Creative Writing — Who We Are

Rukhsana Ahmad

Rukhsana Ahmad is a British writer of Pakistani origin. Her stage plays include Homing Birds (shortlisted for Best Stage Production by Asian Media Awards) and River on Fire (runner-up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize). Her books include: The Hope Chest, The Gatekeeper’s Wife and other stories and Mistaken: Annie Besant in India. She has scripted several original plays for BBC Radio 4 and World Service. Her many adaptations include Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (nominated: Sony award) and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (nominated: Best Adaptation by the Writers’ Guild Award).

Rukhsana will be offering a course in creative writing inspired by a real life story.

Page 1, Room 2, Room 5Hattie Holden EdmondsJune 9, 2020Creative Writing, Theatre

Anton Burge

Anton has written ten plays championing the need for roles for women in theatre, all focusing on the lives of celebrated women of the 19th and 20th centuries. His plays include Bette & Joan, starring Greta Scacchi and Anita Dobson (Arts Theatre) and Mrs. Pat, starring Dame Penelope Keith (Chichester Festival Theatre).

His first contemporary play, Year of the Virgin, was recently read at The Charing Cross Theatre, starring Sian Thomas.

His plays have been performed worldwide and are published by Samuel French Ltd.

Anton is offering coaching on how to create a play for the stage, whether from an original idea or an adaptation from an existing work.

Room 2, Room 5, Page 1Hattie Holden EdmondsMay 29, 2020Creative Writing, Theatre

Hattie Edmonds

After a ten year career as a music journalist for a German pop magazine, Hattie became the first in-house writer at Comic Relief, working in a team on comedy projects with Richard Curtis, as well as transcribing the stories of project users including Rwandan widows, women experiencing domestic violence and people living with dementia. Her two novels were both published by RedDoor. Cinema Lumiere topped the Amazon fiction charts and her second novel The Spectacular Vision of Oskar Dunkelblick was described as “a beautifully crafted tale about a young man’s spiritual transformation.”

Hattie is offering sessions on: ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ and ‘Accessing your Intuition through Creative Writing.’

Room 5, Room 6, Page 1, Room 3Hattie Holden EdmondsMay 3, 2020Books, Creative Writing, Mental Health

Elizabeth Fremantle

Elizabeth Fremantle is a novelist, whose published works include Queen’s Gambit, The Girl in the Glass Tower and Sisters of Treason. As EC Fremantle her ‘electrifying, brilliantly executed thriller’ The Poison Bed was a Times Book of the Year. The Bookseller described her as ‘a major new voice in historical fiction,’ and People Magazine called her ‘a brilliant new player in the court of royal fiction.’

Elizabeth is offering creative writing classes.

Room 5, Page 1Hattie Holden EdmondsApril 26, 2020Creative Writing

Vayu Naidu

Vayu Naidu is a storyteller, performer and writer. Her novels include The Sari of Surya Villas, Sita’s Ascent and Under the Banyan, as well as several collections of children’s stories. Vayu is also credited with coining the term 'performance storytelling' and her stories of Indian and European mythologies have been performed on stages in the UK, Scandinavia, Europe and India. She won the Arts & Humanities award for her teaching Storytelling at University of Kent, Canterbury.

Vayu is offering a creative writing course using world Myths as inspiration for your own stories

Page 2, Room 2, Room 5Hattie Holden EdmondsApril 10, 2020Creative Writing, Theatre, Performance

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