Zadie Smith thinks of reading as a balanced diet, recommending that if our sentences are too baggy or too elaborate, we cut back on ‘fatty’ writers and pick up Kafka, ‘as roughage’. As readers we need to cultivate a certain rigour and attention so that we get the most out of a text. As writers, we need to curate our reading habits to feed our writing practice. This course is aimed at readers wanting to broaden and deepen their reading habits and is ideal for writers at any stage of their writing life, writing in any genre.
Together, we will look at extracts from texts by writers ranging from Anton Chekhov to Warsan Shire. We will consider what we can learn from short story writers, novelists, playwrights and poets as well as non-fiction writers. With guided writing exercises you will explore how you might use their techniques to enhance your own writing. There will be opportunities to share writing generated by these exercises and of course, you will leave with plenty of further reading recommendations!
Hannah Vincent is a novelist, short story writer and an award-winning playwright.
Arrival Day - this is the first date listed above
Courses start early evening. Residential students to arrive from 4pm, non-residential students to arrive by 6.45pm.
6.45pm: Welcome, followed by dinner (included).
8 - 9pm: First teaching session, attendance is essential.
Daily timetable
Classes 9.15 - 5pm, lunch is included.
From 6.30pm: Dinner (included for residential students).
Evening working - students may have access to workshops until 9pm, but only with their tutor's permission and provided any health and safety guidelines are observed.
Last day
Classes 9.15am - 3pm, lunch is included.
Residential students are to vacate their rooms by 10am please.
(This timetable is for courses of more than one day in length. The tutor may make slight variations)
Included
- On this course the tutor will supply all materials.
What students need to bring
Additional information
Please wear appropriate clothing/aprons for the workshop or studio, this includes stout covered footwear (no sandals or open toes).
