words but you’re losing sight of the compelling novel you set out to write? This course will help you get back on track.

As the temperatures become more mild, head to the hills to take stock of your work and refocus your writing.

On Friday 27th May we are hosting the first of five special writing workshops, delivered in collaboration with Spirit Advocacy and HUG: Action for Mental Health.

Tutored by writer Cynthia Rogerson this two hour workshop will open up the world of short story writing, using the HUG project as a springboard to creative expression.

Join us live online from Moniack Mhor as we celebrate the shortlist for the 2021 Highland Book Prize and announce the winning title. Authors David Alston, Cal Flyn, Jen Hadfield, and Donald S Murray will be reading from their work, alongside live music from Ingrid and Megan Henderson for this celebration of Highland talent and culture.

Elizabeth Reeder’s online course, A Year of Writing, continues throughout this year and as the new term begins on 18th May there are a few spaces available for more writers to join us.

Two of Scotland’s finest crime writers will explore character and plot development, tension-building and research techniques, and support you in developing your work – whatever stage you are at.

At the heart of the finest memoirs, histories and travel books is a writer’s passion. Explore your passions, obsessions or memories and to develop your work in a supportive and inspiring environment.

This trio of experienced and excitable tutors welcome you to come read, write and speak all things poetry. Suitable for poets of all levels of confidence and craft.

With spring in the air, take the time to inject new life and fresh energy into your writing.

Polly Clark and Sara Sheridan share their experience as professional writers and explore vital points in the journey from idea to bringing a book to market.

Grab a glass, sit back and relax, and enjoy this unique opportunity to hear readings from our International Residency writers, live from the living room at Moniack Mhor.

The 2022 Jessie Kesson Fellow, hybrid-playwright, dyslexic educator, Grime-poet Debris Stevenson is leading this 2-hour online workshop on writing and neurodiversity. You will work with Debris through the idea that in order to write something brilliant, you might first have to write something terrible!

An exciting group of writers will be performing at The Ceilidh Place in Ullapool on Friday 18th March, for a celebration of international and Scottish words and music, as poets and novelists come together with a local musician for this unique event.

The 2022 Jessie Kesson Fellow, hybrid-playwright, dyslexic educator, Grime-poet Debris Stevenson is leading this 2-hour workshop for young LGBTQIA+ folk at Velocity Cafe, Inverness.

Using the work of Robert Burns as a springboard, novelist Sandra Ireland will lead this two-hour online workshop giving participants the opportunity to examine and voice their thoughts around mental health and stigma.

Join us at The Pier Arts Centre for a vibrant blend of International and Scottish poetry and music. This event showcases some of the talented writers taking part in Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre 2022 International Residencies programme, which brings together writers from Nigeria, India, Togo, Canada, and Scotland to develop their work.

Iain Finlay will lead a 75 minute workshop, where participants will get the chance to apply a number of techniques to developing one of their own ideas.  Ideas should be at an early stage of development. As a group, you will discuss, question and interrogate each other’s ideas in a safe space, with the aim of furthering the boundaries of your story’s world.

Join us online for our fourth and final ‘in conversation’ event of our Longlist Series, celebrating each of the longlisted titles for the 2021 Highland Book Prize. Historian and independent researcher David Alston will discussing his book, Slaves and Highlanders, with Dr Juanita Cox.

In our fourth and final Poetry Morning, Garry MacKenzie will be introducing and reading from Ben Dorain: A Conversation with a Mountain, longlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize.

Join us for our third online Poetry Morning, where Christine De Luca will introduce and read from her collection VEEVE, longlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize.

Join us online for the second in our ‘in conversation’ series. Author Donald S. Murray will be talking to Cathy MacDonald about his book In a Veil of Mist, longlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize.

How do you begin to approach transforming stage plays for cinema? How do take the very specific experience
of watching a play and its frequently non-naturalistic conventions, and tell that same story in a more visual medium?

In the second of our online Poetry Mornings, Jen Hadfield will be introducing and reading from her collection The Stone Age, longlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize.

