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Short Courses: Winter 2017 / Spring 2018

With small groups of 18 max, and 10 hours of teaching split into weekly 2-hour classes, our short courses are the ideal way to hone your existing skills or stretch yourself with a new genre.

Run at the Birmingham & Midland Institute, our short courses are easily accessible from any of the major public transport hubs in Birmingham.

 

Writing Your Roots: Family History & Memoir: with Mandy Ross

Thursdays, 6.30pm-8.30pm, 5 weeks from 4 January 2018

£99 (£89 concs)

Explore a range of writing techniques including memoir, short fiction, poetry and dialogue to capture the flavours, sounds, dreams and family dynamics of living memory and a more distant past, and help you write your own family’s history and stories.

 

Poetry & Parenthood: with Helen Calcutt

Tuesdays, 6.30pm – 8.30pm, 5 weeks from 30 January 2018

£99 (£89 concs)

Draw inspiration from becoming a parent, being a parent and watching your children grow. Explore how being a parent (or grandparent) has affected your writing. For parents and grandparents of children of any age.

 

Playwriting: with Nick Walker

Tuesdays, 6.30pm – 8.30pm, 5 weeks from 27 February 2018

£99 (£89 concs)

A course about playwriting for the theatre and radio, including covering some of the popular structures used by writers in long and short form plays.

 

Performing Your Writing: with Antonia Beck

Wednesdays, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, 5 weeks from 28 February 2018

£99 (£89 concs)

Learn how to perform your work, including practical breathing and vocal exercises, for writers of all genres and stages of their career.

 

Creative Writing & Mindfulness: with Roz Goddard

Wednesdays, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, on 4, 11, 18 & 25 April and 2 May 2018

£99 (£89 concs)

This mindfulness writing course will look at the positive benefits of developing a regular writing practice through journalling, poetry, short fiction and seeing the extraordinary in the everyday.

 

Read to Write: analyse great novels to improve your writing: with Polly Wright

Thursdays, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, on 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 May 2018

£99 (£89 concs)

Join a reading group with a difference to enhance your own fiction writing skills by modelling on a Master or Mistress of the art. By close discussion of 2 specific novels, you’ll learn great techniques you can model in your own writing.

 

One-day short course: Plot and Story Structure: with Heide Goody and Iain Grant

Saturday 19 May, 10am – 4pm

£45 (£40 concs)

Explore the conventions of story telling and plot structure and discover how they are present in all stories. Whether you are thinking about writing, working on something or would simply like to get a broader perspective on how stories function, this workshop will provide you with valuable new tools.

 

Advanced Poetry: with Dr Gregory Leadbetter

Wednesdays, 6.30pm – 8.30pm, 5 weeks from 30 May 2018

£99 (£89 concs)

A special course for emerging and developing poets to deepen their understanding and skill of reading and writing poetry.