Our workshop authors clearly have a gift - of words, ideas & inspiration. Come and be inspired yourself and take that first step to that first page.    All workshops are 2 hours - please bring pen & paper with you.
Remember to book early for all Workshops as places are very limited!

Brian Banks                                                        Creative Writing Workshop


One Thousand Months           by Brian Banks

One thousand months, give or take, is what we get on this planet.   One thousand months.   We spend a few hundred of them as children and a third of them in the land of dreams, leaving perhaps just four hundred months to explore this world before the thousand months is up and our adventures end.
Yet some of us try to cheat the universal stopwatch and steal more time through our writing.   If we get the right story and put it on a page in the right way, our lives continue in the minds of others.   Our words are the bones of souls, and they come alive at the turn of a page.  

Brian is a lecturer, writer and resounding scoundrel.  His workshops are renowned for their humour and  capacity to inspire others to write.  Whether you're a beginner or an old hand, come along, lift your pen, and live forever. 

​ Brian's workshop: 10am Saturday 12th November  upstairs in Truly Scrumptious  £10

Anna Saunders                                                       Poetry Workshop


Anna Saunders   is a published poet, the author of  Communion ,  Struck,  Kissing the She Bear and newly launched  Burne Jones and The Fox. 
Anna is also the Executive Director and founder of Cheltenham Poetry Festival and works as a creative writing tutor and mentor, a Communications Specialist, a journalist, broadcaster and a copywriter/editor.
​Anna has been described as a ‘poet of quite remarkable gifts’ by Bernard O’Donoghue and Struck  described as ‘a very fine, beautifully sustained collection by a gifted poet whose work is unfolding in remarkable directions’ by Nick Drake.
​"One of the jokes about Poetry is that more people write poetry than actually read it. We  need more readers and listeners but the fact that people are writing it is also a good sign.
The growth of performance poetry, slams and the links to rap, the dominant musical culture of the 21st century, have also brought verse and the spoken word to the fore."
As well as doing readings, Anna runs many workshops with young people who might be vulnerable or at risk of falling into criminality.
“The youngsters are great. Because they’re into rap they get into the spoken word and they’re happy to write their own verse which really helps them. One said to me that now if they’re troubled, they might write something instead of rolling a joint.
Performance poetry has changed perceptions of the whole art form. People might think it’s highbrow, that it’s not relevant, but it’s as diverse as music. Along with hip-hop and spoken word,  this has encouraged some people to explore page poetry, perhaps the more serious work. They then see that it can speak to, and for, everybody."   
Anna will be reading some of her poetry at 11.30am Sat 12th Nov in St Nicholas Church, West Looe quayside
​Anna's Poetry workshop:  4pm Saturday 12th November  upstairs in the Black Swan    £10                                                  

Emma Timpany                                                 Creative Writing Workshop

Emma was born and grew up in the far south of New Zealand but currently lives in Cornwall.  She usually writes about imaginary characters but has also written a series of short stories based on the life of the New Zealand born modernist short story writer Katherine Mansfield who once lived in Looe. 
Her publications are  Over the Dam  (Red Squirrel Press, 2015) and  The Lost of   Syros  (Cultured Llama Publishing, 2015).  Her short-stories have won 3 awards  and been published in literary journals in England, New Zealand and Australia. 

Hello, Stranger
How do we write about people, whether real or imaginary?
Character is a vital element of all stories. In this workshop we’ll explore what makes a memorable character and the ways in which flaws and complexity make characters interesting and realistic. We’ll then examine two different approaches used by writers to introduce a character before creating our own.
This workshop is suitable for beginners as well as those with some experience.   
                                                                              Emma's workshop:  10.30am  Sunday 13th November, upstairs in Truly Scrumptious  £10
                                                                              Emma will also read some of her short stories Sun 13th Nov 4pm in the Black Swan   Free

Douglas Bence                                                       Creative Writing Workshop

Douglas has lived in Cornwall for over 25 years. He's had a long career in journalism working for national newspapers  as well as teaching at Truro College & still teaches part-time at Cornwall College and the WEA. He has had 3 books published & is currently working on a fourth.

Winnie-The-Pooh in Looe
"Most of us come across A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh at sometime in our lives, as children, parents or grandparents.
So we all know that Pooh is a Bear of Very Little Brain addicted to honey.
We also know something about his friends in the forest: Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Tigger, Kanga and Roo.
But A.A. Milne doesn’t indulge in long, detailed character descriptions. We know about Pooh and his friends only through what they do and say, helped along by Ernest Shepard’s wonderful drawings."

This fun, but challenging two-hour workshop invites you to
do the same, that is describe characters by speech and action alone.
Are you sitting comfortably - you won’t be for long:

Douglas's workshop: 5pm Sunday 13th November upstairs in the Black Swan  £10