Arvon Brochure 2015

Arvon’s residential creative writing courses are renowned for their potential to spark your imagination and transform your writing. Come to one of our beautiful rural houses in Shropshire, Devon or Yorkshire for a powerful mix of workshops and individual tutorials with highly respected authors. Choose from a wide range of genres. You’ll have time and space to write, and the support of your fellow writers. Grants are available to help with course fees.

“These are life-enhancing weeks. I’ve witnessed the most astonishing evolution in students’ writing and confidence over the period of just a handful of days, and as a tutor it’s a privilege to see people grow and flourish during the course, and to spend time with those who share a passion for artistic thinking, creative articulation and the written word.” —Simon Armitage “One of the most creative and enjoyable experiences I have ever had. I have never learnt so much in such a short time.” —Julie Robertson, participant “I leave with a writing toolbox full to bursting, a lung full of inspiration that I don’t want to breathe out, and a smile on my face.” —course participant www.arvon.org

2015 Arvon is a registered charity (Charity No. 306694) and a company limited by guarantee (registered in London No.1086582).

TIME AND SPACE TO WRITE

residential creative writing courses and retreats 2015

STAY IN TOUCH, BECOME AN ARVON FRIEND “Despite the proliferation of arts retreats, writing courses, workshops and literary events in the UK, Arvon’s programme of residential courses remains the best for keen writers of all levels, in all disciplines. Arvon are peerless in their course design, the diversity of the teachers and students, their ability to move with the times and the special combination of rigour, peacefulness, camaraderie and privacy.”

—Bidisha, tutor “In the last week I’ve made more progress as a writer than in the last year as a whole and I’ve returned even more determined to improve and make space and time for writing.”—Wyl Menmuir, participant

“At Arvon, everyone is a writer.

Here writers teach writers... a place where no one need be embarrassed to love words or books, or by wanting very much to write better.”

—Maggie Gee, tutor

“It unlocked my mind and gave a new pulse to writing.

I discovered things flowing from my pen and sentence structures which must have lain dormant or unformed.”

—Roger Jefferies, participant

Stay inspired, get priority booking and help others discover the power of writing...

Arvon Friends are at the heart of what we do. As an Arvon Friend you’ll get priority booking for courses, regular e-newsletters with writing tips, the chance to attend the annual Friends’ Retreat, and invitations to selected events.

You can become an Arvon Friend from £30 per year.

“Arvon Friends is perfectly named – it’s how I feel towards Arvon. They’re a friend I’ve turned to at tricky, selfdoubting points in my writing life and I know they are there if I need them again for time, space and inspiration.” —Julie Mayhew, writer and Arvon Friend

To find out more, contact Meg Rumbelow: meg.rumbelow@arvon.org 020 7324 2558 www.arvon.org/ arvonfriends

“A beautiful location far from the madding crowd, a supportive and talented group of like-minded people as fellow fledgling writers, and two intelligent and experienced professional writers to guide and inspire.

There was just the right balance between some challenging writing workshops and free time for our own writing.”—Sue Wigmore, participant

“The way I see it, Arvon and Arvon courses are like an art gallery or a cathedral or a national park. They are a space that you open to everyone, and you say “come in and take what you want (from the course). We know you’ll all have an amazing experience, we don’t know what you are going to take away from it, but we know that in many cases it’s going to be something absolutely wonderful.”—Mark Haddon, tutor

“Sixteen travel-worn souls uncertainly entered the doors to seek guidance from two established experts in the field – and walked out a short week later with notebooks brimming with ideas, the beginnings of promising first novels and an address book full of brilliant and supportive friends who could always be counted on to provide advice and encouragement along the journey.”—Sophie Malik, participant

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Welcome 4 What is Arvon? 8 The Arvon week 10 Choosing a course 11 Arvon’s work with schools and groups 12 Can you help? 16 Arvon centres 18 2015 course programme - Starting to Write 30 - Fiction 40 - Poetry 69 - Non-Fiction 85 - Writing for Children/YA 95 - Theatre/TV/Film/Radio 102 - Other 118 Course fees and grants for writers 134 Terms and conditions 140 Course index 144

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WELCOME Ruth Borthwick, Chief Executive

It’s amazing to think that it is 40 years since

Arvon started running courses at Lumb Bank,

our centre in Yorkshire, formerly Ted Hughes’ home. Although it is a lot more comfortable now than in those early days, the emphasis hasn’t changed. Arvon prioritises the conditions that writers need to be creative: distraction-free time away, glorious locations, support from an experienced team and, above all, successful and talented writers as tutors who give their time generously.

What supremely talented writers have taught at Lumb over those 40 years! The roll-call includes Angela Carter, Will Self and Hilary Mantel. In its 40th year, we celebrate that history with fine writers returning, such as Mark Haddon, Michael Longley, Colette Bryce, Roger McGough and, in a blaze of glory, Paul Muldoon.

Arvon is constantly renewing its offering so that we engage with new forms of writing, the lifeblood of literary invention.

At The Hurst we have a raft of innovative courses on writing for the screen featuring Short Film, Continuing TV Drama, and Film Adaptation. At Totleigh Barton, courses include Writing Theatre for Young Audiences and Experimental Fiction.

At Lumb Bank we are premiering courses in Experimental Poetry and Improvisation for writers.

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And we’re bringing back great courses because they’re, well, great: Food Writing, Comedy Writing and Picture Books at Totleigh; Historical Novel at The Hurst, and Nature Writing at Lumb.

We are proud to have several extraordinary writers making their debuts at Arvon this year. Monica Ali, James Lasdun, Neel Mukherjee, Helen Macdonald and Brian Turner lead the powerful charge.

If you’re new to writing, Arvon’s signature Starting to Write strand runs throughout the year. As well as opportunities to start writing a novel, short story, poetry and non-fiction, you may also enjoy our new course for first-time playwrights.

Don’t be put off if the costs are beyond you. Each centre has a grant fund to help you. In 2014 we were able to help nine out of ten writers who applied for support. Look at p135 and get in touch with us.

You may notice that our Scottish affiliate, Moniack Mhor, is no longer part of the Arvon family. They have decided to fulfil their mission to be Scotland’s creative writing centre. We wish them well on their journey.

Finally, this programme is dedicated to John Moat (1936–2014). Without his vision, Arvon would have remained a kingdom of the bards in a Welsh romance. Vale John Moat.

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ABOUT ARVON

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WHAT IS ARVON?

Since 1968, Arvon has been offering people time and space to write. In beautiful countryside, with expert tuition and one-to-one guidance from leading authors and the support of other like-minded writers, you can feed your imagination and get your stories to flourish.

We run an annual programme of residential courses for schools, groups and individuals at our three rural writing houses – in Devon, Shropshire and Yorkshire.

In this booklet you’ll find details of our 2015 adult programme of courses, covering a wide range of genres, for writers at all levels of experience, from beginners to emerging and published writers.

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We offer you more than a course. We’ve cultivated the ideal environment for your creativity to thrive. Generations of writers have acknowledged the impact that coming on an Arvon course has had on their writing life.

Thanks to the support of Arts Council England and generous donors, we are able to offer grants to help with the course fee. Each year we offer more than 170 grants, with the average grant being over £300.

We also run Arvon City, our three-day non-residential Creative Writing courses in city centres. Have a look at www.arvon.org/city for more details.

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THE ARVON WEEK

The courses run from Monday afternoon to Saturday morning. Most Arvon weeks follow this structure (although retreats are a little different): • You’ll be with a group of up to 15 other writers, and working with two tutors.

• Each morning the tutors lead workshops to help you explore writing ideas, forms and techniques.

• Afternoons are your time for writing and one-to-one tutorials. You’ll have two tutorials (at least 20 minutes long), one with each tutor during the week, to consider your writing in depth.

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• On Tuesday evening the tutors will read from their own work.

• On Wednesday evening a guest speaker will join the group.

• On Friday evening all the writers gather to share and celebrate their work.

• The week comes to a close on Saturday morning, after breakfast.

For information about food and accommodation see pages 20–21.

CHOOSING A COURSE

It’s important to read the course descriptions carefully.

If it sounds like you’re the intended audience, then it’s probably the course for you.

Apart from Retreats, Starting to Write and Work-in-Progress courses, all weeks are suitable for writers at any level of experience.

STARTING TO WRITE If you’ve done little Creative Writing before, or none at all, then a Starting to Write course might suit you best.

We offer Starting to Write courses in specific genres, and a general Starting to Write course that includes fiction and poetry writing.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS Work-in-Progress weeks are designed for people who already have significant writing experience and would like project-specific feedback and writing time.

RETREATS We recommend retreats for the more experienced writer.

All retreats offer single rooms only. Otherwise, domestic arrangements are the same as for all courses.

We have four types of retreat: Tutored Retreat Two tutors are available for two one-on-one tutorials each, with a guest tutor on Wednesday. There are no workshops in the morning.

Retreat No tutors, no morning workshops and no evening readings. You’re free to structure your time as you see fit.

Friends’ Retreat This week is structured as a retreat, but it’s open only to Arvon Friends.

Retreat with Yoga This is structured in the same way as a retreat, but you have optional Hatha yoga and meditation sessions in the morning and evening with a trained instructor.

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ARVON’S WORK WITH SCHOOLS AND GROUPS

Every year a third of our residential weeks are with schools, young people and adult groups.

“It’s made me realise that writing is a way to solve problems. I never used to like writing and now I love it.” —pupil

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“The Arvon experience has completely exceeded all my expectations – the pupils have come back brimming with confidence, talking about writing, enthusiastic about writing… it allowed them to think more freely, become more independent writers.

All of these things I’d hoped for but I didn’t think we could achieve.” —teacher

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Vita Nova at Totleigh Barton

We work with around 50 schools and groups each year. Recent groups include Vita Nova, supporting those in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction; Start 360, working with young people from Belfast; and Inscribe, developing Black and Asian writers.

“Arvon is not solely a creative writing course to the Vita Nova groups who come. It is a place of growth in confidence and self-efficacy. A place to (re) learn social skills. A place to get in touch with nature and to take a breath. A place to make friends. A place to listen and a place to be heard.”

—Simon Bull, Chief Executive, Vita Nova

We’re always eager to welcome new schools and groups to our centres. Perhaps you have a project idea; perhaps you know a group who would benefit from an Arvon week – if so, please get in touch. We take care to shape each week around the particular needs and interests of the group, whether you want to bring talented writers, or individuals who need more support.

In certain instances Arvon can assist with funding, thanks to the generosity of individuals, companies, trusts and foundations. We also offer grants for teachers of English to participate in our open courses – see p135 for details.

To find out more, contact Emma Feasey: emma.feasey@arvon.org 0207 324 2562 www.arvon.org/ schoolsandgroups

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CAN YOU HELP?

Help us reach out and share the Arvon magic.

Inspire a young person to write their first poem, or empower someone to tell a story they didn’t believe worth telling.

“There is one pupil who never speaks out in class, would never read out in class, but I have definitely seen that change in him… I’ve seen him carry that confidence back into the classroom.” —teacher

We rely on the support of generous individuals and charitable trusts to help those who would not otherwise be able to come to Arvon.

You can find a list of Arvon’s current supporters on p139.

“I cannot stress enough how important the maintenance of a grant system is, to give someone in a time of hardship much needed freedom to breathe, think and write.”

—grant recipient

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WAYS TO SUPPORT ARVON

Leave a legacy to Arvon

Arvon Angels

Arvon is a registered charity.

Remember Arvon in your will and help us grow our work for future generations.

If you would like to start this conversation, do please contact us.

Become an Arvon Angel and be an advocate for Arvon’s work. Donations start from £500 per year and directly support Arvon’s charitable aim of creating access to writing for everyone. To say thank you, Angels receive exclusive invitations to events and readings with authors.

Arvon Friends Stay inspired, get priority booking and help others discover the power of writing.

You can become an Arvon Friend from £30 per year.

See p149 for information about Arvon Friends.

To discuss how you can support Arvon, contact Gwendolyn Tietze: gwendolyn.tietze@arvon.org 020 7324 2576 www.arvon.org/ supportus 17

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ARVON CENTRES

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CENTRE FACILITIES

ACCOMMODATION An Arvon Centre is your home for the week. The accommodation is not luxurious like a hotel, but rather deliberately simple, comfortable and clean. The centre staff will be your hosts, ensuring a relaxed, friendly and informal atmosphere.

Each centre has a living room, a well-stocked library and many other quiet spaces, as well as an inspirational landscape to explore beyond the house. See pages 22–27 for details of bedrooms/ bathrooms at each centre.

You do not need a computer on our courses, but you’re welcome to bring your own laptop. We have a few computers and a printer at each centre, which you can use for writing or printing out your own work (a donation for printing is requested).

Mobile phone reception is poor at some of the centres, but there is a payphone in each house. We do not provide an internet connection or wifi – so there is nothing to distract you from your writing!

FOOD Throughout the week, all your food and drink is provided, except for alcohol, which can be purchased from a local wine merchant on arrival and delivered early in the week.

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We’re firmly committed to buying seasonal and locally produced goods. You’ll help yourself to breakfast, and a tasty lunch is provided for you every day by centre staff.

Each evening, a different team of writers takes a turn cooking dinner. The recipes and ingredients are provided and there’s lots of help at hand.

Cooking teams also take turns to do the washing up. Cooking is a fun and important part of the Arvon experience. Many of our previous participants talk fondly about the opportunities that cooking collectively can provide for sharing ideas and creating bonds with people from all walks of life.

If you have any dietary needs, for ethical, religious or medical reasons, we’re happy to cater for you – when you book, it’s important that you let us know.

ACCESSIBILITY Arvon welcomes writers with disabilities. If you have any specific access requirements, please discuss with us prior to booking and we will do our utmost to accommodate your needs. All communal spaces, including workshop spaces, are accessible to people with mobility issues.

Each centre can accommodate a personal assistant or carer if required, and if there are spaces available. Accessibility to bedrooms and bathrooms varies by centre – see pages 22–27.

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“It’s bright, airy, inviting and warm, with views of the spectacular surroundings.

The makeover has kept the atmosphere of creativity, inspiration and relaxation whilst bringing back the glory of its past and retaining its great history.”

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THE HURST

The John Osborne Arvon Centre, Shropshire

The Hurst is the ideal place to find your voice. Formerly the home of playwright John Osborne, the newly renovated 19th-century manor house is set in the Shropshire Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Explore the 26 acres of inspiring woodland, unwind by the spring-fed lake, or simply sit and enjoy the view while you write.

The centre is fully accessible, with a lift to all floors and 16 single, en-suite bedrooms.

There are rail connections to London, Wales, the North and South-West England from Craven Arms station, eight miles away – please contact centre staff about taxi services when you book your course.

Centre Director: Natasha Carlish Assistant Centre Director: Gabriela Blandy Centre Administrator: Dan Pavitt Centre Assistant: Anna Taylor

The Hurst, Clunton, Craven Arms, Shropshire SY7 0JA Telephone 01588 640 658 Email thehurst@arvon.org Twitter @hurstonthescene

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“Lumb Bank is so quiet and hidden away. It is one of the few places where I’ve felt I could hear myself think.”

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LUMB BANK

The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, West Yorkshire

Lumb Bank is an 18th-century mill-owner’s house set in 20 acres of steep woodland.

The house once belonged to Ted Hughes and has a breathtaking view to the valley below – a Pennine landscape of woods and rivers, weavers’ cottages, packhorse trails and ruins of old mills. It is half a mile from the historic village of Heptonstall and two miles from Hebden Bridge.

There are 14 single rooms and one shared room. One bedroom has a specially adapted bathroom for people with mobility issues and can also accommodate a personal assistant. Hebden Bridge train station is on the Leeds-toManchester Victoria railway line and ten minutes by taxi from Lumb Bank.

