The value of creative writing retreats and writer’s awards

Thursday 26th May 2022 11:00-12:30 | Online (zoom)

Rachel Humphries and Mary Morris

Moderated by Karítas Hrundar Pálsdóttir

Rachel and Mary discuss the value of their creative writing retreats and residential courses, and how incorporating an online programme has reached writers that otherwise would not have access to retreats. Rachel also discusses the Bridge Awards Emerging Writer prize and the value it has for writers. What careers might centres such as Moniack and Arvon offer Creative and Critical Writing researchers? And what pedagogical considerations are taken into account for the workshops/retreats/courses they offer?

Rachel Humphries has been the centre director at Moniack Mhor for ten years and works closely with the Bridge Awards to support emerging writers. During her time at Moniack, she has gained regular funding from Creative Scotland, instigated the garden project, the construction of the Straw Bale studio and the move to independence. Outside work, Rachel can be found herding goats on her croft, creating pottery or crafting scenarios for her role-playing group.

Mary Morris is the artistic director and director at Arvon's Totleigh Barton. Mary began her editorial career at Bloomsbury Publishing in 2003 and went on to manage the general list at Gerald Duckworth, publishing both fiction and non-fiction. She later moved to the British Museum Press, where she developed exhibition titles, and finally to Faber & Faber, where she worked as a fiction editor for four years before moving to Devon to work for Arvon art Totleigh Barton. What interests her about creative writing is the transformative power of self-expression.

Karítas Hrundar Pálsdóttir is a Creative-Critical PhD student at the University of East Anglia. Her research explores the phenomenon of reentry, that is sojourners’ experience of returning home after a period of living abroad. Karítas is the author of the book Árstíðir – sögur á einföldu máli (Seasons – Stories in Easy Language), a flash-fiction collection composed of 101 stories intended for adult learners of Icelandic as a second language, which was published by Una útgáfuhús in January 2020.

Series Overview

Creative writers teach in schools, universities and the community, on retreats, in theatres and in workshops. Teaching is often a key part of a writer’s career, and there are rich possibilities creative arts education across a huge range of contexts. But how do you teach creative writing? Can you? How can the field be made more accessible? This series offers anyone considering teaching creative writing as part of their career development the opportunity to look in detail at the theory and practice of creative writing pedagogy in a variety of institutional and community settings.

Following on from last year, the series will address the historical principles and contemporary critiques of creative writing pedagogy, and how these are responding to wider institutional and societal developments. It will consider in detail the theory and practice of employing these pedagogical skills both within and outside higher education. Attendees will be invited to reflect on future possibilities and challenges for the development of creative writing teaching, enabling a deeper awareness and knowledge of creative writing as a subject of study, a future career, and a creative practice.

Students are not expected to attend all the sessions, but the series has been designed to allow for an arc of learning from theoretical principles to practical engagement.

The sessions will take place online via Zoom, once a month for the 2021/22 academic year.