Workshops
WORKSHOP LEADER
Vicky Grut (all workshops) is the recipient of many short fiction awards, including the 2009 Asham Award (finalist), the 2007 Fish One Page Prize (finalist) and the 2006 Chapter One International Short Story Prize (winner). Her stories have appeared in magazines and collections including Random Factor (Pulp Books, 1997), Reshape Whilst Damp (Serpent’s Tail, 2000), Valentine’s Day: Stories of Revenge (Duckworth, 2000), two volumes of the British Council anthology New Writing 13 (Picador, 2005) and NW14 (Granta, 2006), and Waving at the Gardener (Bloomsbury, 2009). She is a reader for the Literary Consultancy and has taught for Birkbeck College, the Open University, the Arvon Foundation and London’s South Bank University.
GUEST SPEAKERS:
October 23: Francesca Main is commissioning editor for fiction at Simon & Schuster. She previously worked at Hamish Hamilton and Penguin.
November 14: Bernardine Evaristo’s six books include a novella Hello Mum (Penguin 2010); Lara, a verse-novel about her family history (Bloodaxe 2009); a semi-satirical prose novel Blonde Roots, in which Africans enslave Europeans (Penguin 2008), a prose novel-with-verse Soul Tourists (Penguin 2005), and a verse-novel The Emperor’s Babe, set in Roman London (Penguin 2001). She is a literary critic, editor of anthologies, has written for the stage and radio and taught creative writing in the UK and while on over 70 international writer’s tours, residencies and visiting professorships since 1997. She is currently a visiting tutor at Goldsmith’s College, a mentor for the Arvon/Jerwood Foundations, and a Creative Writing Fellow at Oxford Brookes University. She has received and judged several awards, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts, and she received an MBE for services to literature in 2009. www.bevaristo.wordpress.com
WORKSHOPS FOR 2010-11
3 July + 3 half-day follow-ups: Sat 4 Sept, 16 Oct, 20 November
THE NOVELISTS’ CLUB 3 [Course in progress]
With Vicky Grut
Saturday 9 October and Saturday 23 October, both days 10.30am – 4pm
‘TELL ME A STORY!’ The Craft of Narrative
Vicky Grut, with Guest Speaker (Sat 23) Francesca Main of Simon & Schuster
We all know a cracking tale when we hear one, but what is it about certain stories that make them so compelling? This workshop is an opportunity for fiction writers to roll up their sleeves and get to grips with the nuts and bolts of the story-teller’s craft. Day One will be a mix of discussion and practical writing exercises. We’ll experiment with some classic story shapes and generate ideas and inspiration for a new piece of work. There’ll be a gap of two weeks during which everyone can go away and write a 500-word story, then we’ll reconvene to hear and discuss the results. The course ends with a talk by fiction editor Francesca Main of Simon & Schuster, an opportunity hear the views of an industry insider.
Cost: including tea, coffee and a sandwich lunch on both days, £160
Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 November, both days 10.30am – 4pm
WRITING PEOPLE AND PLACES
Vicky Grut, with Guest Speaker (Sun 14) Bernardine Evaristo
Great characters are at the heart of all memorable works of fiction, and those characters don’t exist in a vacuum. Fictional settings can be a way of illuminating aspects of a personality, or they can be the drivers for the story itself. Over the course of this two-day workshop, we’ll create new fictional characters and explore the effects of moving these people through a variety of locations and situations. Where has your character come from? Where are they happy? Where do they feel threatened or out of place? Along the way we’ll look at some effective techniques for revealing character, as well as ways of creating a vivid sense of place. On Sunday we’ll have an opportunity to talk to novelist and poet Bernardine Evaristo whose work includes The Emperor’s Babe, an exuberant re-imagining of Roman London, and Hello Mum, a very contemporary glimpse of life in London from the perspective of a teenager.
Participants are encouraged to read Bernardine’s work in advance. To buy a copy of Hello Mum (£2,Penguin Quick Read 2010) click here. To buy a copy of Lara (Bloodaxe Books 2009) click here.
Cost: including tea, coffee and a sandwich lunch on both days, £160.
5 Feb 2011 + half day follow-up meetings in 12 March, 30 April, 10 June 2011
THE 2011 NOVELISTS’ CLUB
With Vicky Grut
This course is for people who are already working on a novel. It provides a supportive framework for critiquing outlines and draft scenes, as well as a structure within which to generate some new work. We’ll begin with a one-day workshop focusing on characterisation and story structure, and in preparation for this I’ll ask everyone to send me the opening 30 pages and a synopsis.
After the first workshop we meet for three further follow-up sessions of three hours each, at five to six week intervals. The aim is not to complete a novel in this time but to refine and clarify the overall plan for each book in a supportive environment. The workshops depend on mutual feedback so there will be a certain amount of reading in advance of each workshop. I provide everyone with notes and short written feedback at every meeting.
Cost: £295, which includes lunch at the February workshop. Please E-mail me now if you have any questions or if you’d like to go on the list for this course.
COSTS FOR WORKSHOPS IN 2010-11:
- A two-day or weekend workshop is £160, which includes tea, coffee & a sandwich lunch
- The 2011 Novelists Club is £295 (cheque payments only – please e-mail first)
HOW TO BOOK:
For more information or to book for any one of these workshops, e-mail Vicky at londonwritingworkshops@googlemail.com; or call 020-87690290.
Or to pay with a credit or debit card or by paypal go to the Bookings Page
VENUE:
Upstairs at The Rugby Tavern, 19 Great James Street, London WC1N 3ES; 8 mins walk from either Holborn or Russell Square tube stations.