Centre Director: Lucy Burnett Assistant Centre Director: Jill Penny Centre Administrator: Becky Liddell Centre Assistant: Jack Bell Bookkeeper: Jean Warburton

Lumb Bank, Heptonstall, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire HX7 6DF Telephone 01422 843 714 Email lumbbank@arvon.org Twitter @Lumb_Bank

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“Everything at Totleigh Barton was magical – the food, location, accommodation, company and poetry.”

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TOTLEIGH BARTON Devon

Totleigh Barton, the first ever Arvon centre, is a 16th-century manor house in one of the most peaceful and idyllic parts of Devon, two miles from the village of Sheepwash. There is a beautiful and productive garden and orchard, with access to walks along the River Torridge nearby. The recently renovated barn offers a comfortable space for evening readings.

Totleigh Barton has 12 single and two shared rooms. The main work/living space is fully accessible and there is a wheelchair-accessible bedroom with en-suite bathroom. The nearest railway station is Exeter St David’s, which is around an hour’s drive from Totleigh. We can arrange for course participants to share a taxi to and from the station if you contact us in advance.

Centre Directors: Claire Berliner and Oliver Meek Centre Administrator: Sue Walker Centre Assistant: Eliza Squire

Totleigh Barton, Sheepwash, Beaworthy, Devon EX21 5NS Telephone 01409 231338 Email totleighbarton@arvon.org Twitter @TotleighBarton

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COURSES

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STARTING TO WRITE

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1 STARTING TO WRITE

May 4 – 9, Lumb Bank Tutors: George Szirtes & Monique Roffey

2 STARTING TO WRITE

May 25 – 30, The Hurst Tutors: Tim Pears & Alicia Stubbersfield

3 STARTING TO WRITE

June 29 – July 4, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Laura Barton & Tim Clare

4 STARTING TO WRITE

August 17 – 22, Lumb Bank Tutors: Patricia Duncker & Will Eaves 5 STARTING TO WRITE

August 31 – September 5, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Inua Ellams & Kerry Hudson 6 STARTING TO WRITE

October 5 – 10, Lumb Bank Tutors: Ben Faccini & Clare Shaw

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7 STARTING TO WRITE

November 23 – 28, The Hurst Tutors: Michael Laskey & Jess Richards

For Starting to Write courses about specific genres, see: 12, 33 STARTING TO WRITE A NOVEL 16, 22, 29 STARTING TO WRITE FICTION 37, 42 STARTING TO WRITE POETRY 52 STARTING TO WRITE NON-FICTION 66 STARTING TO WRITE A PLAY

Lumb Bank May 4 – 9

1. STARTING TO WRITE Something old, something new, something borrowed As a springboard into writing, there’s a lot of material out there for us to use – old things, new things, things we can steal or borrow. During this course we’ll look at how writing can emerge from the things around us – found objects, newspaper articles, overheard speech – and how we can shape random sources of inspiration into exciting stories or confident poems. We will also cover the basics of fiction and poetry writing, including character, form and how to construct stories and poems on the page.

George Szirtes’ books include New and Collected Poems, The Burning of the Books and Bad Machine. Reel won the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2014.

Monique Roffey is a novelist and memoirist.

Her latest novel is House of Ashes. Archipelago won the OCM Bocas Award for Caribbean Literature in 2013 and was shortlisted for the Orion Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Orange Prize, Costa Novel Award and Encore Award.

Guest Matthew Welton’s formally playful poems are published in two collections, The Book of Matthew and We needed coffee but... Matthew teaches Creative Writing at Nottingham University.

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May 25 – 30 The Hurst

2. STARTING TO WRITE Take that first leap of faith!

Come and play with language. Feed your creative energy in stimulating workshops where all those ideas you knew you had will take shape on paper. Not sure whether you are a poet or a prose writer? Experiment with both and see what happens.

Be nurtured and challenged and make that ink flow on the page.

Tim Pears has published eight novels, including In the Place of Fallen Leaves, winner of the Hawthornden Prize, Landed and In the Light of Morning. www.timpears.com Alicia Stubbersfield’s fourth poetry collection, The Yellow Table, was published in 2013. She has lectured in Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University, and she has read at and run workshops for Ledbury and Aldeburgh Poetry Festivals and for the SouthBank Centre.

Guest Sam Willetts’ poem ’Anchor Riddle’ won the Bridport Poetry Prize. His first collection, New Light For the Old Dark, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry, and four other major awards.

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Totleigh Barton June 29 – July 4

3. STARTING TO WRITE Jump right in This course will show you how to roll up your sleeves and get stuck into writing. A range of story-building and language exercises will explore poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing and look at where they intersect. The focus will be the beginning of things: generating ideas and jumping-off points to use in your own work.

Laura Barton, previously a feature writer and music columnist for the Guardian, now writes for various publications including Intelligent Life, Q, and the New York Times. She has written short stories and documentaries for Radio 4 and a novel, Twenty-One Locks.

Tim Clare is an author, poet and stand-up.

His first novel, The Honours, is published in 2015. His memoir, We Can’t All Be Astronauts, won at the 2009 East Anglian Book Awards and his poetry collection is Pub Stuntman.

Guest Eimear McBride’s debut novel, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, received the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, The Goldsmiths Prize and The Desmond Elliott Prize.

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August 17 – 22 Lumb Bank

4. STARTING TO WRITE Writing otherwise: a kind of loving Is there such a thing as a gay novel? Must the I/You of love poetry always be imagined as two people of the opposite sex? Do happy fictional marriages have to be heterosexual? If you have thought about some of these questions while reading and writing, then this week could be for you. We look at all the essental tasks of poetry and fiction writing – getting started, staying motivated, shaping language, plot, dialogue and metaphor – but with an eye on sex, gender, sexuality, and the suppleness of artistic conventions.

Bring notebooks, a sense of humour, and an open mind!

Patricia Duncker is the author of five novels including Hallucinating Foucault, two collections of short fiction, and many critical essays.

Her most recent novel is Sophie and the Sibyl. www.patriciaduncker.com Will Eaves is the author of three novels, one anti-novel, The Absent Therapist (shortlisted for The Goldsmiths Prize), and a volume of poetry. He was arts editor of the Times Literary Supplement for 17 years and now teaches at University of Warwick.

Guest Mojisola Adebayo has worked in theatre, radio and television, on four continents, as an actor, director, teacher and writer. Her publications include her collection Mojisola Adebayo: Plays One. www.mojisolaadebayo.co.uk 36

Totleigh Barton August 31 – September 5

5. STARTING TO WRITE New adventures How do you go from blank page to creating an entire world?

This inspiring and supportive course will give you the tools to start exploring creative writing. Where do you get ideas? How do you find your voice? How do you develop an initial idea? From fiction to poetry to drama, this lively and energetic week will set you on the road to your own unique writing journey. Suitable for those with some experience of writing and those just beginning.

Come prepared to work hard and have adventures with words.

Inua Ellams is an award-winning writer, performer and graphic designer. His most recent projects include Barber Shop Chronicles for the National Theatre, and Clubbing, a short film for the BBC. www.inuaellams.com Kerry Hudson is a Scottish writer. Her first novel Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma won the Scottish First Book Award. Her second novel is Thirst. www.kerryhudson.co.uk Guest Hannah Lowe’s poetry publications include The Hitcher, Rx, Chick and Ormonde (forthcoming). Her memoir Long Time, No See is due in Spring 2015. She was recently named a 2014 Poetry Book Society Next Generation Poet.

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October 5 – 10 Lumb Bank

6. STARTING TO WRITE Set your writing in motion Are you new to writing, lacking confidence, or struggling to get going on a project, poem or story? Where – and how – do you start? How do you translate what you have in your mind onto the page. This course is designed to help you find inspiration, explore compelling ideas and uncover the uniqueness of your style and perspective. Practical, productive, creative and, above all, enjoyable!

Ben Faccini’s novels include The Water-Breather and The Incomplete Husband.

He is writer-in-residence at the American School in London.

Clare Shaw’s first poetry collection, Straight Ahead, was described by Jackie Kay as “an emotional blast of a book”; her second, Head On, is, according to the Times Literary Supplement, “fierce, memorable and visceral”.

Guest Andrew Greig has written 20 books of award-winning fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

His most recent novel is Fair Helen.

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The Hurst November 23 – 28

7. STARTING TO WRITE If not now, when?

Always wanted to write, but not sure what, whether poetry or fiction? Perhaps both? Or maybe you write already, and have finally decided to take it more seriously? Taught with contagious enthusiasm, this stimulating and enjoyable week is designed to build lasting confidence and is guaranteed to generate many new pieces of work.

Michael Laskey directed the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival for ten years and co-edited Smiths Knoll for 21 years. He has published five poetry collections, most recently The Man Alone: New & Selected Poems and Weighing the Present.

Jess Richards’ debut novel Snake Ropes was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award.

Cooking with Bones was published in 2013.

She is currently working on her third novel.

Guest Kate Smith-Bingham’s second poetry collection Quicksand Beach was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. Her poem ‘On Highgate Hill’ was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. Her third collection Infragreen will be published in 2015.

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FICTION

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8 FICTION

15 FICTION

9 SHORT STORY

16 STARTING TO WRITE FICTION

April 13 – 18, The Hurst Tutors: Neel Mukherjee & Paul Murray April 27 – May 2, Lumb Bank Tutors: Adam Marek & Rachel Trezise 10 WRITING A NOVEL: TUTORED RETREAT

May 4 – 9, The Hurst Tutors: Monica Ali & Jacob Ross

11 FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS

May 11 – 16, Lumb Bank Tutors: Edward Docx & MJ Hyland 12 STARTING TO WRITE A NOVEL

May 11 – 16, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Elizabeth Day & Jonathan Lee 13 SHORT STORY

June 15 – 20, The Hurst Tutors: Mavis Cheek & Stephen May

June 22 – 27, Lumb Bank Tutors: Mark Haddon & Molly McGrann 17 FICTION

July 13 – 18, Lumb Bank Tutors: Matt Haig & Emma Jane Unsworth 18 EXPERIMENTAL FICTION

July 20 – 25, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Naomi Alderman & Peter Hobbs 19 FICTION

July 27 – August 1, Lumb Bank Tutors: Diana Evans & Tobias Jones 20 RETURN TO WRITING

May 18 – 23, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Xiaolu Guo & James Lasdun

August 3 – 8, The Hurst Tutors: Kate Long & Jeremy Page

14 FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS

August 10 – 15, The Hurst Tutors: MC Scott & Karen Maitland

June 1 – 6, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Jenn Ashworth & James Friel

21 HISTORICAL NOVEL

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22 STARTING TO WRITE FICTION

August 17 – 22, The Hurst Tutors: Jane Feaver & Ross Raisin 23 FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS

August 24 – 29, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Bernardine Evaristo & Maggie Gee 24 LITERARY THRILLER

September 7 – 12, Lumb Bank Tutors: Jake Arnott & Liz Jensen

25 FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS

September 14 – 19, The Hurst Tutors: Anjali Joseph & Christopher Wakling 26 FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS

28 CRIME FICTION

October 19 – 24, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Frances Fyfield & Dreda Say Mitchell 29 STARTING TO WRITE FICTION

November 2 – 7, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Richard Beard & Jennie Rooney 30 FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS

November 9 – 14, The Hurst Tutors: Diran Adebayo & Nick Barlay 31 SCIENCE FICTION

November 16 – 21, Lumb Bank Tutors: Simon Ings & Geoff Ryman

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November 23 – 28, Totleigh Barton September 21 – 26, Lumb Bank Tutors: Emily Barr & Tutors: Patrick Neate & William Sutcliffe Rachel Seiffert 27 SHORT STORY

October 5 – 10, The Hurst Tutors: Alison MacLeod & Graham Mort

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33 STARTING TO WRITE A NOVEL

November 30 – December 5, The Hurst Tutors: Patrick Gale & Mez Packer

The Hurst April 13 – 18

8. FICTION Lost in the labyrinth? Find your way out As you reach the middle or latter stages of a long work, a fresh perspective can be just what you need, because writing fiction can sometimes feel like being lost in a maze. This course is designed to turn doubt into inspiration and confusion into clarity.

Come and experience a week that will guide you out of the labyrinth and show you the way forward with your writing.

Neel Mukherjee is the author of the awardwinning first novel A Life Apart. His second novel, The Lives of Others, was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. www.neelmukherjee.com Paul Murray has written two novels, An Evening of Long Goodbyes and Skippy Dies.

His stories have appeared in Granta, The Paris Review and the New York Times.

Guest Zoë Wicomb is a South African writer who lives in Scotland. She is a recipient of Yale’s Donald Windham-Sandy M Campbell Literature Prize. Her latest novel is October.

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April 27 – May 2 Lumb Bank

9. SHORT STORY From ideas to endings The best stories are the ones that, once finished, linger long in the reader’s mind. So how can you achieve that in just a few pages? Short stories offer the writer huge creative freedoms, but they also teach discipline and precision. Together we’ll explore the fundamentals of great story writing, including: where to get ideas, building three-dimensional characters, plotting, creating conflict, editing your work, and how to end. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, by the end of the week you’ll be writing stories that will hook your readers from the opening line.

Adam Marek is the author of two short story collections, Instruction Manual For Swallowing and The Stone Thrower. He is an Arts Foundation Short Story Writing Fellow and was shortlisted for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. www.adammarek.co.uk Rachel Trezise’s debut novel In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl won her a place on the Orange Futures list. Her first short story collection, Fresh Apples, won the Dylan Thomas Prize.

Guest Carys Bray is a short story writer and novelist. Her collection Sweet Home won the Scott Prize. Her first novel A Song for Issy Bradley was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. www.carysbray.co.uk

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The Hurst May 4 – 9

10. WRITING A NOVEL: TUTORED RETREAT A 360-degree boost to your novel Developing a novel poses challenges of craft, imagination and stamina. This retreat offers you that valuable, elusive blend of solitude and writerly companionship where, with the help of two highly experienced tutors, you will learn to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of your work, and put to good use the fundamentals of strong fiction writing: character, voice, narrative structure and setting. In addition, we will address some of the psychological hurdles, such as self-doubt and displacement activities, that get in the way of completing of a novel.

Monica Ali is the author of four books, including Brick Lane, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. She has been a Visiting Professor in Creative Writing at Columbia University, and has tutored on the MA in Novel Writing at City University.

Jacob Ross’s novel Pynter Bender was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Regional Prize and chosen as one of the British Authors Club’s top three Best First Novels.

Guest Catherine O’Flynn is the author of three novels. Her debut, What Was Lost, won the Costa Book Award, First Novel.

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May 11 – 16 Lumb Bank

11. FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS Creative rewriting – turning good fiction into great fiction Many authors say that the best writing is rewriting. We’ll spend the week proving them correct, tackling the fundamentals of the art of fiction, including plot, structure, character and voice.

We’ll look at specific problems and offer advice on redrafting, self-editing and fine-tuning. Bring your work in progress and be prepared to see it with fresh eyes.

Edward Docx is the author of three novels, The Calligrapher, Self Help (winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction) and The Devil’s Garden.

MJ Hyland is a multi-award-winning fiction writer. She has written three novels, How the Light Gets In, Carry Me Down, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and This is How. She lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. www.mjhyland.com Guest Trevor Byrne’s debut novel Ghosts & Lightning was selected as a Book of the Year in the Guardian and the Irish Times. He is currently nearing completion of his second novel, and a collection of short stories.

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Totleigh Barton May 11 – 16

12. STARTING TO WRITE A NOVEL Character, plot, plot, character F Scott Fitzgerald said that “character is plot, and plot is character”.

