“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” — Mary Oliver
Poetry and memoir are both acts of remembering. In this course, you’ll discover how to shape lived experience into language that moves and connects. You’ll explore how memory and imagination can meet and turn truth into a creative piece. Join us and discover how your words can become a home for memory, meaning, and renewal. Through gentle discussions and writing, you’ll learn how to approach your work with care and craft.
Sometimes working with real experiences can feel emotionally demanding, so we’ll also share gentle, practical tools to help sustain and protect wellbeing: how to write about vulnerability, how to step back when needed, and how to return to language as a place of renewal and light.
You’ll leave with new work, insights, and a renewed sense of faith in your writing, and you’ll see how your story — in all its complexity — can bloom with clarity and compassion.
Please see the detailed course timetable here.
Is this course for me?
Our month-long courses are aimed at writers who have a specific goal in mind for the month. This might be to begin their writing journey, to make progress on a work-in-progress, or to kickstart a commitment to their writing going forward.
These courses are often attended by writers who:
- Want to commit time to their writing but life keeps getting in the way
- Would love one-to-one feedback from two professional writers
- Feel they could set aside pockets of time over a month to kickstart (or restart) their writing habit
- Want a live, fully interactive experience with a group of no more than 14 writers
What will I gain?
- Weekly interactive Thursday morning workshops to propel your writing forward
- Two 25-minute one-to-one tutorials with experienced tutors (these will happen on two out of the four Thursday afternoons)
- Each Thursday ends with an optional closing session 4.30-5pm, lead by your tutors, to set goals for the week ahead
- Free passes to all webinar events happening elsewhere at Arvon at Home during your month with us including masterclasses (each worth £40)
- Access to a community platform where you will be invited to share work for peer review, as well as share book recommendations, and get to know each other better (this is available beyond the course too)
- Accountability each week to make progress through intention setting and group support
- A group of creative peers who you may decide to keep in contact with after the course
- Support at all times from friendly Arvon hosts
- An inclusive and supportive environment in which to open up creatively
How does it work?
The month kicks off with an introductory session to get to know you and to ensure we meet your individual writing needs, as well as the chance to meet the other writers in the group. Then each week for the next month there will be workshops on Thursday mornings designed to move you and your writing forward. You will also be offered one-to-one tutorials with each tutor + a free pass to all readings and masterclasses happening elsewhere at Arvon at Home. Each Thursday ends with an optional closing session 4.30-5pm to set goals for the week ahead.
A more detailed timetable can be found here.
We are committed to making our Arvon at Home programme accessible to as many people as possible.
Our FAQ page may also helpful.
Across all of Arvon at Home
- All sessions will have auto-generated captioning
- There is a Chat facility to ask any questions.
Masterclasses
- A recording of the masterclass will be available to view without a time limit after the live event. You will receive an email with a link to the recording the day after the masterclass takes place. You can also access it in your Arvon account by logging in on our website, finding the course under My Bookings and clicking on More Details. The recording will have auto-captions running, and chat and transcript will be visible alongside. Any course materials shared by the tutor will also be available in your Arvon account.
- There is a Chat and Q & A facility to ask any questions
- Zoom webinar format (your video and audio will remain off throughout, & your name will not be visible to other participants so it is a ‘relaxed’ event)
- We aim to present all resources in two formats e.g., extracts of texts will be read aloud and provided in text form via screen-share or as a document. If it would be helpful for you to have any available resources ahead of the session, we will try to arrange this for you. Please email arvonathome@arvon.org to discuss.
The Obsidian Black Poetry Lectures
- A recording of the event will be available to view for six months after the live event. You will receive an email with a link to the recording the day after the event takes place. You can also access it in your Arvon account by logging in on our website, finding the course under My Bookings and clicking on More Details. The recording will have auto-captions running, and chat and transcript will be visible alongside. Any course materials shared by the tutor will also be available in your Arvon account.
- There is a Chat and Q & A facility to ask any questions
- Zoom webinar format (your video and audio will remain off throughout, & your name will not be visible to other participants so it is a ‘relaxed’ event)
- We aim to present all resources in two formats e.g., extracts of texts will be read aloud and provided in text form via screen-share or as a document. If it would be helpful for you to have any available resources ahead of the session, we will try to arrange this for you. Please email arvonathome@arvon.org to discuss.
Saturday Writing Club
- There is a Chat and Q & A facility to ask any questions
- The sessions are delivered by Zoom meeting, which means they are not recorded.
- You have the option to keep cameras on or off.
- We aim to present all resources in two formats e.g., extracts of texts will be read aloud and provided in text form via screen-share or as a document. If it would be helpful for you to have any available resources ahead of the session, we will try to arrange this for you. Please email arvonathome@arvon.org to discuss.
- We use Padlet as an optional community platform. If you would like some more information about this, or if you have access barriers to using this platform, please email arvonathome@arvon.org.
Online Writing Days
- A recording of the workshops will be available to view for one month after it is aired live. You will receive an email with a link to the recording the day after the masterclass takes place. You can also access it in your Arvon account by logging in on our website, finding the course under My Bookings and clicking on More Details. The recording will have auto-captions running, and chat and transcript will be visible alongside. Any course materials shared by the tutor will also be available in your Arvon account.
- There is a Chat and Q & A facility to ask any questions.
- All sessions of the day are delivered live via Zoom meetings, with the option of cameras off or on.
- We aim to present all resources in two formats e.g., extracts of texts will be read aloud and provided in text form via screen-share or as a document. If it would be helpful for you to have any available resources ahead of the session, we will try to arrange this for you. Please email arvonathome@arvon.org to discuss.
Writing Weeks and Writing Months
- Courses are delivered by Zoom meeting, which means they are not recorded.
- Online writing weeks and months have smaller groups than our other events of up 14 participants, and are interactive with tutors and your fellow course participants. We encourage everyone to participate in the way that is most comfortable. You are welcome to keep your camera and audio on or off, take breaks as needed, and contribute either on audio or in the chat.
- Tutors and participants often use the zoom chat to interact and share resources. If you have access barriers to using the chat, please let us know.
- We use Padlet as a landing page for all course materials, and to provide an optional platform for interaction with your tutors and fellow course participants. If you would like some more information about this, or if you have any access barriers to using this platform, please email arvonathome@arvon.org.
A note on the use of AI and recording
- Due to concerns around privacy, we do not allow the use of external AI transcription services during our online events and courses. Auto-captioning is available across all of our online courses, and the transcript can be viewed during the session. For recorded events (Masterclasses, The Obsidian Black Poetry Lectures and Online Writing Days), the auto-captions, transcript and chatbox can be viewed alongside the recording. Please get in touch via access@arvon.org if you would like to discuss this further.
Subject to funding/permissions/availability (please contact arvonathome@arvon.org for more details)
- Recording of Writing Weeks and Writing Months
- Downloadable transcripts
- BSL interpretation
- Live captioning
If you have any access needs that we have not covered here, please contact us on access@arvon.org
See here for more access information.
Gwyneth Lewis
Romalyn Ante
