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Donate NowWriters' Weekend 2026
30th October to 1st November 2026
Back by popular demand!
Whether you’re confident in your writing and need advice, don’t know where to start or have simply hit a wall, this is the writing experience for you.
The weekend will help you to tell your stories - fiction or non-fiction - by covering particular themes in sessions throughout the weekend in a carefully curated programme.
With 7 events, including 3 workshops, a one-to-one with a leading literary agent, plus 3 bonus events included AND the opportunity to make the most of all the other events happening at the Festival around your sessions, this will be a wonderfully immersive experience for writers in the setting of a luxurious 4* riverside hotel.
We especially want to encourage writers whose work reflects their cultural diversity and/or lived experience. AND thanks to the generosity of the Amazon Literary Partnership, we are also delighted to be able to offer supported places for people in education, or on low income and in receipt of benefits.
Such an inspiring weekend of writers' workshops. I've come away from it with a newfound confidence as a 'writer'!
Attendee 2025
About the Tutors
Sarah Moss
Sarah writes novels, memoir, essays and literary journalism. Her books include Ghost Wall, Summerwater, and most recently Ripeness (TILA award 2025) and My Good Bright Wolf (Saltire Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2025). Her latest, The Winter Guest, is just out. She has been nominated for prizes including the Women’s Prize, the Wellcome Prize, the Polari Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and was made Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019. Sarah has a BA, M.St. and D.Phil from Oxford University and has taught and directed Creative Writing MA and MFA programmes at the universities of Exeter, Iceland, Warwick and University College Dublin. She also designed and teaches Granta’s Advanced Fiction course. Born in Scotland, she grew up in northern England and after moving around Britain and Europe, is now settled in Dublin.
Luigi Bonomi
Luigi has worked in publishing for over 40 years including being an editorial director at Penguin Books. He has been a fiction and non-fiction literary agent for 30 years and responsible for discovering and launching the careers of many bestselling authors. In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious title of Literary Agent of the Year. He loves discovering new writers and is very experienced in encouraging new talent - running competitions to find them and workshops at festivals including the Emirates Festival of Literature in Dubai and Cheltenham Literature Festival at Sea. He has edited, discovered and worked with many major authors including Peter James, Professor Alice Roberts, Professor Guy Leschziner, Fern Britton, Mensun Bound, Simon Scarrow, and Ben Miller.
The Weekend Programme
Friday 30th October
Arrival and Writing Weekend welcome supper at 7pm.
Saturday 31st October
9:30am-11.30am
Sarah Moss
In this session you'll work on narrative structure, pacing and especially the tricky business of endings, which is where the differences between fiction and non-fiction are especially telling. Sarah will approach in the spirit of serious play, using writing exercises relevant to but not part of your work in progress so the stakes are low and the thinking can be wild.
12pm Light Lunch
2.30pm-4.30pm
Sarah Moss
The focus and scale will change, and you'll be working and playing with sentences and paragraphs. Come prepared to go outside if the weather isn’t actively hostile, and please bring around one page of your work in progress in a form that can be shared with the group.
7pm Dinner
A chance to talk about the day with your fellow workshoppers.
Sunday 2nd November
10am-11.30am
Luigi Bonomi
How the industry works – from the agent to the editor to publication
The leading literary agent will show you how to approach those all important gatekeepers – the literary agents - and how to create the perfect pitch. He will show you what you can do to ensure your work gets the attention it deserves:
* how to make the most of your submission letter
* how to pitch your work so that it comes across as appealing
* how to grab their attention with that all-important first page that needs to immediately grab readers
He will also talk about the state of the industry, what editors are looking for and the dos and don’ts to get ahead.
For those writing non fiction, we will look at your pitch, chapter breakdowns and how you market yourself to the agents and then the editors.
12pm Light Lunch
12.30pm-2.30pm
Meet the Agent
Your personal 10 minute one-to-one meeting with Luigi where he will talk about your word and offer advice on how to progress from here.
2.30pm
Writing Weekend Farewell
BONUS EVENTS included with your ticket:
Friday 30th October
5pm - Joanne Harris Sleeper in the Snow
The bestselling author of Chocolat introduces her latest novel.
Saturday 31st October
1pm - Clare Clark and Roisin Maguire The Novel
Two acclaimed authors (Clare Clark: The Great Stink, The Nature of Monsters. Roisin Maguire: Nightswimmers) discuss their craft and how they create setting and plot.
5pm - Jeanette Nelson Voice
One of the UK's most respected theatre voice coaches (RSC, National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe to name but a few) talks about how she works with actors and the power of dialogue.
Writers’ Weekend Costs
Residential Place
Including two nights’ stay with breakfast and dinner on Friday and Saturday evening, light lunch on Saturday 31st October and Sunday 1st November and 3 workshop sessions, one-to-one with Luigi and 3 bonus events included
£670 per person
Non-Residential Place
Including dinner on Friday and Saturday evening, might lunch on Saturday 31st October and Sunday 1st November and 3 workshop sessions, one-to-one with Luigi and 3 bonus events included
£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 a 50% discount on 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, llight unch on Saturday 31st October and Sunday 1st November, 3 workshop sessions, one-to-one with Luigi and 3 bonus events included
£335 per person
Supported Non-Residential Place
Including dinner on Friday and Saturday evening, light lunch on Saturday 31st October and Sunday 1st November, and 3 workshop sessions, one-to-one with Luigi and 3 bonus events included
£200 per person
How to Book
Email us HERE and we will process your booking.
Please advise 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.
With thanks to the Amazon Literary Partnership for its support