Childcare will be provided for writers' retreats Moniack Mhor announces as part of its latest programme of courses
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The Highland writing centre Moniack Mhor has announced it is including retreats for writers with childcare needs, as it reveals its programme of courses for July onwards.
Moniack Mhor is tackling access issues for writers with caring responsibilities by providing childcare support for writers based in Scotland.
Following a successful pilot short course with childcare provided in July 2019, the centre decided to offer a retreat with childcare to mid-career and established writers.
The first one will take place in August and is aimed at professional writers and the second one will be in October, with tuition focusing on supporting emerging writers.
With the support of Creative Scotland, Moniack Mhor will provide undisturbed time for writers, while their children will be spending their days with the nearby Abriachan Forest Trust.
They support lots of outdoor play and learning for all ages and stages. Days may be spent discovering woodland animals or pond dipping, perhaps looking for minibeasts or flower fairies and building houses.
At other times, games will be played which might finish with some campfire cookery and storytelling deep in the woods.
Most of the day will be spent outside but there are indoor spaces available too.
Places on the courses with childcare will be allocated on an application-only basis.
Rachel Humphries, centre director, says: “For years now, we have been striving to make Moniack Mhor accessible to writers with caring responsibilities.
"Given the situation around the Covid pandemic, developing our plans has been significantly hampered over the last two years, however this Radical Care development funded by Creative Scotland is an incredible opportunity for us as an organisation, but even more so for writers based in Scotland.
"I would urge any writer who struggles to carve time out for their work from all their other responsibilities in life to apply for this unique project.”
Moniack Mhor says it is excited to announce new courses with a selection of fiction, non-fiction and poetry writing courses and retreats.
Scotland’s national writers’ centre will welcome writing tutors including: Vesna Goldworthy, internationally acclaimed writers Gillian Slovo, Kamila Shamsie and Jenny Brown, founder of the leading Scottish literary agency Jenny Brown Associates, plus award-winning author and journalist Chitra Ramaswamy, Saltire award-winning author Peter Ross, successful Scottish musician Kenny Anderson (King Creosote) and award-winning singer-songwriter Emily Barker, and the poet Jen Hadfield, recently shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize.
The programme includes extra retreats, offering more space and time for writers to start, continue or finish their projects in the peaceful scenery of the Highlands.
A new addition to the programme is a gothic fiction writing course, supporting in developing atmosphere, setting, and methods of creating tension in work.
The centre will also be offering an eco poetics course in late November, which explores ideas of home, where human meets wild, and the wild in us. Writers will invited to take part in stimulating exercises and feedback sessions, with the company of moles, mountains and red kites.
Some highlights of the August-December programme are:
Essay/non-fiction course: Peter Ross and Tabitha Lasley will guide you through the rich and broad literary form that is the essay, by covering a range of techniques and issues. With guest Gavin Francis.
Life Writing: Richard Skinner and Vesna Goldsworthy will lead a course dedicated to the many and diverse ways you can write about your life or other peoples. With guest Rupert Thomson.
Gothic Fiction: CJ Cooke and Natasha Pulley will support writers in developing atmosphere, setting, and methods of creating tension in their gothic fiction writing. With guest Andrew Michael Hurley.
Songwriting with Kenny Anderson (King Creosote); Emily Barker with guest Emma Pollock (The Delgados).
Eco Poetics: Jen Hadfield and James Goodman will explore ideas of home, where human meets wild, and the wild in us, poetic strategies for processing loss and fear, and universal and overwhelming experience. With guest Goodman Press.
For details on the childcare provided writers' retreats, check the website, email newsletter and social media updates in the coming months for information about the application process.
For more information, please email Pauline at radicalcare@moniackmhor.org.uk
Bookings for courses can be made on the Moniack Mhor website: moniackmhor.org.uk
For the full list of residential courses for August to December 2022 see https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/courses/
