Writers' Weekend

About the Tutors

Caroline Lea
Caroline is a fiction writer, teacher and writing mentor. Her novel, Love, Sex & Frankenstein, was published this year. Her fiction and poetry have been longlisted for the BBC Short Story Prize and Sunday Times Short Story Award, and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the Fish Short Story Competition and various flash fiction prizes. Her novel, The Glass Woman, was published to critical acclaim and shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown. The Metal Heart was Scottish Waterstones Book of the Month. Her most recent novel, Prize Women, was featured and acclaimed on Radio 4’s Woman's Hour. Her time loop love story, The Thousand Deaths of Romeo and Juliet, has just been bought in a flurry of auctions and pre-empts by imprints of HarperCollins in the UK, US and Brazil, as well as by publishers in Spain and Italy. It will be published in spring 2027 under the pen name Caroline Finch. Passionate about
helping other writers to grow and succeed, she has taught creative writing at the University of Warwick and has run courses for Writing West Midlands.

Phoebe Morgan
Phoebe is an author and Hodder & Stoughton Commercial Fiction Publishing Director. Her psychological thrillers, The Doll House, The Girl Next Door and The Babysitter are out now with HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins. Her fourth, The Wild Girls, was published in April 2021 and her books have sold over 150,000 copies and been translated into nine languages.

John-Paul Kunrunmi
John-Paul is an award-winning content creator and marketing/public relations officer with an interest in the arts - TV, film, theatre and literature. He’s worked on social campaigns worked with BBC, Thameslink, Penguin Random House, Faber & Faber and more. A writer and poet, he’s an alumni of the New Writers Programme and featured in Tate Late Night's exhibition in 2024.

Darren Hardy
With over 30 years of book industry experience, Darren has worked in a variety of roles including retail, marketing and publishing. He has worked at Amazon for 20 years and his current role includes managing author community relationships for Kindle Direct Publishing across UK and Europe. Darren’s team also work with literary agents and help manage the Amazon Literary Partnership, which provides grants to non-profits fostering a love of writing across communities in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Joe McLaren
A freelance illustrator, specialising in book illustration. Joe graduated from BA Illustration at the University of Brighton in 2003, and since then has produced artwork for Penguin Random House, Hachette, PanMacmillan, Faber, Thames & Hudson, Pushkin and many others, as well teaching Foundation Illustration for a spell at Central St. Martins. He designed the cover for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel James by Percival Everett.

The Weekend Programme

Friday 31st October
Arrival and Writing Weekend welcome supper

Saturday 1st November
9:30am-12pm
Caroline Lea
Creating Compelling Characters and Dialogue
This session will look at character development and the interaction between your characters, and help you to draw authentic protagonists and communication between them. Ideal whether you have started your work or need help to get off the starting blocks. Within each workshop session, there will be time to talk about effective openings and endings and approaches to plotting your novel or story. There will, of course, be space for you to ask questions about any aspect of writing.

12:30pm-1.30pm
John-Paul Kuniunmi
Social Media for Authors (Optional)
A workshop designed for anyone wanting how to promote themselves on social media! Whether you’re an author, aspiring content creator or someone loves to share their thoughts, this workshop will be for you. We’ll cover TikTok, Instagram and a bit of X, and I’ll be going over best video practices, how to use the algorithm to your advantage and ways to make your content stand out. Pick up tips and tricks such as editing best practices, equipment recommendations for people looking to take their content to the next level, and how to make sure your captions are catchy and maximised. There will be brainstorming opportunities, learning how to create a script for your videos and other things to help get started on the journey.

2.30pm-4.30pm
Caroline Lea
Researching your Ideas and Crafting Atmospheric Settings.
Whatever your chosen genre, this session is aimed at helping you to tackle research and create compelling settings. You’ll look through examples of writing that work well and explore how you can apply similar techniques to improve your own writing. There will, of course, be space for you to ask questions about any aspect of writing.

5pm-6.40pm
Phoebe Morgan
Meet the Editor
Your chance to have a personal ten-minute session with the Hodder & Stoughton commercial fiction editor to talk about and get advice on your story and your particular writing challenges.

Sunday 2 November
10am-12pm
Phoebe Morgan
Getting that Hook – Crafting Your Elevator Pitch
In this interactive session, Phoebe will show you how to craft an elevator pitch for your novel that will catch the attention of agents and editors, and discuss the steps to take if you’re aiming for a traditional publishing deal.

12:30pm-1.30pm
Darren Hardy
Self-Publishing Workshop (Optional)
Increasingly authors are taking control of publishing their work themselves and with huge success. But where do you begin and how do you do it effectively? Darren has over 30 years' experience in publishing, 20 of which with Amazon and will show you how self-publishing works and walk you through the Kindle Direct Publishing process and give you top tips on how you can engage readers on Amazon. He’ll also share case studies of some author success stories

2.30pm-3:30pm
Joe McLaren and Phoebe Morgan
Judging a Book by its Cover (Optional)
Readers make instant decisions about whether they feel a book is for them. A cover needs to express immediately the genre, whether it’s light or literary and so much more. Discover the conversations that go on behind this critically important publishing decision from the point of view of an editor and a book jacket designer.

3.30pm
Writing Weekend Farewell

Writers’ Weekend Cost

Residential Place
Including two nights’ stay with breakfast and dinner on Friday and Saturday evening, two course lunch on Saturday 1 November and 7 workshop sessions
£670 per person

Non-Residential Place
Including dinner on Friday and Saturday evening, two course lunch on Saturday 1 November and 7 workshop sessions
£400 per person

Supported Places

We want to ensure that the opportunity to learn the craft of creative writing is within the reach of everyone, regardless of your financial circumstances.

Thanks to the support by the Amazon Literary Partnership, we would like to offer 3 residential and 3 non-residential places to writers from the following groups.

• Students

• People on income support

• The unwaged

Supported Residential Place
Including arrival dinner, two nights’ stay with breakfast and dinner on Friday and Saturday evening, 7 workshop sessions
£335 per person

Supported Non-Residential Place
Including dinner on Friday and Saturday evening and 7 workshop sessions
£200 per person

How to Book

Email us HERE and we will process your booking.

Please advise whether if you are booking a residential or non-residential place. If applying for a supported place, please supply a scan of a valid student card or letter from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) that confirms you are in receipt of benefits.

Once payment has been received, we will send you confirmation of your booking.