Following the success of Elizabeth’s Reeder’s recent online course, A Season of Writing, we are now broadening the scope of the course to encompass the whole year. Many of the writers who began the course with Elizabeth in the autumn are keen to continue but we are now able to open up the course for some new writers to join us.

Cal Flyn, the author of Islands of Abandonment, will lead a 90 minute workshop focusing on summoning the character of the built or natural environment. After leading the group in some close reading and analysis (fiction, nonfiction and poetry), she will set short exercises that challenge participants to express more fully the way they relate to the world around them.

Join us online for the first of our ‘in conversation’ events. American author Jay Parini will be talking to Roxani Krystalli about his book Borges and Me, longlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize.

Listen to Sandaidh NicDhòmhnaill Jones introduce and read from her bilingual collection An Seachdamh Tonn – The Seventh Wave, longlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize, in the first of our online Poetry Mornings. This event welcomes both English and Gaelic speakers.

Findlay Napier and Boo Hewerdine write songs from observations and real life experience. During this week long course, you too, can learn the power of turning narrative into song.

Spend the end of 2021 at Moniack Mhor beside a toasty wood burner with a mug of tea and your manuscript. We’ll get the mince pies in.

Have you often wanted to write, but aren’t sure where to begin? Perhaps you don’t yet know what shape you’d like your writing to take, whether that’s poetry, short story, fiction or non-fiction. Whatever stage you’re at, these workshops will tackle the basics of writing in any form, looking at language, imagery, plot and character.

Bidh an dà bhùth-obrach seo (gach tè uair a thìde) a’ toirt sùil air na sgeulachdan Gàidhlig a lorgar air an làraich-lìn Sgeulachdan nan Gaisgeach. Bidh leasaiche na làraich, an craoladair, ùghdar is sgeulaiche Ruairidh MacIlleathain, a’ mìneachadh a’ chorpais – sgeulachdan de na Fianna agus gaisgich eile à dualchas nan Gàidheal ann an Alba – agus mar a rinn e ath-sgrìobhadh orra airson an dèanamh nas freagarraiche airson Gàidheil an latha an-diugh.

An intensive but very enjoyable course of writing and reading with ‘the best poetry teachers in the world’ (The Guardian).  Taking classic and contemporary poems as model and stimulus, we will create perhaps as much as a small pamphlet in just one week.  Insightful editorials, informal discussion and entertaining evening reading sessions will make this a truly memorable course. 

How do you a hook a reader’s attention and create suspense? If you already have a criminal idea that you want to put on the page, this course is for you.

Are you passionate about writing fiction with young adult protagonists? This week will give you the motivation you need to develop your knowledge and skills.

This course is for anyone who has started or is in the midst of writing a novel and would like to write in a community of writers, learn more about craft and process, set individual goals and get feedback on a synopsis and an extract of your work.

This course will help you finish that first draft with workshops and tutorials on plot and character, on sharpening your descriptions, writing scenes and creating distinctive, propulsive, persuasive voices.

Improve your Gaelic Fluency through telling Tales of the Fianna. Thoir feabhas air do chuid Gàidhlig tro aithris Sgeulachdan na Fèinne.

Drawing from the corpus of Fianna tales in Scottish Gaelic, tutor Ruairidh Maclean will guide participants through a series of three 1-hour virtual sessions to tell their own 5 minute Gaelic story.

In this engaging course, you’ll create dozens of new poems and develop a sustainable writing practice. Suitable for poets of all levels of confidence, we’ll offer prompts and exercises guaranteed to get your pen moving and keyboards clicking.

Come to find your rhythm and your voice, unravel your ideas, craft harmonious developments, and cut away excess noise from prelude to finale so that your work can sing.

Moniack in a Month – Come Over to the Dark Side: Crime Writing with Karen Campbell   What’s on the surface and what lies beneath? Whether it’s prising open closed doors, shattering facades, unearthing secrets or reaching beyond the uniform, crime fiction can be your key to exploring truth, society and what makes us human. From concept to conclusion, we’ll learn about the building blocks and tools you need to write your novel.   On this course, we’ll look at developing plot, character, place and pace to make your story sing– plus you’ll get an exclusive ‘Cop Clinic’ – an insider’s guide into what makes the polis tick! Remember, there is light and dark in everyone…  

In a course aimed at new and developing writers, we’ll look at these questions and more, exploring dramatic structure and how to work it to your advantage, balancing craft with inspiration, and taking your play from first to final draft.