But what goes into the invention of distinctive characters? How can you create a compelling plot for those characters to inhabit? And how do you distil personal stories into fluid fictional prose? This course, appropriate for both beginning authors and those with more experience, will look at the mingling of fact and fiction in the creation of personalities and plot. We’ll talk about problems of point of view, making space for your characters to change over the course of their story, and we’ll explore ways to organise your raw material into a novel you can be proud of.

Elizabeth Day is an author and journalist.

Her debut novel Scissors Paper Stone won a Betty Trask Award. She is a staff feature writer for the Observer and recipient of a British Press Award. www.elizabethdayonline.co.uk Jonathan Lee’s novels are Who Is Mr Satoshi? and Joy. His third will be published in 2015.

He lives in New York, where he is an editor at the literary journal A Public Space.

Guest Francesca Rhydderch’s debut novel, The Rice Paper Diaries, won the Wales Book of the Year Fiction Prize 2014. She was also shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award.

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May 18 – 23 Totleigh Barton

13. SHORT STORY Brevity and economy: how less can mean more This is a course for self-motivated writers already working on their own short stories. Our aim is to help participants find their way to the most powerful expression of their material. To that end we will offer a mixture of close readings of students’ own work, and optional discussions of some great short stories in which we’ll look at various aspects of this exacting, exhilarating form, including structure, metaphor, and the art of omission.

Xiaolu Guo is a British Chinese author and filmmaker. She has published several novels and story collections. She was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2013. www.guoxiaolu.com James Lasdun has published three collections of short stories. He has won several awards, including the inaugural BBC Short Story Competition. His story ‘The Siege’ was adapted

by Bernardo Bertolucci for the film Besieged. www.jameslasdun.com Guest Zoe Lambert is a short story writer and novelist. Her short story collection, The War Tour, was published in 2011, and she is working on her novel, That Quiet Longing.

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Totleigh Barton June 1 – 6

14. FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS How to keep on keeping on Do you have a work of fiction on the go? Maybe you’ve made a start but you’re not quite sure where to go next; you’re midway and in need of direction and advice to help you stay on track; or perhaps you’ve almost finished but can’t quite get to the end. Wherever you are with your work in progress, we’re here to help you find inspiration, extra clarity and the way forward. This course will focus on redrafting and techniques to refresh your work, voice, style and approach and to remind you why you started in the first place. If you would like the tutors to read some of your writing in advance of the course, please send up to1500 words to Totleigh Barton by 11th May. Jenn Ashworth’s novels are A Kind of Intimacy, which won a Betty Trask Award, Cold Light and The Friday Gospels. She is a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Lancaster.

In 2011 she was one of The Culture Show’s Best 12 New Novelists.

James Friel’s most recent novel is The Posthumous Affair. His other novels include The Higher Realm, Left of North, Taking the Veil and Careless Talk.

He is programme leader for the MA in Writing at Liverpool John Moores University.

Guest Luke Brown’s debut novel, My Biggest Lie, was published in 2014, and was partly inspired by his career as a fiction editor.

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June 15 – 20 The Hurst

15. FICTION Where next?

Making your fiction come alive If you’re hungry to expand your fiction writing skills, then this intensive but fun week will give you a creative boost. With group workshops and one-to-one tutorials, we will explore key elements of the fiction writer’s tool box, equipping you with everything you need to take your writing to the next stage. You bring the perspiration and we’ll encourage your inspiration.

Mavis Cheek is the author of 15 novels. Pause Between Acts won the She/John Menzies First Novel Prize. www.mavischeek.co.uk

Stephen May has written three books including Life! Death! Prizes! which was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. His latest novel is Wake Up Happy Every Day. www.sdmay.com Guest Selma Dabbagh’s short stories have been published by Granta and Wasafiri.

Out of It, her first novel, was listed as a Guardian Book of the Year.

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Lumb Bank June 22 – 27

16. STARTING TO WRITE FICTION Real lives and unreal lives Fact. Fiction. Memory. Research. Invention. Let’s look at the many ways in which we can generate stories from both experience and imagination. Then we’ll examine how we can structure and sustain those stories, whether over five pages or five hundred pages.

Mark Haddon is the author of three novels, including The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Red House. He has written scripts for TV and radio and a play, Polar Bears, for The Donmar Warehouse.

Molly McGrann was born in America and now lives in England. She is the author of 360 Flip, Exurbia and the forthcoming The Ladies of the House.

Guest Nii Ayikwei Parkes is the author of the novel Tail of the Blue Bird and the book of poems, The Makings of You. Winner of several awards including Ghana’s ACRAG award and the Prix Laure Bataillon.

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July 13 – 18 Lumb Bank

17. FICTION The art of beating demons Fiction writing can be both a happy and challenging experience.

We’ll have exercises to inspire you and free you up, and will provide technical guidance on the practice of writing and practical advice about being a writer. We will look at how to conquer self-doubt, panic, procrastination and all those other worries that can affect the process and we will equip you with the tools you need to keep on going until you reach the end of something.

Matt Haig is author of five novels, including the international bestsellers The Humans and The Radleys. His books have been translated into 30 languages. He has also written awardwinning children’s books.

Emma Jane Unsworth’s first novel won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Portico Prize. Her second novel, Animals, was described

by Caitlin Moran as “Withnail and I with girls”.

She is currently writing a third novel and the screenplay of Animals.

Guest Sathnam Sanghera is a journalist for the Times and has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards twice, for his memoir The Boy With The Topknot and his novel Marriage Material. www.sathnam.com

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Totleigh Barton July 20 – 25

18. EXPERIMENTAL FICTION Playing with words, inventing new forms Prose doesn’t have to be prosaic. We can enliven our writing and re-imagine the limits of storytelling by bringing in ideas from movie scripts and video games, Powerpoint and treasure hunts. In this playful course, we’ll investigate experimental writing, focus whole narrative arcs, examine the relationships between style, form and narrative, and free our work from the tyranny of conventional thinking. Come and wander through the wonderful things words can do.

Naomi Alderman’s novels include the literary works Disobedience, The Liars’ Gospel and Doctor Who: Borrowed Time. She’s a journalist, broadcaster and game designer and is the cocreator of the hit smartphone game Zombies, Run! Peter Hobbs is a novelist and short story writer.

The Short Day Dying was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread First Book Award and a John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. His most recent book is In The Orchard, The Swallows.

Guest Jon McGregor’s most recent books are the novel Even The Dogs, winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and This Isn’t the Sort of Thing that Happens to Someone Like You.

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July 27 – Aug 1 Lumb Bank

19. FICTION Writing fact as fiction Whether you simply have an idea and many blank pages, or you are already deep into the creative process, this course is all about fictionalising real-life events and people. The tutors will take you through the usual, important elements of any successful novel or story – plot, dialogue, description, characterisation and editing. Yet particular focus will be given to the ways in which autobiography/ true crime/ sporting heroism (for example) can be legitimate factual bases for fiction, creating a genre sometimes known as faction.

Diana Evans began her writing career as a journalist. She is the author of The Wonder and 26a, which won the inaugural Orange Award for New Writers and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award.

Tobias Jones is the author of four works of non-fiction and three novels, including The Dark Heart of Italy, Utopian Dreams, Blood on the Altar and a series of crime novels set in Italy.

He has been a columnist for the Observer.

Guest Cathi Unsworth is a journalist and author of five noir novels, two of which are fictionalisations of true crimes: Without the Moon and Bad Penny Blues. www.cathiunsworth.co.uk

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The Hurst August 3 – 8

20. RETURN TO WRITING Regain your confidence and find your creative rhythm Has daily life got between you and your writing? Have you lost momentum and direction with your fiction projects? Are you struggling to bring your ideas into focus? This course aims to help you set up a sustainable writing habit, challenge distractions and set yourself achievable goals. We’ll look at how you might make technical choices around aspects such as structure and point-ofview, along with the effectiveness of planning and feedback, and the best way to tune into your individual creative rhythm. We’ll also talk about potential markets and the support available for emergent writers. Come along and find your author-self.

Kate Long is the author of eight novels, including the Sunday Times bestseller The Bad Mother’s Handbook and its sequel Bad Mothers United.

Her work has been adapted for television and radio. www.katelongbooks.com Jeremy Page is an award-winning author of three novels, Salt, The Wake and The Collector of Lost Things. He is also a screenwriter, and has taught on the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. www.jeremypage.co.uk Guest Francesca Main is an editorial director at Picador, where her authors include Jessie Burton, Lottie Moggach, Naomi Wood and Mark Watson. She previously worked at Simon & Schuster and Penguin.

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August 10 – 15 The Hurst

21. HISTORICAL NOVEL The joys and challenges of writing historical fiction All fiction hangs on the hooks of fact, but historical writing, more than most, requires writers to lift our readers out of our time, place them into the foreign country of the past, and bring it alive in all its glory. Over the course of the week we will explore what it means to write fiction in a historical context, with a particular focus on the bear-traps – and garlands – that await historical writers.

MC Scott cut her teeth writing contemporary crime thrillers before moving back in time to write the Boudica: Dreaming series, the Rome series of spy thrillers and two dual-timeline thrillers. Her first novel, Hen’s Teeth, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Karen Maitland is the author of six medieval thrillers and the latest, The Raven’s Head, is published in March 2015. She has also written five medieval crime novels as one of the ‘Medieval Murderers’. www.karenmaitland.com Guest Jessie Burton’s debut novel, The Miniaturist, is an international bestseller.

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The Hurst August 17 – 22

22. STARTING TO WRITE FICTION Adventures in fiction Whether you are new to writing fiction, or have lost your way and want to give your work a re-invigorated sense of direction, this is the course for you. In a supportive atmosphere of focus and enjoyment, you will develop ideas, a keen awareness of many aspects of fiction writing, as well as the impetus, inspiration and tools to get going with your own project.

Jane Feaver is a novelist and short story writer.

Love Me Tender was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. An Inventory of Heaven is her latest novel. She is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Exeter University.

Ross Raisin is an author of short stories and two novels, God’s Own Country and Waterline, which won or were shortlisted for a dozen awards. Most recently he was named as one of the Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2013.

Guest Evie Wyld is the author of After the Fire, A Still Small Voice and All the Birds, Singing, which won the Miles Franklin Literary Award, The Encore Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. She was listed as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2013.

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August 24 – 29 Totleigh Barton

23. FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS Positive solutions for your work in progress If you’re working on a novel or collection of short stories and want constructive feedback, then this course is for you. We will help you work on any issues that may arise, such as story structure, characterisation and setting. There will be time to write new work and edit existing work. We will ensure that the course is a safe creative space where everyone is warmly welcome.

Bernardine Evaristo has published eight books of fiction and verse fiction. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and is Reader in Creative Writing at Brunel University London.

Her many awards and honours include an MBE in 2009. www.bevaristo.com Maggie Gee has written 14 books including The White Family, shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, My Cleaner and My Driver, and Virginia Woolf in Manhattan.

She is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

Guest Juliet Pickering is a literary agent at Blake Friedmann Literary and Media Agency – having previously worked for Waterstones and AP Watt. She represents a list of fiction and non-fiction authors.

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Lumb Bank September 7 – 12

24. LITERARY THRILLER Creating stories that bite Gripping narratives work by delivering a series of shocks in unusual ways. Learn how to develop your craft in the company of two writers who have celebrated and challenged the thriller genre. How far can your imagination go? Working on story, structure, scene-building, character, setting and dialogue, we will encourage you to push the envelope – and surprise yourself.

Jake Arnott is the author of six novels including The Long Firm that was adapted as a BAFTA award-winning TV series for BBC2. His latest book is The House of Rumour.

Liz Jensen’s eight novels include Ark Baby, The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, War Crimes for the Home, The Rapture and The Uninvited. Her work has been widely translated and developed for film. www.lizjensen.com Guest Jane Thynne is the author of the Clara Vine series set in pre-war Berlin. She has worked at the BBC and appears regularly as a broadcaster on BBC Radio 4.

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September 14 – 19 The Hurst

25. FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS Helping you bring your stories home You’ve begun writing fiction. This course will help you finish and perfect your draft. We’ll look at all aspects of writing long and short fiction, including how to sharpen the beginning, create and sustain an engaging plot, draw rich characters, and write convincing dialogue. We’ll also tackle editing. Our aim is to help you tell your story in your own style, from first line to final full stop.

Anjali Joseph’s first novel, Saraswati Park, won the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Betty Trask Prize, and the Crossword Book Award. Another Country was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. www.anjalijoseph.com Christopher Wakling is the author of six novels, most recently What I Did. He writes travel journalism for the Independent, and is a writing Fellow at Bristol University. www.christopherwakling.com Guest David Whitehouse is the author of Bed, winner of the Betty Trask Prize, and Mobile Library. His journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the Times, Esquire, ShortList and many other publications.

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Lumb Bank September 21 – 26

26. FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS Keep on keeping on A week designed to give you both writing stimulus and space for writing. Suitable for those tackling short or long works of fiction, with drafts already on the go, the course will cover the ins and outs of structure, back story, authentic characterisation and dialogue. We will work on strategies for keeping going through the rewriting and editing process and gaining the perspective needed to realise the full potential of your work.

Patrick Neate is an award-winning novelist, journalist, poet and screenwriter. His novels are characterised by their experimentation with different genres and include City Of Tiny Lights, Jerusalem and Twelve Bar Blues (winner of the Whitbread Book Award).

Rachel Seiffert’s novel The Dark Room was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Her books have also been nominated for the Orange Prize and published in 18 languages.

She was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2003.

Guest Tash Aw is the author of three novels. His most recent is Five Star Billionaire. His work has won numerous prizes, including the Whitbread Book Award, and he has twice been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

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October 5 – 10 The Hurst

27. SHORT STORY Fact, fiction, fabulation If you’ve already experimented with short fiction but want to delve deeper into its possibilities, this week is for you. We’ll explore how stories can be initiated from aspects of our own experience and also, how they can be energised by pure imagination. We’ll get new stories underway, we’ll see how their surface narratives can take us towards deeper undercurrents, and we’ll engage with editing and close reading. From your story’s use of language to its narrative structure, this course will help you to shape the unique world that a writer and a reader can, together, set in motion.

Alison MacLeod’s short fiction has been nominated for the BBC National Short Story Award and the Sunday Times EFG International Short Story Award. Her most recent novel, Unexploded, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. www.alison-macleod.com Graham Mort is Professor of Creative Writing at Lancaster University. His short fiction collection, Touch, won the Edge Hill Prize in 2010. A new book of stories, Terroir, will appear in 2015. www.graham-mort.com Guest AL Kennedy is the author of 15 books: six novels, six short story collections and three works of non-fiction. Her novel Day was Costa Book Award, Book of the Year.

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Totleigh Barton October 19 – 24

28. CRIME FICTION How to get blood out of a stone The secret to writing good crime fiction? Work, work and more work. You bring your ideas, your stories and your commitment to getting stuck in, and we’ll teach you how to plot, rewrite and make your characters reveal themselves through actions rather than words. The aim of this course is to help you turn your already existing writing skills to the task of good storytelling, so that the story you want to write can emerge.

Frances Fyfield, one-time criminal lawyer, has written 24 novels in the crime genre and won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold and Silver Dagger Awards. She also presents the BBC Radio 4 series Tales from the Stave.

Dreda Say Mitchell has published four crime novels and been awarded The Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger. She is a broadcaster, journalist and a freelance education consultant. www.dredasaymitchell.com Guest Stuart MacBride is the author of several bestselling novels featuring DS Logan McRae, including Shatter the Bones, which reached no.1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list.

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November 2 – 7 Totleigh Barton

29. STARTING TO WRITE FICTION Basic ingredients and how to use them This is a week for anyone excited by the challenges of starting to write stories. The course will explore the basic skills required and look at ways to improve writing that misbehaves. This will involve particular attention to structure, character and style – and also, plenty of writing.

