2025 Reflections at Arvon

As we reach the end of the year, we wanted to pause and reflect on Arvon’s 2025 programme. It has been an extraordinary year of riches, with something to suit every budget, life circumstance, level of experience or genre predilection.

We began poet Daniel Sluman’s residency with a very popular 5-day writing challenge, and his curation continued throughout the year, from memorable in-conversation events with Matthew Zapruder, Pascale Petit and Victoria Chang to an online course for D/deaf and disabled writers taught by Khairani Barokka and Dorothy Lehane. Elsewhere, Kim Addonizio focused on joy; Tim Liardet on line breaks; Caroline Bird on finding infinite ways into the poem.

In fiction, you explored landscape, legend and the uncanny with Zoe Gilbert and Andrew Michael Hurley, undertook serious play with Sarah Moss and Jan Carson, made every word count with Vanessa Onwuemezi and Ben Pester, and tackled aspects of craft online with Gwendoline Riley, Wendy Erskine and Claire Adam. You engaged with the nuances and challenges of life-writing under the guidance of Blake Morrison, Octavia Bright, Rhik Samadder, Adelle Stripe and Lily Dunn.

You learned about the nuts and bolts of playwriting with Simon Stephens and Carmen Nasr, joined Winsome Pinnock for a ‘How I Write’ session and welcomed multi-award-winning screenwriter Abi Morgan for a masterclass on the journey from raw idea to final script.

Some offerings crossed genres, such as Salena Godden and Nikita Gill’s ‘Feminine Creativity’ week of love, grief, rage, and hope in poetry and prose. Jack Underwood and Emma-Lee Moss blended songwriting and poetry, Ruth Allen and Alyson Hallett examined the place where writing and geology meet, and Kit de Waal helped you knock your draft into shape, whether in fiction or non-fiction.

We were delighted to greet our second cohort of writers for the Advanced Writing Programme in September, with the third iteration launching in the spring. It’s been a huge joy to welcome writers back to the refurbished Lumb Bank, now more beautiful and more accessible than ever before, for retreats, writing weeks and 4-day short courses. And we’ve loved welcoming you to the new pay-what-you-can Saturday Writing Club: the most productive and mood-boosting way to spend a Saturday morning.

Thank you for writing with us, learning with us, and being part of Arvon’s creative community. As we wind down for the holidays and give our team a well-earned break, Arvon’s live programme will pause, but your writing doesn’t have to. This is the perfect time to dive into our Masterclass Recordings library.

The Arvon Team