Award-winning authors and poets will be leading creative writing courses throughout this year’s Beverley Literature Festival.
Over the weekend of October 3 and 4, award-winning poet Colette Bryce and celebrated author Mavis Cheek will be leading a two-day intensive creative writing weekend masterclass to help writers of both prose fiction and poetry explore different techniques and approaches to improve their writing skills.
Bryce is a former editor of Poetry London magazine and her most recent collection, The Whole & Rain-domed Universe (Picador) was shortlisted for the Forward, Costa and Roehampton poetry awards in 2014.
She is also an experienced tutor for the UK’s leading creative writing organisation, the Arvon Foundation, The Poetry Society and Newcastle University.
Cheek is the author of 15 novels. Pause Between Acts won the She/John Menzies First Novel prize in 1988 and she has served on both PEN and The Society of Authors committees and was the judge of the McKitterick Prize for Fiction for three years.
She is a Fellow of MacDowell Colony, USA and has been the Royal Literature Fund Fellow at both Chichester University and the University of Reading. She also tutors at the Arvon Foundation.
Also joining the festival on Saturday, 3 October is Chris Monks, artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, who will be leading a workshop on Adaptation at the East Riding Theatre.
On Friday, 9 October, another award-winning author Ross Raisin will lead two workshops on Process and Dialogue which will be held at The Treasure House while flash fiction writer Calum Kerr will be introducing the art of ultra-short story writing in his workshop, The World in a Flash at East Riding Theatre.
Festival director Dorcas Taylor said: “Our creative writing workshops are always very popular and often sell out quickly.
“This is because we have many keen and dedicated writers in the East Riding and also because people recognise our events are of a very high standard. We always seek out the very best writers in their fields to lead workshops at the festival.”
Tickets for all creative writing events are available by calling (01482) 392699.
An early bird discount is available for the creative writing weekend masterclass if booked by Friday, 11 September.