Richard Beard is a novelist and non-fiction writer who has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and the British Sports Book Awards. His latest novel is Acts of the Assassins. He is director of The National Academy of Writing. www.richardbeard.info Jennie Rooney’s first novel, Inside the Whale, was a Richard and Judy debut choice, Tesco Book Club selection and shortlisted for the Costa Book Award (First Novel). The Opposite of Falling was published in 2010 and Red Joan in 2013.

Guest Amy Sackville’s first novel, The Still Point, was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Orkney won a Somerset Maugham Award.

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The Hurst November 9 – 14

30. FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS Writing is rewriting This week will help writers to confront essential questions about their work-in-progress, and to surmount obstacles to completion.

Nabokov said that he rewrote, often several times, every word he ever published. Through a variety of perspectives, exercises and discussions, as well as looking at some of the key building blocks of dynamic fiction, we will aim to invigorate and re-invigorate narratives, and to point writers towards the two words we all love and fear: The End.

Diran Adebayo is a cultural critic and the author of two acclaimed novels, the prize-winning Some Kind of Black and My Once Upon a Time. His next book is a memoir, Random, and Cricket.

Nick Barlay is the author of four highly acclaimed novels, including Hooky Gear, and one book of non-fiction, Scattered Ghosts, which explores the 200-year story of his Hungarian Jewish family. He was one of the Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2003. www.nickbarlay.com Guest Sarah Savitt is an editor at Faber, where her authors include Louise Doughty, Hanif Kureishi, Maria McCann, Owen Sheers, Helen FitzGerald and Chibundu Onuzo.

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November 16 – 21 Lumb Bank

31. SCIENCE FICTION New worlds: exploring the possibilities and pitfalls Arguably, science fiction handles the contemporary world more effectively, wittily and playfully than any other kind of literature.

We’ll look at the tools of science fiction to see what they offer writers in an age of technological revolution. We will also explore various pressing contemporary questions concerning genre. How does writing for a SF readership differ from literary writing and what qualities do they share? Is it possible to write science fiction that works with a literary audience and indeed can any writer control for whom they write?

Simon Ings is a novelist and science writer.

He founded Arc, a magazine about the future, and edits the culture section of New Scientist magazine. His latest novel, Wolves, weaves together cutting-edge media theory and the collapse of complex civilisations.

Geoff Ryman’s work has won 15 awards including the Arthur C Clarke and the Nebula Awards. Air was listed in the Guardian’s ‘1000 Novels You Must Read’. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Manchester.​ Guest Joanna Kavenna is an author of fiction and non-fiction, and much that is both. She was named as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists in 2013.

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Totleigh Barton November 23 - 28

32. WRITING A NOVEL A sense of place This week is aimed at anyone who is interested in creating and sustaining a vivid setting for their novel. We will look at how to maintain a sense of place and convey a journey as well as dialogue, structure and humour. It will be equally valuable for writers just starting out on a novel and for those who have already got a work underway.

Emily Barr is the author of twelve novels, including Backpack and The Sleeper, as well as a novella, Blackout, for the Quick Reads series.

She is also a former Guardian journalist.

William Sutcliffe has written seven novels, including the international bestseller, Are You Experienced? and the Carnegie Medal-shortlisted The Wall (a novel for adults and young adults).

He has been translated into 25 languages.

Guest Helen Dunmore is a poet, novelist and short story writer. Inaugural winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, her latest novel is The Lie.

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November 30 – December 5 The Hurst

33. STARTING TO WRITE A NOVEL No more excuses!

Whether you have a great plot idea and no idea how to advance it, or a headful of characters but nothing for them to do, we are here to help! You may have written nothing longer than school homework or perhaps you are an experienced writer in other fields, like journalism or PR, and are wary of “making things up”.

Our aim will be to have you start your novel by the week’s end and to leave with a calm, clear idea of the writing tasks ahead of you.

Patrick Gale’s sixteenth novel is A Place Called Winter. He has written screenplays, short stories and a biography. He lives in Cornwall where he chairs the North Cornwall Book Festival. www.galewarning.org Mez Packer’s debut novel, Among Thieves, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Since then she has written a sci-fi inspired novel, short stories and screenplays.

She is visiting lecturer in Creative Writing at Coventry University.

Guest Sarah Winman’s debut novel When God Was a Rabbit became an international bestseller and won several awards including New Writer of the Year in the National Book Awards.

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POETRY

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34 POETRY

41 POETRY

35 POETRY

42 STARTING TO WRITE POETRY

April 20 – 25, Lumb Bank Tutors: Patience Agbabi & Michael Symmons Roberts May 4 – 9, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Jo Shapcott & Liz Berry

August 10 – 15, Lumb Bank Tutors: Thomas A Clark & Jen Hadfield

August 24 – 29, The Hurst Tutors: Ann & Peter Sansom

36 POETRY

43 POETRY

37 STARTING TO WRITE POETRY

44 POETRY

38 POETRY

45 POETRY: TUTORED RETREAT

May 25 – 30, Lumb Bank Tutors: Colette Bryce & Paul Muldoon

June 1 – 6, Lumb Bank Tutors: Rebecca Goss & Brian Turner July 13 – 18, The Hurst Tutors: Mimi Khalvati & Daljit Nagra 39 POETRY: TOWARDS A COLLECTION

July 20 – 25, Lumb Bank Tutors: Helena Nelson & Helen Tookey 40 POETRY

July 27 – Aug 1, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Neil Rollinson & Fiona Sampson

September 7 – 12, The Hurst Tutors: Penelope Shuttle & David Morley September 21 – 26, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Ian Duhig & Pascale Petit

October 12 – 17, Lumb Bank Tutors: Grevel Lindop & Carola Luther 46 POETRY: WORK IN PROGRESS

November 9 – 14, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Maura Dooley & Bernard O’Donoghue 47 POETRY AND EXPERIMENT

November 23 – 28, Lumb Bank Tutors: Harriet Tarlo & Scott Thurston See also 58 Poetry for Children

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Lumb Bank April 20 – 25

34. POETRY Going the distance Many poets want to take on the challenge of a long poem or sequence. The large canvas they offer can bring out a poet’s finest work but they present their own demands: working with (or without) different kinds of narrative; ensuring poems become more than merely links in a chain; working with forms; sustaining and developing themes. This course will inspire you with a broad range of texts, enabling you to extend your reach.

Bring poems at any stage of development or ideas for new work.

Suitable for those with some experience of writing poetry.

Patience Agbabi’s most recent collection is Telling Tales, a Canterbury Tales for the 21st century. She is a Fellow in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University. www.patienceagbabi.wordpress.com Michael Symmons Roberts has published six collections, and has won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Costa Book Award and the Whitbread Prize. His latest book is Drysalter.

He is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Guest Karen McCarthy Woolf’s first collection An Aviary of Small Birds is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She is an associate editor at the international literary journal Wasafiri. www.karenmccarthy.co.uk

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May 4 – 9 Totleigh Barton

35. POETRY Transformative poetry This course welcomes poets at all levels, beginners as well as experienced writers. Throughout the week we will address practical questions like how to begin, how to get unstuck and how to shape your drafts. We’ll be looking at technical questions, too, whether about traditional form or experimental work.

Bring your curiosity and come prepared to write, read and be absorbed in poetry.

Jo Shapcott’s poetry collections include Electroplating the Baby, My Life Asleep and Of Mutability. She has won various prizes including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Collection, the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the National Poetry Competition (twice).

Liz Berry’s debut collection, Black Country, was a Poetry Book Society recommendation and won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2014. She is the assistant poetry editor at Ambit. www.lizberrypoetry.co.uk Guest Declan Ryan co-edits the Days of Roses anthology series and is poetry editor of Ambit.

His debut pamphlet is published in the Faber New Poets series.

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Lumb Bank May 25 – 30

36. POETRY The architecture of the poem Be it a cowshed or a cathedral, the poem is a piece of structural engineering. This course will focus on methods for building poems that are capable of withstanding what Wallace Stevens referred to as “the pressure from without.”

Colette Bryce’s most recent collection, The Whole and Rain-domed Universe, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. From 2009–2013 she was poetry editor of Poetry London.

Paul Muldoon is the author of twelve collections of poems, most recently One Thousand Things Worth Knowing. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry.

Guest Michael Longley has published ten collections of poetry and has won the Whitbread Prize, the Hawthornden Prize and the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. In 2001 he received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.

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June 1 – 6 Lumb Bank

37. STARTING TO WRITE POETRY Unlocking your ideas If you’re in the early stages of poetry writing, this week will provide the time to explore and develop your own poetic voice.

A series of engaging workshops, stimulating wider reading and lively discussion will provide the key to unlocking your ideas.

Once your ideas are on the page, you will begin the pleasurable and rewarding craft of forming those ideas into poems.

An opportunity to gain confidence in discussing, reading and writing poetry. This will be a week to discover what you can do.

Rebecca Goss has two collections, The Anatomy of Structures and Her Birth, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Forward Prize for Best Collection. She was selected as one of the Poetry Book Society’s Next Generation Poets 2014.

Brian Turner is a poet (Here, Bullet and Phantom Noise) and memoirist (My Life as a Foreign Country). Phantom Noise, inspired by his time as a soldier in the US Army, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry.

Guest Owen Lowery’s first collection, Otherwise Unchanged, was published in 2012. His new collection, Rego Retold, is published in 2015.

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The Hurst July 13 – 18

38. POETRY Pleasure and process This week will appeal if you’re seeking fresh inspiration, new approaches and expert guidance on editing and shaping your work. Through playful writing exercises, we will discover how different writing processes can extend your imaginative reach and heighten the pleasures of discovery. This will be a fun, interactive course energised by the best examples of contemporary and classical poetry. Participants should expect to leave having produced many new poems in progress.

Mimi Khalvati’s eight collections include The Meanest Flower, shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry and, most recently, The Weather Wheel, a Poetry Book Society recommendation.

She is the founder of The Poetry School.

Daljit Nagra has published three collections of poetry. He won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem with Look We have Coming to Dover!, also the title of his first collection which won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Decibel Award. His subsequent two collections have both been nominated for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry.

Guest Frances Leviston’s first collection of poems, Public Dream, was shortlisted for The TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. Her second collection, Disinformation, is published in 2015.

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July 20 – 25 Lumb Bank

39. POETRY: TOWARDS A COLLECTION Making a whole from the sum of the parts You’ve written a body of poems and you’re thinking about crafting it into a collection – in book or pamphlet form. But how do you craft a group of disparate pieces into something ready to submit? What are publishers looking for? How do you create a whole from the sum of the parts? Two experienced poet-editors will kickstart and motivate you with ideas, information, focused discussion and, of course, the joy of reading and writing new poems.

Helena Nelson is originator/editor of HappenStance Press, which specialises in debut poetry pamphlets. She is also a poet in her own right, with a number of pamphlets and two full collections to her name.

Helen Tookey is managing editor at Carcanet Press. She has worked in publishing, in higher education, and as a freelance editor. Her own first full-length poetry collection, Missel-Child, was published in 2014.

Guest Niall Campbell was born on the island of South Uist. His first collection, Moontide, has been shortlisted for The Forward Prize for Best First Collection and recently won the inaugural Edwin Morgan Poetry Award.

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Totleigh Barton July 27 – August 1

40. POETRY Come as you are How does a poet take curiosity and enthusiasm and turn it into art? How do you cross the divide between imagination and form to make the poems you dream of? Open to all levels of experience, this course will stretch and excite you, take you beyond your current practice, and help you find a way to shape your own poetic vision. We will help you find your unique voice, and explore ways to bring that voice to the page.

Neil Rollinson has published three poetry collections and his next, Talking Dead, will be out in 2015. He has won the National Poetry Competition and a Cholmondley Award. He teaches Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

Fiona Sampson has been published in 37 languages and received various national and international awards. Professor of Poetry at Roehampton University, she has recently published Selected Poems in USA and China.

Guest Elaine Feinstein is a prize-winning poet, novelist and biographer. A new volume of her poems comes out in 2015.

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August 10 – 15 Lumb Bank

41. POETRY The short poem as a place in itself In this week, writing will begin from an immersion in the landscape around Lumb Bank. The natural world will be a constant reference, with immediate perception as our principal concern and resource. Workshop exercises will be designed to keep open the sense of the place of the poem, encountering form as adventure or continual revelation. The course will be for anyone who feels like a perpetual beginner.

Thomas A Clark’s encounters with the wild landscapes of the Highlands and Islands, through the simple expedient of walking, has been the central theme of his poetry.

Jen Hadfield’s collection, Nigh-No-Place, won the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. She is one of the Poetry Book Society’s Next Generation Poets 2014.

Guest Alec Finlay has worked with innovative poetic forms such as the mesostic and circlepoem for over a decade. Recent books include Global Oracle and The Road North.

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The Hurst August 24 – 29

42. STARTING TO WRITE POETRY Taking the first steps on your poetry journey This hugely enjoyable week will enable you to begin the lifechanging experience of writing poetry. Working from classic and contemporary poems, exhilarating writing sessions are the main focus in a week with “the best poetry teachers in the world” (the Guardian). If you have always meant to write poems, or have stopped and want to begin again, you will find this a serious and challenging, but warm and supportive course.

This course is only available to people who have not been on an Arvon course before.

Ann and Peter Sansom Ann has been writer-in-residence with First Direct Bank and guest poet at the Times Educational Supplement, and has taught at Sheffield Hallam and Leeds Universities. Peter has been company poet with Marks & Spencer and with the Prudential, and has taught at Manchester and Leeds Universities. They are co-directors of The Poetry Business, approaching its third decade as “one of the most vital and vitalising of literary organisations” (Andrew Motion).

Guest Cliff Yates’ collections include Henry’s Clock, winner of the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, and Frank Freeman’s Dancing School.

He wrote Jumpstart Poetry in the Secondary School for the Poetry Society.

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September 7 – 12 The Hurst

43. POETRY Inner and exterior spaces: what we find there On this course we’ll be travelling through, exploring and mapping inner and outer spaces. We’ll consider the creative energies available to us by drawing on microscopic and macrocosmic spaces. We’ll encounter heart-space and headspace, places where boundaries have or have not been established, can be crossed, or can be changed, leading us to new territory for the imagination. In formal terms we’ll be looking at techniques for using the white space on the page, and how spatial values can play a vital part in the poem.

Penelope Shuttle’s most recent publication is In the Snowy Air, a pamphlet. She has published ten collections of poetry, five novels, and is co-author of The Wise Wound. Her Unsent: New and Selected Poems appeared in 2012.

David Morley’s most recent poetry collection is Biographies of Birds and Flowers: Selected Poems. He wrote the bestselling Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing. He is Professor of Writing at Warwick University. www.davidmorley.org.uk Guest Jane Draycott’s collections include Prince Rupert’s Drop, The Night Tree and Over, nominated for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry.

A Poetry Book Society Next Generation Poet, her 2011 translation Pearl won the Stephen Spender Prize.

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Totleigh Barton September 21 – 26

44. POETRY Weaving texts: exploring patterns in your life and writing In Calvino’s Ersilia, people traced their relationships with threads until this tapestry became their city. During this week we will help people see those patterns in their life and work in new ways through the interactions between course participants and tutors, unfamiliar texts, images and exercises, looking to integrate personal experience and poems in fresh ways. The course is open to writers at all levels who are looking for different angles on their writing.

Ian Duhig has written six books of poetry, three of which were shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. He has won the National Poetry Competition twice, the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem and is a Cholmondeley Award recipient.

Pascale Petit’s What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry and Wales Book of the Year.

Poems from her sixth collection Fauverie won the Manchester Poetry Prize. www.pascalepetit.co.uk Guest Malika Booker is a British poet and multi-disciplinary artist. Her collection Pepper Seed was published in 2013. She was the inaugural Poet in Residence at The Royal Shakespeare Company.

