Human connections form the basis of every genre of writing – from romance to horror to the outer reaches of the imagination in science fiction. Our relationships are uniquely complicated, fraught with highs and lows. We fall in love, fall out of friendships, fall into new families and, in the end, we all fall down. So how do we take what we’ve experienced in our lives and relationships and distill that into beautiful, real and complex stories – and into characters who feel flawed, authentic and memorable?
Award-winning writers and experienced tutors Kirsty Logan and Chịkodịlị Emelụmadụ will guide you through the rich territory of relationships in literary fiction and creative non-fiction. You’ll explore human dynamics at their strangest, sharpest and most transformative. Through close reading, generative exercises and thoughtful feedback, you’ll experiment with shifting perspectives and new ways to tell your story. You’ll learn how to avoid sentimentality and cliché, moving away from the expected to give space to real, raw and honest explorations of human relationships.
This course is for writers at any stage – whether you’re just beginning, or already underway with a project. You’ll leave with new work, practical tools, and a braver, more nuanced understanding of how to write about the people who change you.
*Please use the expandable links below to reveal timings and further details of the course schedule.
Room with a valley view: £640
Rooms in this price band have a single or double bed, and most are on the first or ground floor. One room in this price band is in the attic but has a valley view.
Attic room without a valley view: £590
These rooms have low ceilings and extra stairs to climb.
Concessions: Room with a view: £448
Concessions: Room without a view: £413
As part of our effort to increase participation in the arts, we offer limited concessionary places at a 30% reduction. You can select this option at checkout if available.
Physical access at Lumb Bank:
The upper floor of the barn is accessible by lift, and the ground floor is level access or ramped. There is an accessible all-gender toilet on the ground floor. Lumb Bank’s main building is accessible for wheelchair users, but the access to the house itself is down a steep country lane, and the initial part of the driveway is bumpy and uneven. If you are coming on a course and require assistance to enter the building or are a wheelchair user please contact us on access@arvon.org or rozie.kelly@arvon.org so we can meet you on arrival and guide any vehicles in. If you need to park onsite please contact us to arrange this in advance (one space available per course).
Please see our access page for general access information for residential courses.
Our grants scheme may be able to cover a portion of your course fees. Disability costs and additional living/support costs are taken into account when considering your grant application. You may also be entitled to concession pricing on selected courses.
If you have any questions or concerns and want to chat to a member of staff prior to booking please contact us on access@arvon.org
The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, Lumb Bank is an 18th-century millowner’s house in West Yorkshire, which once belonged to Ted Hughes. It’s set in 20 acres of steep woodland with breathtaking views to the valley below.
You’ll find many quiet places to write in the house and garden – and a well-stocked library. All rooms are single occupancy, and bathrooms are shared. The shared bathrooms are all-gender.
All your meals are provided, locally and sustainably sourced wherever possible. Help yourself to breakfast, our team will prepare lunch, and dinner is prepared in groups each evening using the delicious recipes and ingredients provided.
Explore the Pennine landscape of woods and rivers, weavers’ cottages, packhorse trails and ruins of old mills. It is half a mile from the historic village of Heptonstall and two miles from Hebden Bridge.
See here for more information on Lumb Bank.
Kirsty Logan
Chikodili Emelumadu
