There are workshops galore at the Lit Up Festival this year, at the Treasure House in Beverley, with opportunities to dive into a new forms, explore mindfulness and discover how your experiences could form the kernel of a blockbusting page-turner.
They say you should write what you know, and this year’s festival brings two differing workshops with variations on how your personal experiences can generate invaluable – and unique – inspiration.
On Wednesday, 4 October, writer and broadcaster Ian Clayton will be using a range of writing exercises to unlock the stories we all carry inside us, aiming to inspire literary novices and experienced writers alike.
Daily Mail, Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph writer and journalist Clover Stroud hosts Write Your Life on Thursday, 5 October, drawing on her experience of writing her remarkable memoir, The Wild Other.
Wherever you are on the writing journey, Clover will help you shape how you arrived there and what steps to take next.
For those who fancy tackling something a little more high-octane, Louise Welsh, Orange Prize for Fiction-nominated author of The Cutting Room, will be hosting a breakneck workshop exploring place, style, characterisation and pace on Thursday, 5 October. Entitled Everything I Know About Writing in Two Hours (plus an hour for writing), it’s fast-paced, challenging and seat-of-the-pants inspiring – if you can cling on.
On hand to lend a calmer bent is writer and psychotherapeutic counsellor, Kate Evans. Hot on the heels of her sold-out 2016 workshop, she’s returning this year to explore Writing for Wellbeing: Listening to the Body on Thursday, 19 October.
This experiential workshop invites participants to explore aspects of creative writing through gentle facilitated exercises, particularly oriented towards people who are working or volunteering in health settings.
Along a similar theme, writer and musician Tom George also joins us on 19 October to use the insights of mindfulness to unlock the creative process.
Focusing on Mindfulness and Writing, he’ll be incorporating meditation, examination of natural forms, a range of writing exercises and discussion to explore creativity in a non-judgmental and nurturing atmosphere.
For those interested in writing young adult fiction, frequently shortlisted and highly commended novelist Kerry Drewery will be on hand with pointers and suggestions with her Creating Worlds workshop on Saturday, 21 October.
With the explosion of young-adult fiction over the past decade, it’s an increasingly popular genre; but where do you start? And how does the craft differ from more ‘traditional’ children’s literature?
Kerry joins us to share her strategies for crafting authentic, relatable teen characters, from corner shops and bus stops to faraway fantasy worlds.
The extensive workshop programme culminates on Saturday, 21 October with local bestselling author, Louise Beech.
From her debut novel, How to be Brave to her latest release, Maria in the Moon, Louise is renown for creating characters that inspire compassion in the reader – but how? Explore how to reach out to your readers, warm their hearts, and infuse your writing with just that little pinch of cockle-warming magic.
To book your tickets for all workshops, please call the Lit Up Box Office on 01482 392 699. Numbers are extremely limited.
Full details are at www.litup.org.uk