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Oct 12 – 17 Lumb Bank

45. POETRY: TUTORED RETREAT Finding the way forward We all have the potential to write stronger, more memorable poems, but it can be hard to see the best way to progress.

This course offers you time and space to write and refresh your creativity, with individual guidance to help you take your work to the next level. The emphasis of the course is on your own writing time, so it’s not suitable for beginners. But if you are looking to develop your own voice and move into publication, or an experienced writer needing new approaches to help you move on creatively, we will give you careful attention and fresh thinking to help bring out the best in your writing.

Grevel Lindop has published seven collections of poems, as well as successful biographies and travel writing. He also writes essays and reviews for a range of magazines including the Times Literary Supplement, PN Review and Poetry London. He has taught poetry and creative writing for more than 40 years. www.grevel.co.uk Carola Luther has two published poetry collections and a pamphlet. She also teaches poetry and writes text for live performance.

Her first collection was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for First Collection.

Guest Tara Bergin is from Dublin. Her collection This is Yarrow was awarded the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry Prize, and the Shine/Strong Award. She is a Poetry Book Society Next Generation Poet 2014.

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Totleigh Barton November 9 – 14

46. POETRY: WORK IN PROGRESS Writing and rewriting Together, we will work through the twists and turns of shaping the poem. We will take that rough but exciting first draft through the knotty problem of lines that will not bend or straighten as we would like, to the gleaming, finished poem. We will aim to work through repeated versions of one or more poems (depending on preference and length) throughout the course of the week.

Maura Dooley’s collections of poetry include Life Under Water. She has edited anthologies, worked in film and theatre, run literature festivals and currently teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Bernard O’Donoghue’s seven collections include Selected Poems. He has translated a number of medieval poems from various European languages, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Piers Plowman. He is editor of the Oxford Poets imprint of Carcanet Press and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Guest Jamie McKendrick’s sixth and most recent book of poems, Out There, won the Hawthornden Prize. His translations include The Embrace: Selected Poems by Valerie Magrelli, which was awarded the John Florio Prize for Italian Translation.

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November 23 – 28 Lumb Bank

47. POETRY AND EXPERIMENT Playing with form and language During the week, participants will be encouraged to explore a diversity of poetic forms and uses of language, such as open form, collage and juxtaposition. We will bring to bear our background in what is often referred to as the UK’s ‘innovative’ poetry scene, introducing you to the approaches of British and American experimental poets as a means of encouraging you to play and take risks in your own work. Suitable for new poets and more experienced writers who would like to explore innovative poetic techniques, throw over old habits, or push their work further.

Harriet Tarlo’s books include Nab, Poems 1990–2003 and Field and Poems 2004–2014 published in 2015. She edited the influential Ground Aslant: An Anthology of Radical Landscape Poetry. She is course leader for MA Writing at Sheffield Hallam.

Scott Thurston’s most recent book is Figure Detached, Figure Impermanent. He co-runs The Other Room poetry series, co-edits the Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry, and lectures at the University of Salford.

Guest Nathan Thompson has two full collections of poetry, The Visitor’s Guest and the arboretum towards the beginning, and several pamphlets. He has taught Creative Writing at the University of Salford.

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NONFICTION

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48 NON-FICTION

April 20 – 25, The Hurst Tutors: Lucy Hughes-Hallett & Rory MacLean 49 TRAVEL WRITING

May 18 – 23, Lumb Bank Tutors: Kapka Kassabova & Rachel Lichtenstein 50 LIFE WRITING

June 1 – 6, The Hurst Tutors: Hannah Pool & Marina Benjamin 51 NON-FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS

June 8 – 13, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Olivia Laing & Alexander Masters 52 STARTING TO WRITE NON-FICTION

July 20 – 25, The Hurst Tutors: Melanie McGrath & Francis Spufford 53 LIFE WRITING

September 28 – October 3, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Elise Valmorbida & Aamer Hussein 54 NATURE WRITING

October 19 – 24, Lumb Bank Tutors: Paul Kingsnorth & Helen MacDonald

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55 HISTORY WRITING

November 16 – 21, The Hurst Tutors: Catherine Merridale & Kate Williams

The Hurst April 20 – 25

48. NON-FICTION Life and other journeys Lives and journeys lend themselves to narrative. But how do we turn a personal excursion – or a lifetime’s voyage – into prose?

Biographers and travel writers need to be imaginative, flexible and ingenious in shaping the stories we have to tell, in order to accommodate the rich unpredictability of life, the complexities of character and place, and the way travel changes the traveller.

Through creative engagement with language and structure, this course explores how we can transform experience – our own or others’ – into stories and books.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett is the author of Cleopatra, Heroes and The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio, which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Book Award (Biography).

Rory MacLean is a travel writer. His ten books include award-winners Stalin’s Nose, Under the Dragon, Magic Bus and Berlin: Imagine a City. www.rorymaclean.com Guest Julie Summers writes biography and social history. Her book Jambusters is currently being filmed as a six-part ITV drama series.

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Lumb Bank May 18 – 23

49. TRAVEL WRITING Turn your journeys into stories There is a saying that there are only two narratives in all of literature: the hero or heroine leaves home, and a stranger comes to town. This is particularly true in travel writing. Over the week, you will learn ways to shape your travel experience into a story that fits the nature of your particular journey. This could be a journey of discovery, adventure, or return. There will be a focus on how the traveller is changed in the process, and how the outer journey may mirror the traveller’s inner progress.

This course welcomes all levels of writer and traveller.

Kapka Kassabova is the author of the childhood memoir Street Without a Name, the tango memoir Twelve Minutes of Love and the novel Villa Pacifica. www.kapka-kassabova.com Rachel Lichtenstein is an artist, writer and oral historian. Her published works include Diamond Street: The Hidden World of Hatton Garden, On Brick Lane and Rodinsky’s Room (with Iain Sinclair). www.rachellichtenstein.com Guest Gavin Francis is author of True North and Empire Antarctica, shortlisted for the Costa Book Award and winner of Scottish Book of the Year. He writes regularly for the Guardian and the London Review of Books.

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June 1 – 6 The Hurst

50. LIFE WRITING Crafting your experience into narrative that flows They say “write what you know.” This week will teach you how to do just that. You’ll learn great skills for all genres of writing, whether you want to write creative non-fiction, memoir, fiction from real life, or just fancy setting up your own blog. Learn how to find your voice, hone your style and help turn experience into story.

Hannah Pool has written features, interviews and comment for the Guardian, the Times, Grazia and other national media for over a decade, and My Father’s Daughter: A story of family and belonging, a memoir of her journey back to Eritrea to meet her birth-family.

Marina Benjamin has written three books of narrative non-fiction and is currently at work on a new memoir. She is also a contributing editor to Aeon Magazine and editor of the Royal Literary Fund’s ‘Collected’ blog.

Guest Viv Albertine is a songwriter, musician and formerly the guitarist in influential female punk band The Slits. 2014 saw the publication of her memoir Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.

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Totleigh Barton June 8 – 13

51. NON-FICTION: WORK IN PROGRESS How to tell... and how to compel For writers with a work of non-fiction in progress, this course will focus on how to hone your project into a story that captures the reader’s imagination. We will look at different ways to write interesting, well-structured stories and the emphasis will be on clear writing and strong narrative drive. Included will be workshops and exercises on how to develop character, write dialogue and descriptive passages, and how to keep yourself out of trouble if you’re writing about people who are still alive.

Olivia Laing is the author of To the River and The Trip to Echo Spring. She is currently working on The Lonely City, a cultural history of urban loneliness.

Alexander Masters is the author of Simon, The Genius in My Basement and Stuart, A Life Backwards, which won the Hawthornden Prize and the Guardian First Book Award.

Guest Colin Grant is an author, historian, BBC producer, and drama-documentary writer.

A Warwick University Associate Fellow, his memoir Bageye at the Wheel was shortlisted for the PEN/Ackerley Prize.

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July 20 – 25 The Hurst

52. STARTING TO WRITE NON-FICTION Telling true stories Have you ever wanted to write creative non-fiction and not known how to start? Whether it’s memoir or travel writing you have in mind, or some other of creative non-fiction’s many possibilities, this week offers practical tools, plentiful exercises and creative inspiration. We will help you identify and grow an idea, discover and develop your voice, explore themes and stories, manage your research and shape your work.

Melanie McGrath is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction. Her nine books have been translated into 20 languages. She has also taught creative non-fiction at universities in the UK and USA. www.melaniemcgrath.com Francis Spufford is an award-winning author whose five books, all in different ways, straddle the boundaries between types of non-fiction: memoir, history, travel, biography, science writing, polemic. He teaches Creative Writing at Goldsmiths.

Guest Katharine Quarmby is a contributing editor at Newsweek Europe and a non-fiction writer. Her latest print book is No Place to Call Home: Inside the Real Lives of Gypsies and Travellers.

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Totleigh Barton September 28 – October 3

53. LIFE WRITING Suitcase stories Departures, arrivals, journeys… What stories emerge from migration and the contrasts between different worlds? And how do we go about telling personal and family tales? On this course, we will unpack truth, memory and imagination. We’ll explore the diverse possibilities of language, character, place and plot. And we’ll help you develop compelling narratives – fiction or non-fiction.

Elise Valmorbida is the author of Matilde Waltzing, The Book of Happy Endings, The TV President and The Winding Stick, and script-consultant/producer of awardwinning feature film Saxon. Her latest work (forthcoming) is an Italian-Australian historic novel. www.elisevalmorbida.com Aamer Hussein was born in Karachi and moved to London in 1970. A linguist by training, he is the author of five collections of short fiction and two novels. His works include Insomnia and The Cloud Messenger. He reviews regularly for the Independent. www.aamerhussein.com Guest Anne Aylor was born in New Mexico and is part Cherokee. She is the author of two novels, No Angel Hotel and The Double Happiness Company. She is winner of the 2014 Historical Novel Society short story award.

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Oct 19 – 24 Lumb Bank

54. NATURE WRITING Writing the wild What is the role of the writer in an age of extinction and climate change? What are the boundaries of ‘nature writing’ and how might we break through them? This course explores the crafting of non-fiction which engages deeply with the natural world.

We will look at how to resolve the ‘green blur’ of the non-human world into its fierce details, and how to render the familiar new.

In an age when our culture is turning away from nature, we will seek a meaningful re-engagement with it. Writing exercises and teaching sessions will be combined with time outdoors, exploring techniques of seeing and expression.

Paul Kingsnorth is the author of two non-fiction books, including the highlyacclaimed Real England, and a collection of poetry. His debut novel, The Wake, was longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. www.paulkingsnorth.net Helen Macdonald is a writer, historian, poet and naturalist whose work is centrally concerned with our relationship to the natural world. Her most recent book is the bestselling H is for Hawk, winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize 2014.

Guest Richard Kerridge’s Cold Blood: Adventures with Reptiles and Amphibians is a mixture of memoir and nature writing. He is also an ecocritic and leads the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

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The Hurst November 16 – 21

55. HISTORY WRITING Creative imagination and the past Whatever your interest in history, this course will enable you to bring your ideas to life on the page. We will look at the construction of narrative from sources, the question of voice and tone, and the tricky issue of fact versus dramatisation.

Our focus throughout will be on making history enjoyable and engaging for your readers. History is an exciting and dynamic genre, though it can be challenging to convey. This week will help you find the voice to bring history to life.

Catherine Merridale is an acclaimed writer of Russian history. Her most recent book, Red Fortress: The Secret Heart of Russia’s History, won the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize and Wolfson History Prize. www.catherinemerridale.com Kate Williams is the author of four history books and two novels, most recently The Storms of War. She discusses history and culture often on television and radio.

Guest Giles Milton is the internationally bestselling author of Nathaniel’s Nutmeg and seven other works of narrative non-fiction.

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WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS 95

56 YOUNG ADULT FICTION

May 11 – 16, The Hurst Tutors: Melvin Burgess & Lucy Christopher

57 CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION: TUTORED RETREAT

June 15 – 20, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Gillian Cross & Marcus Sedgwick 58 PICTURE BOOKS

August 3 – 8, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Mei Matsuoka & Tessa Strickland 59 POETRY FOR CHILDREN

August 31 – September 5, Lumb Bank Tutors: Roger McGough & Rachel Rooney

60 CHILDREN’S FICTION

October 12 – 17, The Hurst Tutors: Elen Caldecott & Jonny Zucker

See Theatre for Younger Audiences p115

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May 11 – 16 The Hurst

56. YOUNG ADULT FICTION Developing an authentic teenage voice Young Adult fiction remains one of the most innovative and fast moving areas of writing today. What and why do you want to write specifically for young adults? During this week we will move you beyond the initial ‘getting started’ with YA, helping you get deeper into the specifics of this fiction, to progress your YA voice, and to develop your projects. Suitable for writers new to the form as well as those keen to develop a work-in-progress.

Melvin Burgess’ first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

His book Junk won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize as well as the Carnegie Medal in 1996. His work has been widely adapted for stage, TV and film.

Lucy Christopher is an award-winning and internationally bestselling author for young adults. Her first novel, Stolen, won a Printz Honor and is in pre-production for a film.

She is working on her fourth novel.

Guest CJ Flood is the author of Infinite Sky, which won the Branford Boase Award and the James Reckitt Hull Children’s Book Award, and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

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Totleigh Barton June 15 – 20

57. CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION: TUTORED RETREAT Time to explore and develop your story An opportunity to immerse yourself in a beautiful, supportive environment and work on your writing for children and young adults. You’ll have a chance to enjoy the company of fellow writers and we’ll be on hand all week to offer detailed advice, honest discussion or friendly encouragement – you set the agenda. As a starting point, participants are invited to submit up to 2000 words of a work-in-progress, to be sent to Totleigh Barton by 14th May 2015.

Gillian Cross has written more than 50 books and won many prizes including the Carnegie Medal, the Smarties Prize and the Little Rebels Award. Her Demon Headmaster books inspired a successful television series. www.gillian-cross.co.uk Marcus Sedgwick worked in publishing for 18 years, before becoming a full-time writer. He writes books for children, teenagers and adults, and is the winner of many prizes. He has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal five times.

Guest Emma Carroll’s debut novel, Frost Hollow Hall, won the North East Book Award.

Her second, The Girl Who Walked On Air, is set in a Victorian circus.

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August 3 – 8 Totleigh Barton

58. PICTURE BOOKS Simple genius: the art of the picture book This week, you will find out about the many ingredients that go into creating the best picture books – those that delight children and adults alike, and call you back to explore them again and again. Writers will be invited to turn their hands to picture book narrative, both in prose and verse; artists will develop their skills through the medium of illustration. All of us will be looking at pace, tone, characterisation, humour, pathos and much more.

Along the way, we’ll explore typography, design and production.

There’ll be lots of scope for adventure, experiment and – of course – play!

Mei Matsuoka has been illustrating children’s books for more than 10 years. Shortlisted for the Booktrust Best New Illustrators Award and The Roald Dahl Funny Prize, her bestsellers include The Great Dog Bottom Swap, Burger Boy and Footprints in the Snow.

Tessa Strickland is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of independent children’s publisher Barefoot Books. As Stella Blackstone, she has written many bestselling picture books for children. As an editor, she has worked with authors and illustrators all over the world.

Guest David Roberts is the creator of the Dirty Bertie picture book series and he has illustrated works by authors such as Philip Ardagh, Julia Donaldson and Jacqueline Wilson.

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Lumb Bank August 31 – September 5

59. POETRY FOR CHILDREN Writing for the children within us Writing poetry for children isn’t a soft option. The writer has a huge responsibility to language and to the young reader, who should not be underestimated or patronised. Children love the sound and feel of words, the music of vowels and consonants, the heady surprise of images. Through writing exercises, group discussions and tutorials, we hope to foster inspiration and fuel the imagination. It will be challenging, certainly, but playful and fun too.