As the weather begins to turn, let Moniack Mhor be the backdrop to your latest writing project. Have a wander round the garden for a leg stretch, say hello to the Highland cows next door, and look out for the Moniack Mhor hare!

Enjoy the early autumnal peacefulness in our relaxed setting, perfect for helping you focus on your work. Take time to enjoy the fresh air and views in the company of fellow writers.

Join us for this last minute retreat at Moniack Mhor and dust away those lockdown cobwebs. In an environment conducive to creativity and in the company of fellow writers, take stock of your project and make real inroads with your work in progress.

Escape to Moniack Mhor for the last few days of summer to focus on your writing without the distractions of daily life. If inspiration evades you, go looking for it during a lovely long walk in the woods.

This course is aimed at writers of all levels, from beginners to published authors, who wish to hone and develop their non-fiction, be it memoir, biography, travel, life writing, nature or place writing.

If you think you have the writing bug but you’re unsure how to get started, Karin and Andrew will guide you through that difficult space between wanting and doing, the ambition and the act.

If you simply want to write, free from distractions, but surrounded by fellow writers, join us for this untutored retreat week. Be it first draft, final edits or simply wanting to get creative – a writing retreat at Moniack Mhor offers you space and time to focus on your work.

In this one-hour session delivered via Zoom, which will take the form of a short talk followed by an online discussion with participants, Blake Morrison will read from and discuss his bestselling memoirs, And When Did You Last See Your Father? and Things My Mother Never Told Me. Blake will be in conversation with Kerry Hudson, author of memoir, Lowborn, and tutor of our Moniack Online: Moniack in a Month: Memoir course running throughout the month.

If you simply want to write, free from distractions, but surrounded by fellow writers, join us for this untutored retreat week. Be it first draft, final edits or simply wanting to get creative – a writing retreat at Moniack Mhor offers you space and time to focus on your work.

How do we go about creating complex, engaging characters? How do we keep our readers invested in the characters we create? Join novelist and short story writer Daniel Shand for a series of workshops looking at how to keep characterisation at the heart of your writing practice.

Do you have a personal story you’re longing to write? This supportive and friendly online course tutored by writer Kerry Hudson covers character depiction, setting, structure and dialogue and will provide you with the building blocks to start your memoir.

How do we go about creating complex, engaging characters? How do we keep our readers invested in the characters we create? Join novelist and short short writer Daniel Shand for a series of workshops looking at how to keep characterisation at the heart of your writing practice.

In this one-hour session delivered via Zoom, Bernard MacLaverty will read from ‘The Clinic’ from Matters of Life and Death and his Collected Stories. Writer and tutor of Moniack Mhor Online: Short Story, AL Kennedy will join Bernard in conversation after his reading and there will be time for a short online discussion with the audience.

Are you passionate about writing short stories? Over the course of four weeks, with the support of acclaimed writer A.L. Kennedy you will develop your knowledge and skills and write a complete short story.

Join us online as we announce the winner of the 2020 Highland Book Prize. During this final event in the series we will celebrate the four fantastic books shortlisted for the 2020 Highland Book Prize, before we announce the winning book.

Join us online for an ‘in conversation’ event with YA writers, Joseph Elliott and Jenny Valentine, as they discuss Joseph’s debut novel, The Good Hawk, longlisted for the 2020 Highland Book Prize.

2020 HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE LONGLIST SERIES
Field naturalist Roy Dennis MBE, author of ‘Cottongrass Summer’, joins an online conversation with author Mark Cocker.

Join us online for an ‘in conversation’ event with Scottish poet and novelist, Robert Alan Jamieson, talking to fellow poet, Jen Hadfield, about his latest collection Plague Clothes which is longlisted for the 2020 Highland Book Prize.

