9th February 2022 – 18.30 (UK time)

The Four Elements of Writing with Andrew Wille

In this workshop we’ll explore how the symbolic powers of Fire, Water, Earth and Air can bring fresh perspectives and inspiration to your craft and practice. Andrew will share ways to add new energy, feeling, substance and clarity to your writing, drawing on holistic techniques and mindfulness as well as his extensive experience in publishing.

Andrew Wille is an editor, teacher and writer with a special interest in intuitive approaches to creativity. He was senior editor at Little, Brown in London, acquiring and editing fiction and nonfiction, and as a freelancer has worked for all of the major UK publishers and many independent presses too.

He has an MFA in Writing and Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement in Boulder, Colorado, where he also taught. More information at www.wille.org.

16th March 2022 at 19.00 (UK time)

Building an Archive with Sarah Davy

Explore creative writing using everyday objects, considering what they mean to us and the stories they tell.

Join Sarah Davy for an interactive workshop inspired by the award-winning novel Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli. We’ll use everyday objects to consider what things mean to us, what is and isn’t important and the stories that objects tell. 

The workshop will help you find new ways into stories and give you the tools to build your own archive of meaningful objects. You’ll be able to use these techniques in fiction and non-fiction writing. Please bring an object to the workshop with you – pick something from your home that you haven’t looked at for a while, or that doesn’t belong to you!

Sarah Davy is a writer, facilitator and lecturer living and working in rural Northumberland. Her short fiction is published online and in print and her first short play, A Perfect Knot, was performed at Newcastle Theatre Royal in 2020.

Sarah was shortlisted for the Northern Writers Awards in 2020 and 2021. She was commissioned by Hexham Book Festival in 2020 and won the Women On The Wall flash fiction competition, judged by Natalie Haynes, in 2018. She was writer in residence at Forum Books in Corbridge for 2019-2020.

7th April 2022 at 19.00 (UK time)

Flexibility as a Writer with Rev Joe Haward

Have you ever considered taking risks through writing opportunities that may sit outside your usual comfort zone? In this webinar Joe will unpack what it means to be a flexible writer, sharing some of his own experiences. You’ll explore how, by increasing your repertoire, you can discover hidden gifts and opportunities, alongside a greater confidence in the areas of writing you feel most at home.

Rev Joe Haward is an author, poet, and heretic. His freelance journalism challenges religious and political corruption, with articles regularly featured in the national news site, Byline Times. Writing horror, noir, transgressive fiction and poetry, reviews, and essays, his work has featured in a wide variety of presses and publications. He has two published non-fiction books, and his debut poetry collection, Heresy will drop in 2022 with Uncle. B. Publications. Find him at joehaward.co.uk or on Twitter @RevJoeHaward.

4th May 2022 at 18.30 (UK time)

The Psychology of Unlikeable Characters with Dr. Stephanie Carty

How can we create so-called ‘unlikeable’ main characters who still draw in the interest of our readers? We will explore ways in which your prickly characters can resonate and tricks from psychology to show there is more to them than meets the eye.

Dr Stephanie Carty is a writer and Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the U.K. Her prize-winning short fiction is widely published. She is the author of novella Three Sisters of Stone, craft book Inside Fictional Minds and upcoming collection The Peculiarities of Yearning.