Roger McGough was one of the leading members of the ‘Liverpool Poets’. He presents Poetry Please on BBC Radio 4 and is president of the Poetry Society. He has published many books of poems for both adults and children.

In 2005 he was awarded the CBE. Rachel Rooney’s debut collection The Language of Cat won the CLPE Poetry Award in 2012 and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her second collection is My Life as a Goldfish.

Guest Valerie Bloom is the author of several volumes of poetry, picture books and novels.

She has presented poetry programmes for the BBC and contributed to various radio and television programmes.

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October 12 – 17 The Hurst

60. CHILDREN’S FICTION Where the wild words are This week covers writing for beginning readers to pre-teens and everything in between. Whether you’re a first-time writer, or you’re fine-tuning your novel, you’ll discover helpful tips and tricks. With a strong emphasis on play and experimentation, we’ll look at inventing stories, creating characters and writing great dialogue. We’ll also look at how to edit and rewrite – in short, all you need to write a great children’s book.

Elen Caldecott writes contemporary adventures for children – a sort of Enid Blyton spliced with Mike Leigh. Her work has been shortlisted for major awards. She also teaches Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. www.elencaldecott.com Jonny Zucker writes children’s fiction for all ages, from picture books to YA. He specialises in 7–9 and 9–11 year-olds. He writes series, short fiction, novels and graphic novels.

Guest Liz Flanagan writes for children and teenagers. She is studying for a PhD in Creative Writing: Teenage Fiction. Her books include Starlight Grey and Dara’s Clever Trap. www.lizflanagan.co.uk

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THEATRE/ TV/FILM/ RADIO

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61 PLAYWRITING

April 27 – May 2, The Hurst Tutors: Suhayla El Bushra & David Eldridge 62 PLAYWRITING

June 8 – 13, Lumb Bank Tutors: Tim Crouch & April de Angelis 63 RADIO DRAMA

June 22 – 27, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Kate Clanchy & Jonquil Panting 64 SCREENWRITING: ADAPTATION

June 22 – 27, The Hurst Tutors: Robin Mukherjee & Lee Thomas 65 TELEVISION DRAMA

August 3 – 8, Lumb Bank Tutors: Simon Black & Eleanor Greene

68 PLAYWRITING: TUTORED RETREAT

August 31 – September 5, The Hurst Tutors: Tanika Gupta & Tanya Ronder 69 RADIO DRAMA

September 14 – 19, Lumb Bank Tutors: Dan Rebellato & Polly Thomas 70 TELEVISION: CONTINUING DRAMA

September 28 – October 3, The Hurst Tutors: Claire Bennett & Peter Lloyd 71 SCREENWRITING: SHORT FILMS

October 19 – 24, The Hurst Tutors: Samm Haillay & Duane Hopkins 72 THEATRE FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES

October 26 – 31, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Ryan Craig & August 10 – 15, Totleigh Barton Christopher William Hill Tutors: Amy Rosenthal & Evan Placey 73 RADIO DRAMA November 2 – 7, The Hurst Tutors: Anjum Malik & 67 SCREENWRITING Peter Leslie Wild August 24 – 29, Lumb Bank Tutors: Laurence Coriat & 74 SCREENWRITING: Tina Gharavi 66 STARTING TO WRITE A PLAY

TUTORED RETREAT

November 16 – 21, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Clio Barnard & Sally El Hosaini 103

The Hurst April 27 – May 2

61. PLAYWRITING Honing your craft, making your drama sing Come and focus on honing your craft as a dramatist. We will concentrate on helping you to make your story, scenes and action sing. We will be covering themes including dramatic action, writing active dialogue, subtext and how to inject dynamism into your backstory. We will also look at adaptation and version writing, how to use form to express meaning and how to source ideas, whether creating from scratch or working from real stories and existing material. Be inspired and stretched on this exciting week.

Suhayla El Bushra is a screenwriter and playwright. Produced plays include Pigeons, Cuckoo, The Kilburn Passion and Fingertips.

She was a core writer on TV soap Hollyoaks and is developing two feature films and two more plays.

David Eldridge is an award-winning dramatist and the author of Under the Blue Sky, In Basildon and recently Holy Warriors. He also writes TV, film and radio and has adapted classic Scandinavian dramas.

Guest Jonathan Harvey is the author of three books and 18 plays. His best known works include the play and film of Beautiful Thing, the BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme and more than 150 episodes of Coronation Street.

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June 8 – 13 Lumb Bank

62. PLAYWRITING Exploring theatricality and structure in your work We will encourage you to experiment with different approaches to creating work for the theatre. On the one hand we will ask you to resist the ‘off the peg’ idea of what a play should be. But we will also engage with more traditional approaches to form through exercises exploring dialogue, scene structure, story and character. By the end of the week you should have a range of skills, to help you forge your own approach to playwriting and to be bold in finding a form which is yours.

Tim Crouch is a performer, writer and director.

His plays include My Arm, England, An Oak Tree, The Author and Adler & Gibb and a series of plays inspired by Shakespeare’s lesser characters, such as I, Malvolio. For the RSC, Tim has directed The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear and I, Cinna (the poet). www.timcrouchtheatre.co.uk April de Angelis has written for theatre, radio and opera, and had plays performed at the Royal Court, RSC and National Theatre.

Plays include Jumpy, Gastronauts, Wild East, Playhouse Creatures, A Laughing Matter and A Warwickshire Testimony.

Guest Alice Birch was winner of the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Arts Foundation Award for Playwriting.

She is currently under commission to the Royal Court, Clean Break and Pentabus.

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Totleigh Barton June 22 – 27

63. RADIO DRAMA Listen, write, create A hands-on, practical course for anyone (including writers of any genre) who loves radio drama and wants to make their own.

We will run workshops on every aspect of pitching and writing radio, and each student will create a short piece of drama which will be recorded by sound designer, Eloise Whitmore, at the end of the week. Together we’ll listen, write, and create.

Kate Clanchy has written plays and serials for BBC Radios 3 and 4. She has won major awards for her poetry, short stories and novels. She is a Creative Writing Fellow of Oxford Brookes University.

Jonquil Panting is a Sony-award winning director of drama and comedy for BBC Radio such as Witness: Five Plays from the Gospel of Luke and I, Claudius.

Guest Eloise Whitmore, a radio and animation sound designer, has been working in broadcasting for 15 years. In 2013 she won the Radio Academy Sound Designer and Producer of the Year.

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June 22 – 27 The Hurst

64. SCREENWRITING: ADAPTATION From source to script Many film and television dramas start their lives in some other medium – a novel, poem, or even a game. Perhaps you have a favourite work that you would love to adapt for the screen?

But where do you start? And how do you arrive at a finished piece that both honours the original and works as a script?

Whether you’re starting from scratch or have an existing project that needs some fresh insight and guidance, this course will help you develop all the skills necessary to turn source material into powerful, authentic screen drama that works in its own right.

It is the art of taking a poem, play, short story, or classic novel, and making it yours.

Robin Mukherjee has written extensively for film, television, radio, and theatre. His recent film, Lore, won critical acclaim and numerous awards worldwide. He is currently adapting Paul Scott’s novel, Staying On, with support from the BFI. Lee Thomas is an award-winning film producer, currently adapting three novels, one of which is based on David Mitchell’s number9dream. The Voorman Problem, a short which he produced based on the same novel, was nominated for an Oscar. He teaches screenwriting at Warwick University.

Guest Deborah Moggach has written 17 novels, several of which have been adapted for TV. Her screenplay of Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightly, was nominated for a BAFTA, and her novel The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was successfully adapted.

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Lumb Bank August 3 – 8

65. TELEVISION DRAMA Eliminating fear and demystifying the craft Through practical sessions we will demystify the craft of writing television drama and explain how to approach the blank page without fear! Starting from first principles, we will explain how to construct a scene through dialogue and stage directions, explore how stories can (and should) be told through character, and discuss how to plan a script. You will work on developing an idea into the opening scenes of something you can continue working on afterwards. Since the core principles are the same, this course is for anyone interested in writing for television drama of any genre.

Simon Block is a playwright and BAFTA and RTS nominated scriptwriter. In 2015, his film The Eichmann Show will be screened on BBC2, and his series Home Fires on ITV. Eleanor Greene has produced drama series and serials for BBC1, BBC2 and Five. She is currently head of drama development at Wall to Wall. Her film, The Woman In Red, will be screened on BBC2 in 2015.

Guest Ben Newman has written for Channel 4, Sky and NBC. Prior to this, he worked as a script editor at ITV and several leading independent production companies.

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August 10 – 15 Totleigh Barton

66. STARTING TO WRITE A PLAY Adventures in playwriting How do you kickstart your theatrical imagination? How do you synthesise inspiration with technical craft? What is in the playwright’s toolbox and how can it help you bring an idea from page to stage? Through group discussion, writing exercises and tutorials, this course will take you through the arc of the playwriting process: from trusting your ideas and finding your voice to writing dialogue, developing characters and understanding dramatic action, structure and form.

Amy Rosenthal has been writing for stage and radio since 1998, and her plays have been widely produced. She is currently working on a chamber opera libretto and a new musical.

Evan Placey is an award-winning playwright who has written for theatres internationally and in the UK, including the National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Unicorn, Birmingham Rep, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Plymouth Theatre Royal and BBC Radio 3.

Guest Abigail Graham is a freelance theatre director and artistic director of OpenWorks Theatre. Her work includes Black Sheep, DEBRIS and Molly Sweeney.

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Lumb Bank August 24 – 29

67. SCREENWRITING Bring characters and stories alive The film development process is about getting a script right and there are no shortcuts. During this week, in a supportive and industrious environment, we will help you apply key principles of good storytelling for film, with the aim of re-invigorating your enthusiasm and commitment to succeed. We will explore a range of different screenwriting techniques, from more traditional approaches to writing from improvisation, using documentary methodologies and seeking out the characters that emerge from a theme. This is a course for those who want to bring characters and stories alive in the richest way possible.

Laurence Coriat is an award-winning screenwriter whose credits include Michael Winterbottom’s Wonderland, Genoa and Everyday, as well as Sandra Goldbacher’s Me Without You and Marc Evans’ Hunky Dory and Patagonia.

Tina Gharavi is a Sundance/BAFTA-nominated screenwriter/director who initially trained as a painter. She is noted for innovative crossplatform work, often about outsiders, rebels and misfits. Her work blends documentary and fiction and two features are currently in development.

Guest Celine Haddad has 20 years of experience in the film industry including working for ICM and Pathé​. She is currently a senior film executive for Creative England in their talent division.

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August 31 – September 5 The Hurst

68. PLAYWRITING: TUTORED RETREAT Playwright’s buddies Working with each writer’s specific play/text, we will probe, feedback, inspire and encourage solutions to any writing problems or process hiccoughs. Acting as writing buddies, we will help to get your creative juices flowing, so that participants can use the rest of their week to get that precious play improved, and maybe even finished.

Tanika Gupta is an award-winning playwright.

Her plays have been performed at the RSC, Royal Court and Sadlers Wells. Her most recent work was The Empress, Sugar Mummies, Catch, White Boy, Wah!Wah!Girls and Love N Stuff.

Tanya Ronder has mostly written adaptations for theatres including the Almeida and the RSC: Vernon God Little, Peribanez, Blood Wedding, Macbett and Peter Pan. Her first original play, Table, opened the Shed at the National Theatre.

Guest Roy Williams was the joint-winner of The George Devine Award. He was awarded the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the OBE for Services to Drama.

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Lumb Bank September 14 – 19

69. RADIO DRAMA Writing with Sound This course will give participants the opportunity to develop their ideas for radio drama, such as Afternoon Plays, through intensive practical work – writing, script editing, listening to different radio drama styles – both as a group and through individual exercises. At the end of the course, an award-winning sound designer will record scenes written during the week.

Aimed at writers new to radio drama.

Dan Rebellato is a dramatist and Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway University. He has twice been nominated for a Sony Award.

Polly Thomas is an award-winning radio drama producer and theatre director. Currently freelance, she works for BBC and community networks.

Guest Eloise Whitmore, a radio and animation sound designer, has been working in broadcasting for 15 years. In 2013, she won the Radio Academy Sound Designer and Producer of the Year.

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September 28 – October 3 The Hurst

70. TELEVISION: CONTINUING DRAMA Serious about soap whilst pricking its bubbles Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Holby, Doctors, Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Casualty – millions of people watch continuing dramas and soaps every day. Hundreds of writers have the task and pleasure of inhabiting worlds and characters that are loved (and sometimes loathed) by the nation. Over the week we will examine character, structure and dialogue, and explore the processes, delights and pitfalls of writing for these shows. Consider this week a ‘starter pack‘ designed to give new and emerging writers the skills, tips and tools you’ll need to get noticed.

Claire Bennett began her broadcast career in radio. She is an award-winning core writer on Doctors and writes for Holby City.

Her original series Sisters of Detention is in development. www.clairebennettshow.biz Peter Lloyd has script-edited Dalziel and Pascoe, The Scarlet Pimpernel and two series of Dangerfield. He is currently series producer of Doctors, running the editorial department and spearheading the search for new writers.

He was instrumental in the development of the Afternoon Plays strand for BBC Daytime.

Guest Carol Harding has been producing TV drama and film for 15 years. Her credits include Afternoon Play, Holby City and WPC56 for the BBC, and Metrosexuality, Fugee Girl and Heterosexuality for Channel 4.

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The Hurst October 19 – 24

71. SCREENWRITING: SHORT FILMS The art of the short All great films, whatever their length, begin with a great script. But what makes a great script and how do you make a story come alive from the page to the screen? Find out from one of the most exciting and successful producer/writer/director teams in the UK just what it takes to craft an award-winning short film, and what steps you need to take to turn your ideas into screen gold.

Samm Haillay’s short film productions have won more than 45 awards including at the Berlin, Venice, Edinburgh and Chicago film festivals. He has also produced a number of feature films, many of which have premiered at Cannes.

Duane Hopkins’ short films Field and Love Me Or Leave Me Alone have won more than 30 international awards including the Gold Hugo from Chicago International Film Festival, an EIFF Short Film Award and the Prix UIP European Film Academy nomination.

Guest Nicky Bentham is an award-winning feature drama and documentary producer.

Her credits include the multi-award-winning sci-fi thriller Moon, and the BAFTA-nominated political documentary Taking Liberties. She is the BFI executive producer of BFI Shorts.

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October 26 – 31 Totleigh Barton

72. THEATRE FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES …or how theatre can be better than X-Box! It’s easy for the boundaries between playwright and teacher to become blurred when setting out to write plays for younger audiences – but the road to hell is paved with good intentions and it’s all too easy to drive children and teenagers out of the theatre never to return. This week is open to all writers who want to captivate, challenge, horrify and entertain their audience and keep them coming back for more – without ever feeling the need to wrap things up with a tidy moral message.

Ryan Craig‘s plays for young people are How to Think The Unthinkable, the forthcoming Jessica’s New World and We Lost Elijah.

Other plays include What We Did to Weinstein and The Glass Room.

Christopher William Hill is an award-winning playwright, radio dramatist and children’s author. His plays for children and young people have been performed throughout the UK and internationally.

Guest Purni Morell is the artistic director of the Unicorn, the UK’s leading theatre for audiences under 21. She also works as a freelance director and translator, with work produced all over the world.

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The Hurst November 2 – 7

73. RADIO DRAMA Thinking in sound, make your stories come alive What makes a radio drama distinct from a stage play or screenplay? How do you tell your story using sound alone?

What are the best ways to approach writing for this popular medium? If you are thinking of writing radio drama, or have already made a start, this course will set you on the road to ‘thinking in sound‘. You’ll learn about developing structure and character, and you’ll get the chance to record some of your ideas.