Robin Robertson – a Scot exiled in London for most of his life – will explain how this Grimoire came to be, and why it’s subtitled New Scottish Folk Tales. Primarily, though, this will be a chance to hear him reading these poems.

Turning Ideas into Books
Getting that initial idea is just the beginning – after that, your novel needs to be built. In this course we will cover a number of the skills necessary to help you do that, focussing in particular on that most tricky of them all – structuring you novel so that it does the job you want it to.

2020 HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE LONGLIST SERIES
Join us online for an ‘in conversation’ event in which Jim Crumley joins writer Linda Cracknell to talk about his 2020 Highland Book Prize longlisted book, ‘The Nature of Summer’

How to find a story in history

Liz will talk about finding story structure in past true events, and in doing so, how to stay true to history. Within this she will explore, how many liberties can a historical novelist take or not take. Liz will also discuss evoking place and setting.

Local Storytelling and the Gothic

Some local stories can capture the imagination, especially when we are young. These can be tales told round a campfire, overheard at school or read about in the local newspaper. When thinking of gothic or suspenseful writing in particular, remembering local legends or strange incidents can be a useful jumping off point.

In this one-hour session delivered via Zoom, writer A.L. Kennedy holds forth on short stories, including why she thinks of them as ‘like bullets’. The event will take the form of a half-hour talk followed by an online discussion with the audience.

In a session that will combine discussion and writing, we’ll take some of our thinking on how different points of view work and we’ll turn it into some daring writing.

Elizabeth Reeder will talk about the pleasure and importance of experimentation and play when you’re trying to figure out how to tell your stories.

During this short online writing course, writers John Glenday and Louise Wallwein will lead you through some inspiring writing exercises and creative activities that will encourage you to tap into your creativity.

Building Plot and Managing Tension

In this one-hour online session delivered via Zoom, bestselling author Joanne Harris will discuss the fundamentals of plot structure and tension in building a novel. Joanne’s short talk will be followed by a discussion with participants.

Joanne Harris is the author of 18 novels, including the award-winning Chocolat, plus many short stories, novellas, lyrics, scripts and, most recently, Ten Things About Writing, a self-help book for writers of fiction. She is currently Chair of the Society of Authors, and sits on the Board of the ALCS (Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society). Find out more about Joanne on her website, www.joanne-harris.co.uk

In this session, which will take the form of a short talk followed by an on-line discussion with participants, novelist James Robertson will discuss the process of redrafting a long piece of fiction.

Have recent world events caused you to consider our relationship with the planet, the climate and one another? Can we – should we – use poetry to speak to, from or for Nature? What languages does the wild world speak, and can poetry effect positive change?

The long summer days will be just the thing to help you relax into your writing and enjoy the breathtaking scenery around Moniack Mhor. 

Want to write, but finding it difficult to get started, even with an abundance of free time? This four-week course will offer the structure and inspiration you need by guiding you through some of the key elements of writing fiction.

Storytelling and song have always been a part of the social glue we need more than ever now.

Now is the time to Spring into action (sorry) as you breathe new life into your manuscript, or work on your play, short story or poem.

Come and join Ken Cockburn at Abriachan Forest Trust Classroom for a fun and informal afternoon taking inspiration from our surroundings to get writing.

Come and join Ken Cockburn at Abriachan Forest Trust Classroom for a fun and informal afternoon taking inspiration from our surroundings to get writing.

Come to Moniack Mhor for some quality quiet time. Evenings by the fire, good company and country walks will help inspire your writing.

Treat yourself to a week at Moniack Mhor, where you can spend your time working on your writing away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Just some quality time with you and your writing.

Why not start your writing year in the comforting and inspiring surroundings here at Moniack Mhor?

The culmination of three years of friendship and shared , ‘confluence’ is an album of songs by Grace Morton and Jamie MacRae.

Forget the festive rush. Come to Moniack Mhor for some writing therapy instead. This could be your prefect gift – time, space and the permission to write, with festive treats laid on!

Three of the Scotland’s finest folk musicians and composers in the perfect Highland setting of Abriachan Village Hall!

Calling all folk musicians and composers keen to develop their composition and arranging skills on a special residential music course this December.