Developing Tutors Day

Join Lisa Smith, Zoe Adjonyoh and Renay Richardson for a day of Developing Tutors workshops. You have the option to book for a single workshop or buy a day pass for all three workshops at a discounted cost. There are also five bursary places for a day pass. Tea and coffee will be provided in first morning session. Lunch is not provided.

Workshop 1 – 10am to 11.30am with Lisa Smith

Earwigging, Observation and Finding Inspiration in Everyday Journeys

The mundane task of getting from A to B can often provide gold for storytellers. Explore the ways familiar journeys can spark inspiration and create memorable characters for your writing.

It has been said that it’s the artists job “to notice things that other people don’t” and two of the most important tools in a writer’s kit are observation and listening. This course aims to get you out and about, looking at the everyday world for inspiration rather than sitting at a desk waiting for “the muse”.

Through guided exercises and discussion, we’ll draw on the sights, sounds and people we encounter doing the daily commute, the school drop off and other ordinary tasks to explore the narrative potential that is around us all the time. Handouts will provide tips on crafting characters, narrative POV and the fundamentals of plotting. During this interactive workshop the participants will take a field trip, either actual or virtual, where they’ll have the opportunity to put what they have learnt into practice. At the end of the session participants will have crafted a character and developed one observation from daily life into a short fictional scene.

This workshop is suitable for those who are completely new to writing fiction, as well as writers who have taken courses before and are looking for inspiration to start something new.

Workshop 2 – 11.45am to 1.15pm with Zoe Adjonyoh

Collective Memory Through Food Writing: Sensory Approaches to Memoir and Life Writing

An intimate creative writing workshop exploring how food memories can become powerful stories of identity, belonging, love, grief and life.

This workshop will explore how food and sensory memory can be used as tools for memoir, life writing and collective storytelling. Participants will examine how taste, smell and texture can unlock emotional and embodied memories, while revealing unexpected connections between people across class, race, gender and cultural experience.

What will you do in the workshop?

Writers will learn how to:

• Use sensory detail to deepen memoir and life writing;
• Explore food as a storytelling device;
• Develop short reflective or narrative prose from memory;
• Consider how collective memory can shape personal narratives.

What can participants expect?

Short readings and sensory prompts will stimulate individual and group writing and discussion. Handouts will include extracts, summaries and creative prompts. Participants will leave with 100 words of new writing and a 100-word co-authored story to develop further.

During the class we will reference works including:

Audre Lorde, Zami, A New Spelling of My Name

Gertrude Stein, Food

Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

Zoe Adjonyoh, Serving Up and Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen

Who is this opportunity for?

No creative writing experience is necessary. All levels are welcome. This is for anyone wishing to explore creative non-fiction or fiction with particular reference to food as a device or subject.

Workshop 3 – 2pm to 3.30pm with Renay Richardson

Sparking the Conversation: When Stories Meet the World

Explore how your viewpoint shapes a story, the questions it raises and the possibilities that emerge when it meets the world and its readers who bring their own perspectives.

This workshop invites writers to look under the hood of their stories and identify the questions they want their work to ask. We’ll challenge each other to explore competing narratives within a story’s arc and consider how those narratives might be interpreted once the work enters the world. We will also discuss how messages can be misunderstood and reshaped to take on a life of their own.

What will you do in the workshop?

Bring an idea of a story you’re working on or want to develop. In small breakout groups, you’ll share your ideas and receive different interpretations. We’ll then discuss as a group how those interpretations compare to the writer’s original intention and what this reveals about perspective, meaning and narrative.

What can participants expect?

Participants can expect to have their ideas constructively challenged, explore how stories can be misunderstood or interpreted differently from their intentions and consider the creative benefits of leaving space for readers to find their own meaning.

Who is this opportunity for?

Writers of all levels interested in exploring social, cultural and political ideas.

Bursary places

We have 5 free day pass bursary places available for writers on a low income. We define this as either earning on or below the London Living Wage and/or in receipt of benefits (e.g. Universal Credit). If you would like to request a bursary place, please email hello@londonwriterscentre.org.uk with details of your eligibility for a bursary by Wednesday 28 October 2026.

Access

If you require BSL interpretation, and/or have other access needs please email hello@londonwriterscentre.org.uk so we can accommodate you.