Anjum Malik has written original radio plays for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 Drama, and was a soap writer on The Asian Network’s Silver Street for three years. She has also written for TV, theatre and film and is a multi-lingual poet and performer. www.anjummalik.com Peter Leslie Wild has produced and directed many dramas and serials for BBC Radio, including five series of Falco, and is a regular director of The Archers. He also directs sitespecific and online audio drama.

Guest Simon Morecroft has spent 30 years working as sound designer on radio dramas for the BBC. He was programme manager on Silver Street, and is also a composer.

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November 16 – 21 Totleigh Barton

74. SCREENWRITING: TUTORED RETREAT Focusing on your script This is an opportunity to take time to work on a script with the supervision of two award-winning screenwriters and directors.

Rather than workshops, you will have one tutorial each day to focus on your work. So that the tutors can do some advance planning, please submit a two-page outline of your idea for a film or the first 15 pages by 30th October 2015, by post or email, to Totleigh Barton.

Clio Barnard is an award-winning writer and director. Her films include The Selfish Giant, which premiered as part of Cannes Director’s Fortnight 2013 and won the Europa Cinema Label’s Best European Film, and a featurelength documentary, The Arbor.

Sally El Hosaini’s debut feature, My Brother the Devil, which she wrote and directed, picked up major prizes at Berlin, Sundance and London Film Festivals. She also directs Danny Boyle’s TV series Babylon.

Guest Jonathan Asser wrote Starred Up, for which he won the Best British Newcomer Award at the London Film Festival.

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OTHER

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75 COMEDY WRITING

September 7 – 12, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Ivor Baddiel & Alexis Zegerman 76 SONGWRITING

September 14 – 19, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Tom McRae and Kathryn Williams 77 FOOD WRITING

October 5 – 10, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Felicity Cloake & Tiffany Murray 78 TEXT AND IMAGE

October 12 – 17, Totleigh Barton Tutors: Hannah Berry & Simone Lia 79 IMPROVISATION FOR WRITERS

November 9 – 14, Lumb Bank Tutors: Stella Duffy & Niall Ashdown

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September 7 – 12 Totleigh Barton

75. COMEDY WRITING An introduction to comedy writing, from eh? to ah!

This course will build from the basics of gag writing to developing comic characters and creating comedy scripts.

It will be accessible enough to accommodate all levels, whether you are currently working on something you’d like to improve, starting with a fresh idea, or have no ideas at all! There will also be an optional stand-up session for those who’d like to attend, including work on joke writing and comedy personas.

All told, it’s five days to go from funny-peculiar to funny-ha-ha and possibly even funny-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, oh God I think I’ve wet myself.

Ivor Baddiel has been writing comedy for television, radio and whoever pays for 20 years.

He’s written for Stephen Fry, Graham Norton and Joan Rivers to name a few, and credits include The BAFTAs, Mock The Week and Comic Relief.

Alexis Zegerman is an award-winning actress and writer working across theatre, TV, film and radio. She was writer-in-residence at Hampstead Theatre where her play Lucky Seven premiered. She is currently writing a comedy feature for BBC Films.

Guest Tracy-Ann Oberman’s various acting roles have included playing opposite Kenneth Branagh on stage and murdering Dirty Den in Eastenders. As a writer, she won the BBC Comedy Green Light award, co-wrote (with Diane Samuels) 3 Sisters on Hope Street and has written a trilogy of plays for BBC Radio 4.

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Totleigh Barton September 14 – 19

76. SONGWRITING In search of the song This course, for songwriters with some experience, will guide you on a quest for inspiration and arm you with all the essential tools you’ll need for the songwriting journey. We will look at ways to kickstart your creativity and help you to recognise and hone your own authentic lyric voice so that you can navigate your way through to writing finished songs. This course is by selection only.

Please send MP3s of at least two songs to totleighbarton@arvon. org by 24th June 2015.

Tom McRae is a British singer-songwriter. He has been nominated for The Mercury Prize, a Q Award and a Brit. He has released six studio albums, and recently co-wrote with Marianne Faithfull for her latest album.

Kathryn Williams is a Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter. Her first album, Dog Leap Stairs, was famously released on her own label with a budget of £80. Her tenth studio album, Crown Electric, was released in 2013. www.kathrynwilliams.co.uk Guest Ben Christophers is a singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and Musical Director of Bat for Lashes. He has released five solo albums and worked with artists including Marianne Faithfull, Françoise Hardy and Anna Calvi.

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October 5 – 10 Totleigh Barton

77. FOOD WRITING Recipes and recollection Food writing can take many forms, and combines various skills, from research and writing, sourcing and cooking, to imagination and memory. How do you find, write and produce the perfect recipe for the perfect roast chicken? How do you go back to your childhood kitchen and rediscover culinary secrets and stories?

This week we will be exploring the art of putting those perfect recipes, food memories and culinary tales on the page.

Felicity Cloake is the author of the Guardian’s ‘How to Make the Perfect’ column and three recipe books, Perfect, Perfect Too and Perfect Host. She is a freelance journalist and food columnist for the New Statesman. www.felicitycloake.com Tiffany Murray’s forthcoming food memoirs are Feast and The Rock n’ Roll Cook, Freddie and Me. As a novelist she was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and the London Book Award.

Guest Seb Emina is author of The Breakfast Bible and editor of the London Review of Breakfasts blog, which celebrates its tenth birthday in 2015.

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Totleigh Barton October 12 – 17

78. TEXT AND IMAGE Making, drawing and building stories A fun and informal week exploring the storytelling possibilities of text and image combined, in comic format and beyond.

From experimenting with the form to looking at the nuts and bolts of creating strong characters and effective narratives, this course is available to creators of all abilities who want to work on existing projects or start afresh on a bold new concept.

Hannah Berry is a comics creator, writer, illustrator and teacher. She has had two solo graphic novels published, Adamtine and Britten & BrĂźlightly, and has contributed to numerous collaborative projects. www.hannahberry.co.uk Simone Lia is the author of Fluffy and Please God, Find Me a Husband! She works daily with image, text and narrative. Her client list includes The Tate, the Independent, the Guardian and the Observer. www.simonelia.com Guest Stephen Collins is a UK illustrator and cartoonist who contributes each week to Guardian Weekend magazine. His first graphic novel The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil won the 9th Art Award in 2013.

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November 9 – 14 Lumb Bank

79. IMPROVISATION FOR WRITERS Or writing for improvisers? Both!

Writers are often frightened by the seeming freedom of improvisation, and improvisers are often daunted by what can feel like the rules of writing. Our week will be fun, gentle and warmly encouraging, in which we will play with form, character, style and genre, using the storytelling tools of improvisation to develop our written work. Perfectly suited to new writers, more experienced writers feeling stuck in their usual process, or improvisers who are ready to sit down and write. Let’s see how one inspires the other!

Stella Duffy is an improviser, actor, theatre director, deviser and award-winning writer.

She has published 13 novels, more than 50 short stories, ten plays, and one collection of short stories. www.stelladuffy.wordpress.com Niall Ashdown is an improviser, writer and actor. He has written for stage, radio, online and television, developing many of these projects through improvisation and co-devising.

Guest Patrick Marber is a playwright, screenwriter and occasional actor. He wrote Dealer’s Choice, Closer, Howard Katz, Don Juan in Soho and the screenplay of Notes on a Scandal.

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RETREATS

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80 FRIENDS’ RETREAT

April 27 – May 2, Totleigh Barton 81 RETREAT

June 8 – 13, The Hurst 82 RETREAT WITH YOGA

August 17 – 22, Totleigh Barton 83 RETREAT

November 2 – 7, Lumb Bank

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Totleigh Barton April 27 – May 2

80. FRIENDS’ RETREAT Write in the company of Friends Totleigh Barton in springtime is a glorious place to be and the perfect place to write. Grab yourself a slice of time (and plenty of cake), a room of your own, miles of beautiful countryside and the company of fellow Arvon Friends and just see where your writing takes you... and where you can take your writing.

There are single rooms for all writers on this course priced at £540 for the week.

This retreat is open to Arvon Friends only – find out more about becoming an Arvon Friend on page 149.

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June 8 – 13 The Hurst

81. RETREAT

The time has come. There is no need to explain, justify or excuse.

Enjoy a room of your own, uninterrupted concentration, and stunning views of the beautiful Shropshire landscape. Call your own bluff and write, write, write. Staff will be on hand to ensure a stress-free pocket of that priceless commodity: time.

There are single en-suite rooms for all writers on this course priced at ÂŁ540 for the week.

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Totleigh Barton August 17 – 22

82. RETREAT WITH YOGA Stretching body and mind Stretch your body, relax your mind and find the inner space you need to write. Writer and yoga teacher Lucy Greeves will help you get inspired this summer with tried-and-tested techniques from Hatha yoga. Work on your project at your own pace, in the company of fellow writers and with the benefit of twice-daily yoga classes designed to energise (8–9.30am) and unwind (4.30–5.30pm). Suitable for anyone with a genuine interest in yoga, including willing beginners. Single rooms for all writers at an all-inclusive price of £635.

Lucy Greeves has been using yoga to support her own writing career since 1999, and has been leading retreats at Totleigh Barton since 2011.

She is particularly interested in helping her students to access a more expansive, authentic way of being and writing through yoga and meditation.

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November 2 – 7 Lumb Bank

83. RETREAT

Leave the world behind for five days and retreat to the spectacular hills of Lumb Bank for a week of writing. Finish that unfinished manuscript, start the project that’s been nagging at you, or develop the tricky bit in the middle. With the company of other committed writers, come and find peace, quiet, and serious creativity.

Also, a perfect way to race ahead with your word count for those embarking on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

There are single rooms for all writers on this course priced at £540 for the week.

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BOOKING

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COURSE FEES

HOW TO BOOK A COURSE

The fee for 2015 standard courses and tutored retreats is £725.

Bookings can be made online at www.arvon.org.

You can also book by calling the centre where your chosen course is held. To secure your place, you will need to pay a deposit of £150 at the time of booking (unless you’re applying for a grant). You are welcome to pay in instalments via our online booking system.

The full balance of your course fee is payable no later than six weeks before the course starts.

This includes a single room (subject to availability), all workshops, tutorials and readings, and full board accommodation (not including alcohol). A few places with shared rooms are available at Totleigh Barton and Lumb Bank at the reduced rate of £680.

Other courses (all single rooms only): Retreat (untutored): £540 Yoga Retreat: £635 Friends’ Retreat: £540 Grants are available if you cannot afford the full fee (see page 135).

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Arvon is a charity and we fundraise hard to keep the costs of our courses as accessible as possible. Support from donors and funders allows us to subsidise the course fee by £330, and to offer grants. We would be grateful for any donation in addition to your course fee.

An additional contribution would go directly towards enabling young people and adults from disadvantaged communities to benefit from an Arvon week.

GRANTS FOR WRITERS

TEACHERS’ GRANTS

If you are a UK resident and cannot afford the full course fee, we encourage you to apply for one of our grants, which are awarded on the basis of financial need and not writing ability. Last year we were able to help more than 90% of all writers who applied. Priority is given to those coming to Arvon for the first time.

Arvon supports the professional development of practising teachers of English, who may apply for a special fixed grant of £200 towards a course fee. You will need to send evidence that you are a practising teacher of English at a UK state primary or secondary school, or further education college. Teachers’ grants are limited in number and can be applied for in addition to the usual grant if further financial assistance is needed. Find out how to apply for a grant overleaf.

You may apply for any amount up to the full course fee, although most grants are between £100 and £300.

We offer higher amounts only in exceptional cases. To help us support as many people as possible, please apply only if you’d be unable to attend the course without a grant, and ask for the minimum amount you need.

If you would like to support Arvon’s grant fund, please contact Gwendolyn Tietze: gwendolyn.tietze@arvon.org 020 7324 2576.

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TO APPLY FOR A GRANT

1 Download a grant pack from our website, or ask us to send it to you. It contains full details of the application procedure and an application form.

2 Reserve a place on your chosen course, either online or by phoning the centre hosting your course, and make sure you indicate that you wish to apply for a grant. You do not need to pay a deposit at this stage.

3 Complete the application form and send it along with your supporting documents to your chosen centre within a week.

4

Within seven days we will assess your application, contact you with a decision, and finalise your booking.

If you have any questions, please contact the appropriate centre.

“It may sound dramatic but this (grant) changed my life. I am now 65, living alone on a low income, but since the Arvon week I am now a writer. Having professional writers tell me my work was good/showed promise was worth more than I can express in words.” —grant recipient

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Arvon Free Word Centre 60 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3GA www.arvon.org

el: 020 7324 2554 T national@arvon.org Twitter: @arvonfoundation Facebook: arvonfoundation Instagram: arvoninsta

ARVON NATIONAL OFFICE Chief Executive: Ruth Borthwick Director of Operations: Nick Murza Head of Learning and Participation: Becky Swain Head of Development: Gwendolyn Tietze Head of Communications: George Palmer

Development Officer: Kathryn Beale Development Administrator: Meg Rumbelow Communications and Participation Coordinator: Emma Feasey Administrators (national office): Suzie Jones/Joe Bibby

Founders John Fairfax John Moat

Joint Presidents Sir Robin Chichester-Clark Terry Hands CBE

Patrons Simon Armitage CBE Lord (Melvyn) Bragg FRS, FRSL Alan Brownjohn FRSL Lady Caroline Chichester-Clark Dr David Cohen CBE Carol Ann Duffy CBE Jerry Hall Baroness James of Holland Park OBE Professor Sir Andrew Motion Nigel Pantling David Pease MBE Salman Rushdie FRSL Wole Soyinka FRSL Pete Townshend

Board of Trustees Alistair Burtenshaw (Chair) Patience Agbabi Sir Andrew Cahn KCMG Tony Cohen Kate Donaghy Marion Gibbs CBE Robert Hingley Nii Ayikwei Parkes Michael Symmons Roberts Sophie Rochester Meriel Schindler Simon Trewin Virginia Wedgwood Andy Wimble 137

THANK YOU Arvon is very grateful to all the photographers and photo agencies who kindly give us permission to reprint their author portraits for this booklet. We aim to credit every photographer.

Please let us know if we have been unable to credit you.

