Blogs about Arvon

Blogs from course participants

Sophie Malik attended a Starting to Write course at The Hurst in 2012 with tutors Kate Long and Simon Thirsk, and blogged about her experience.

Out there, nestled in the Shropshire hills, cut off from cell phones and wi-fi, surrounded by literary goodness and the warmth of friends and mentors – it really felt that we could conquer the world and had stories worth telling

Emylia Hall attended a Novel Writing course at Totleigh Barton in November 2008. Her debut novel The Book of Summers was published by Headline in March 2012.

On the very first day our tutor Louise said, ‘This week you’re going to walk the walk. You’re all writers.’ And for the first time I actually felt like one

Sarah Butler started her novel on an Advanced Fiction course at The Hurst in 2007. She tells us about writing that novel, keeping going and eventually getting published.

I remember sitting in the studio during a workshop and suddenly knowing what my next novel was. Within two hours I had a plot and two characters I couldn’t wait to write about

Katie Green has attended two graphic novel courses, first in 2006 upon receiving a grant. She was a guest tutor on last year's Graphic Novel course at The Hurst.

I've never experienced anything like the focused, creative atmosphere of the two Arvon courses I've attended

Maurenn Lynas has blogged about the Writing For Children course she attended at Lumb Bank in 2010.

I succumbed to ‘Writer’s Euphoria’ in the presence of seventeen other children’s authors

Sophia Chrisafis attended a Screenwriting course at The Hurst in November 2011, tutored by Joanne Hogg and Neil Hunter.

So precise and engaging was the teaching that I can safely say I will never look at film in the same way

Blogs from course tutors

Katie Ward, author of Girl Reading.

I felt that these were my people, that I was with my tribe.

Linda Newbery, author of fiction for children and teenagers

The measure of a good course, I think, is when the tutors feel redundant by the end, as the students are doing so much work-swapping among themselves

Celia Rees is the author of seventeen books for young adults

A week away on an Arvon course seems to free the spirit and untie the knots

Jenny Alexander, author of children's books

You can learn an amazing amount in a single focused week, away from the work and worries of everyday life; you can enjoy conversations about writing with people who feel as passionately about it as you do yourself. You can also have a lot of fun.