I’m always delighted to give lectures and workshops and to tutor individuals of all ages and levels of experience. I teach both in person and online. To enquire about my availability, simply contact me here.
I’ve delivered creative writing workshops and lectures since 2013 to a variety of audiences: from secondary-school pupils to university BA and MA classes, and from adult education groups to fellow authors. I also teach online on a one-to-one basis.
Examples of topics I’ve taught:
- Full course on the elements of writing, including: story structure; opening lines ; characterisation; sense of place; point of view; dialogue; the effect of tenses
- Balancing vital dimensions of writing: the imaginative vs the critical; free-flowing creativity vs structure
- How to draw inspiration from other arts (painting, music, photography, collectables, etc.) and add emotional resonance to your writing. *
* These sessions have grown out of my specialist area of research during the MA at Goldsmiths: namely, the uses of art and artefacts for narrative purposes.
Guest-lectures and workshops include:
- De Montfort University: ‘Building a portfolio of activities as a writer’ and ‘Writing craft and editing’ (2023)
- Rosenburg Writers: a series of masterclasses on the elements of writing craft, for the Literaturhaus Zentralschweiz (‘lit.z’) in 2022 and 2023 (see blog post here; to book, head over to the lit.z website here)
- Writing retreat in Flüeli-Ranft: an intensive 6-day residential course (2022) (see report here; check out future retreats here)
- De Montfort University: ‘Writing craft and editing’ (2022)
- De Montfort University: ‘Sense of place’ (2021)
- Middlesex University: ‘Building a writer’s portfolio of activities’ (2020)
- Middlesex University: ‘Artefacts in creative writing’ (2019)
- National Association of Writers in Education: ‘Art and artefacts in creative writing’ (2018)
- St Paul’s Girls’ School: ‘Using photographs for creative writing’ (2017)
- National Association of Writers in Education: ‘Music in creative writing’ (2016)
- Libraries Adult Learning, Boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham: ‘Music in creative writing’ (2016)
- Libraries Adult Learning, Boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham: ‘The narrative possibilities of photographs’ (2013 & 2014).
On my blog you’ll find posts about various aspects of creative writing, such as:
- What can writers learn from a composer?
- Lightness of thoughtfulness: why aspire to it?
- Why a dramatic monologue for ‘That Summer in Puglia’?
If you require (1) workshops for your university, school or writing group, (2) individual tuition or (3) writing retreats, feel free to contact me here.
Click on this page to see details of my upcoming writing retreat.
Image credits:
Writing by Green Chameleon. Reproduced under CC licence via Unsplash.
Reading by rawpixel.com. Reproduced under CC licence via Unsplash.
Announcement of Creative Writing Workshop: The Narrative Possibilities of Photographs from the The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea website.
Announcement of Music in Creative Writing workshop, and front cover of The Kensington Magazine, from The Kensington Magazine, May 2016.
Images of NAWE2016 and NAWE2018 conference programmes from NAWE website.
Valeria Vescina 