Patience Agbabi by Lyndon Douglas Jenn Ashworth by Martin Figura Tash Aw by Stacy Liu Clio Barnard by Nick Wall Richard Beard by Dru Marland Hannah Berry by Emily Gravett Alice Birch by Georgina Ower Carys Bray by Jonathan Bean Photography: beanphoto.co.uk Colette Bryce by Phyllis Christopher Jessie Burton by Alexander James Niall Campbell by Cara Forbes Lucy Christopher by Rolf Marriott Thomas A Clark by Lars Amund Vaage Gillian Cross by Carolyn Bieda www.saxonportraitstudio.co.uk Tim Crouch by Amelia Dowd Selma Dabbagh by Jonathan Ring Elizabeth Day (c) by Jenny Smith Photography Maura Dooley by Travis Elborough Stella Duffy by Gina Sprio Patricia Duncker by Anita Schiffer-Fuchs Suhayla El Bushra by Mi Elverson Inua Ellams by Franklyn Rodgers Diana Evans by Charlie Hopkinson Bernardine Evaristo by Marlon James Elaine Feinstein by Tim Bishop Alec Findlay by Alistair Peebles Frances Fyfield by Liz Mott Patrick Gale by Dan Hall Tina Gharavi by Martin Smith Rebecca Goss by Rosie Bennett Colin Grant by Cookie Kinkead

Xiaolu Guo by Philippe Ciompi Matt Haig by Clive Doyle Kerry Hudson by Nick Tucker Photography MJ Hyland by Rory Carnegie Liz Jensen by Les Kaner Anjali Joseph by Denyse Woods Kapka Kassabova by Marti Friedlander Mimi Khalvati by Caroline Forbes Olivia Laing by Johnny Ring Michael Laskey by Jemimah Kurfeld Jonathan Lee by Tanya Kernweiss Simone Lia by Dan Fone Rachel Lichtenstein by James Price Michael Longley by Kelvin Boyes Hannah Lowe by Martin Figura Carola Luther by Claire McNamee Helen Macdonald by Marzena Pogorzaly Rory MacLean by Nick Danziger Alison MacLeod by Halifax Headshots Photography Anjum Malik by Randulph Redlin Adam Marek by jayneodellphotography.co.uk Stephen May by Jonathan Ring Karen McCarthy Woolf by Renaissance One Roger McGough by Colin Clarke Molly McGrann by Colin Greenwood Melanie McGrath by Patricia Grey Jon McGregor by Dan Sinclair Catherine Merridale by Mary Bernard Deborah Moggach by Urszula Soltys

Brochure produced by me&him + word-design

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Neel Mukherjee by Nick Tucker Paul Muldoon by Pieter M. van Hattem Helena Nelson by Peter Everard Smith Bernard O’ Donoghue by James Connolly Catherine O’Flynn by John McQueen Mez Packer by Tricia Armitage Nii Ayikwei Parkes by Marrianne San Miguel​ Tim Pears by Rory Carnegie Pascale Petit by Kaido Vainomaa Katharine Quarmby by Tom Green Ross Raisin by Angus Muir Tanya Ronder by Jillian Edelstein Rachel Rooney by Hayley Madden Fiona Sampson by Mark Bassett Ann Sansom by Charlie Hedley Peter Sansom by Charlie Hedley Rachel Seiffert by Charlie Hopkinson Penelope Shuttle by Jemimah Kuhfeld Michael Symmons Roberts by Martin Bence Polly Thomas by Graham R Hardy Helen Tookey by Frances Kirk Rachel Trezise by Christoph Mülller Brian Turner by Kim Buchheit Emma Jane Unsworth by Darren Hall Cathi Unsworth by Fenris Oswin Elise Valmorbida by Geza Singer Christopher Wakling by Gita Gyorffy Christopher William Hill by Simon Annand

Arvon would like to thank the following for their generous support of our work: The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust The Garrick Charitable Trust The Barbara and Philip Denny Charitable Trust The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation The Finnis Scott Foundation John S Cohen Foundation

The Hollick Family Charitable Trust The Equitable Charitable Trust The Fagus Anstruther Memorial Trust The Eranda Foundation The Rayne Foundation The McGrath Trust

Arvon Friends, Angels, Trustees, our other major supporters, and those donors wishing to remain anonymous

The Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Scheme is generously supported by

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TERMS & CONDITIONS

In making a course booking, by phone or online, you agree to the following terms and conditions: Bookings All bookings must be accompanied by the appropriate deposit. For standard Arvon weeks the deposit is £150. You should not consider your booking as definite until we have confirmed it in writing or by email. The balance of your course fee is payable no later than six weeks before the course starts and we do not send reminders. Unpaid or late balances may be treated as a cancellation. If we do not receive your balance when it’s due, we reserve the right to offer the place to someone else.

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Travel insurance We cannot reimburse travel costs or other losses incurred by you in the event of cancellation by us or you. You are strongly advised to take out travel insurance to cover potential loss arising from cancellation or other eventuality affecting your booking, including course fees and travel costs. You should check that any policy you take meets your needs.

Cancellations Cancellations will be accepted up to six weeks before the course takes place. Your deposit will be returned less a £50 cancellation charge.

If a place is cancelled after this time, we will retain the full deposit of £150. For cancellations later than six weeks, we will do our best to find someone else to take your place and, if we succeed, the balance of your fee (less the deposit of £150) will be returned. If we cannot re-fill your place, we will retain the full fee.

Transfers At our discretion, you may be able to transfer your booking to another course at the same or another Arvon centre, subject to availability. We will normally accept transfers up to six weeks before the course takes place, and all of the fee paid will be allocated to the new course. If we receive a request to transfer a booking after this time, we will do so only if we have already received the full course fee from you and we are able to re-fill the place on the original course. If either of these conditions is not met, we regret we are unable to transfer the booking and will treat it as cancelled, retaining all of the fee paid. Please note that we can only transfer a booking to a course within the same year, and that once a booking is transferred, we are unable to offer any refunds for subsequent cancellation, or further transfers. We cannot accept transfers from week-long courses to any other type of course.

Changes to the programme Arvon reserves the right to make changes to the advertised programme and tutors. As we plan the Arvon programme in advance, changes will inevitably occur to some courses, and occasionally the original tutors are unavailable. We always endeavour to replace tutors with someone of similar experience, and to give you as much notice as possible. On very rare occasions we may need to cancel a course; in this case we will offer you an alternative course or return all of the fee paid. Please note that where we have to change tutors, you do not have additional rights of cancellation and our standard terms still apply. We cannot pay travel or other costs, which you may however be able to reclaim from your travel insurance policy, and our liability to you in all cases is limited to the course fee you have paid.

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Conduct Arvon courses rely on a level of tolerance and understanding of others and their creative work and we ask that you are thoughtful and respectful of other students. Arvon reserves the right to refuse a place and to exclude from a course any student who, in the opinion of the Centre Director, behaves in an abusive or disruptive manner or engages in any discriminatory conduct. No refund will be given if exclusion is made for these reasons.

Privacy and data By booking, you agree that we may collect and store personal information about you and your interactions with Arvon.

These include: your personal contact details; gender; details of your booking and course booking history, including any access and dietary needs you have told us about; records of payments (not including credit/debit cards numbers etc.); details of any grant applications, any correspondence and any other information we need to keep in order to administer

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your booking. All personal information is kept securely on electronic systems. We do not store payment card details.

We will use this information to communicate with you about your booking and we may, unless you tell us otherwise, communicate with you occasionally about our work and other courses and support for writers that we offer. We never share or sell information about our course participants with any third party, either in aggregate or in individual form.

Grants All grant applications must follow the guidelines on our grant application pack. Only UK residents are eligible for our general grants scheme and teachers’ grants are only available to those currently employed and practising as a teacher of English in a UK state primary or secondary school, or further education college.

Individuals are eligible for up to three grants in total but no more than one in any given year; each successive grant will be smaller than the last. It is a

requirement of the grant that a written report is completed within two weeks of the course. Other restrictions and conditions may apply to other grant schemes run by Arvon.

Under-18s Anyone under 18 wishing to book on one of the public open courses shown in this booklet must provide written consent from their parent or guardian at the time of booking. We do not accept bookings from anyone under 16. Please note that under18s may only book into single rooms. Parents should note that Arvon does not act in l oco parentis.

Loss Arvon cannot accept responsibility for any loss, damage or expense sustained by students as a result of an event or circumstance whether arising from natural cause, human agency, or beyond its control otherwise. Where Arvon is unable to provide a course place to you for any reason, our liability is limited to return of the fees paid.

Participation and access Arvon is committed to providing a supportive and welcoming environment to all. During a week’s stay, course participants should expect to take part in daily group workshops, one-to-one sessions with tutors, group readings and discussions.

You will also be expected to share in domestic duties with your group, such as preparing a meal and washing up, for which guidance is provided. Arvon staff provide some general support to all participants but not continuous care, and participants should be able to live independently. Depending on circumstances, we may be able to accommodate a personal care assistant. While we offer some accessible facilities, our centres do vary considerably and we regret we may not be able to accommodate some requirements. If you have specific needs, it is important that you discuss these with the centre prior to booking, to establish whether your needs can be met.

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Jun 8 – 13 Jun 8 – 13 Jun 15 – 20

144

8 34 48 9 61 80 1 10

TH 43 LB 71 TH 87 LB 44 TH 104 TB 127 LB 33 TH 45

35 11 12 56 13 49 2 36 14 37 50 51

TB LB TB TH TB LB TH LB TB LB TH TB

62 81 15

LB 105 TH 128 TH 50

Page

Centre

May 4 – 9 May 11 – 16 May 11 – 16 May 11 – 16 May 18 – 23 May 18 – 23 May 25 – 30 May 25 – 30 Jun 1 – 6 Jun 1 – 6 Jun 1 – 6 Jun 8 – 13

Fiction Poetry Non-Fiction Short Story Playwriting Friends’ Retreat Starting to Write Writing a Novel: Tutored Retreat Poetry Fiction: Work in Progress Starting to Write a Novel Young Adult Fiction Short Story Travel Writing Starting to Write Poetry Fiction: Work in Progress Starting to Write Poetry Life Writing Non-Fiction: Work in Progress Playwriting Retreat Fiction

No.

Apr 13 – 18 Apr 20 – 25 Apr 20 – 25 Apr 27 – May 2 Apr 27 – May 2 Apr 27 – May 2 May 4 – 9 May 4 – 9

Course title

Date

COURSE INDEX

72 46 47 97 48 88 34 73 49 74 89 90

Centre

Page

Writing for Children and Young Adults: Tutored Retreat Jun 22 – 27 Starting to Write Fiction Jun 22 – 27 Radio Drama Jun 22 – 27 Screenwriting: Adaptation Jun 29 – Jul 4 Starting to Write Jul 13 – 18 Fiction Jul 13 – 18 Poetry Jul 20 – 25 Experimental Fiction Jul 20 – 25 Poetry: Towards a Collection Jul 20 – 25 Starting to Write Non-Fiction Jul 27 – Aug 1 Fiction Jul 27 – Aug 1 Poetry Aug 3 – 8 Return to Writing Aug 3 – 8 Picture Books Aug 3 – 8 Television Drama Aug 10 – 15 Historical Novel Aug 10 – 15 Poetry Aug 10 – 15 Starting to Write a Play Aug 17 – 22 Starting to Write Aug 17 – 22 Starting to Write Fiction Aug 17 – 22 Retreat with Yoga Aug 24 – 22 Fiction: Work in Progress Aug 24 – 29 Starting to Write Poetry Aug 24 – 29 Screenwriting

No.

Course title

Date Jun 15 – 20

57

TB

98

16 63 64 3 17 38 18 39 52 19 40 20 58 65 21 41 66 4 22 82 23 42 67

LB TB TH TB LB TH TB LB TH LB TB TH TB LB TH LB TB LB TH TB TB TH LB

51 106 107 35 52 75 53 76 91 54 77 55 99 108 56 78 109 36 57 129 58 79 110

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146

Centre

Page

Nov 2 – 7

Starting to Write Poetry for Children Playwriting: Tutored Retreat Literary Thriller Poetry Comedy Writing Fiction: Work in Progress Radio Drama Songwriting Fiction: Work in Progress Poetry Life Writing Television: Continuing Drama Starting to Write Short Story Food Writing Poetry: Tutored Retreat Children’s Fiction Text and Image Crime Fiction Nature Writing Screenwriting: Short Films Theatre for Younger Audiences Starting to Write Fiction

No.

Aug 31 – Sep 5 Aug 31 – Sep 5 Aug 31 – Sep 5 Sep 7 – 12 Sep 7 – 12 Sep 7 – 12 Sep 14 – 19 Sep 14 – 19 Sep 14 – 19 Sep 21 – 26 Sep 21 – 26 Sep 28 – Oct 3 Sep 28 – Oct 3 Oct 5 – 10 Oct 5 – 10 Oct 5 – 10 Oct 12 – 17 Oct 12 – 17 Oct 12 – 17 Oct 19 – 24 Oct 19 – 24 Oct 19 – 24 Oct 26 – 31

Course title

Date

COURSE INDEX

5 59 68 24 43 75 25 69 76 26 44 53 70 6 27 77 45 60 78 28 54 71 72

TB LB TH LB TH TB TH LB TB LB TB TB TH LB TH TB LB TH TB TB LB TH TB

37 100 111 59 80 120 60 112 121 61 81 92 113 38 62 122 82 101 123 63 93 114 115

29

TB

64

Centre

Page

Radio Drama Retreat Fiction: Work in Progress Poetry: Work in Progress Improvisation for Writers Science Fiction History Writing Screenwriting: Tutored Retreat Nov 23 – 28 Starting to Write Nov 23 – 28 Writing a Novel Nov 23 – 28 Poetry and Experiment Nov 30 – Dec 5 Starting to Write a Novel

No.

Course title

Date Nov 2 – 7 Nov 2 – 7 Nov 9 – 14 Nov 9 – 14 Nov 9 – 14 Nov 16 – 21 Nov 16 – 21 Nov 16 – 21

73 83 30 46 79 31 55 74

TH LB TH TB LB LB TH TB

116 130 65 83 124 66 94 117

7 32 47 33

TH TB LB TH

39 67 84 68

If you received this brochure in the post and would like to help us save money by receiving it digitally, please email communications@arvon.org

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GIFT VOUCHERS

Do you have a friend with a flair for fiction? Or a relative who is harbouring a desire to pen poetry?

An Arvon Gift Voucher is an inspirational present. Arvon Gift Vouchers can be made up to any amount – perfect for a friendly nudge or a grand gesture.

Find out more at www.arvon.org/giftvouchers or call 0207 324 2554

ARVON GIFT VOUCHER

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STAY IN TOUCH, BECOME AN ARVON FRIEND “Despite the proliferation of arts retreats, writing courses, workshops and literary events in the UK, Arvon’s programme of residential courses remains the best for keen writers of all levels, in all disciplines. Arvon are peerless in their course design, the diversity of the teachers and students, their ability to move with the times and the special combination of rigour, peacefulness, camaraderie and privacy.”

—Bidisha, tutor “In the last week I’ve made more progress as a writer than in the last year as a whole and I’ve returned even more determined to improve and make space and time for writing.”—Wyl Menmuir, participant

“At Arvon, everyone is a writer.

Here writers teach writers... a place where no one need be embarrassed to love words or books, or by wanting very much to write better.”

—Maggie Gee, tutor

“It unlocked my mind and gave a new pulse to writing.

I discovered things flowing from my pen and sentence structures which must have lain dormant or unformed.”

—Roger Jefferies, participant

Stay inspired, get priority booking and help others discover the power of writing...

Arvon Friends are at the heart of what we do. As an Arvon Friend you’ll get priority booking for courses, regular e-newsletters with writing tips, the chance to attend the annual Friends’ Retreat, and invitations to selected events.

You can become an Arvon Friend from £30 per year.

“Arvon Friends is perfectly named – it’s how I feel towards Arvon. They’re a friend I’ve turned to at tricky, selfdoubting points in my writing life and I know they are there if I need them again for time, space and inspiration.” —Julie Mayhew, writer and Arvon Friend

To find out more, contact Meg Rumbelow: meg.rumbelow@arvon.org 020 7324 2558 www.arvon.org/ arvonfriends

Arvon’s residential creative writing courses are renowned for their potential to spark your imagination and transform your writing. Come to one of our beautiful rural houses in Shropshire, Devon or Yorkshire for a powerful mix of workshops and individual tutorials with highly respected authors. Choose from a wide range of genres. You’ll have time and space to write, and the support of your fellow writers. Grants are available to help with course fees.

“These are life-enhancing weeks. I’ve witnessed the most astonishing evolution in students’ writing and confidence over the period of just a handful of days, and as a tutor it’s a privilege to see people grow and flourish during the course, and to spend time with those who share a passion for artistic thinking, creative articulation and the written word.” —Simon Armitage “One of the most creative and enjoyable experiences I have ever had. I have never learnt so much in such a short time.” —Julie Robertson, participant “I leave with a writing toolbox full to bursting, a lung full of inspiration that I don’t want to breathe out, and a smile on my face.” —course participant www.arvon.org

2015 Arvon is a registered charity (Charity No. 306694) and a company limited by guarantee (registered in London No.1086582).

TIME AND SPACE TO WRITE

residential creative writing courses and retreats 2015