Date/Time
Date(s) - Thu 20th Mar, 2025
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Whether you’re new to writing, polishing your umpteenth draft, or simply want to try a taster of a different style, form, or genre, we’re confident you’ll enjoy and be inspired by these focused shorter masterclass and workshop sessions. All hosted by Moniack Mhor on Zoom Pro, usually with an opportunity to ask questions too. More of these to come during 2025 – we’ll keep you posted! Meanwhile, enjoy …
Neurodivergent approaches to repetition: a masterclass in two parts, with Debris Stevenson and Hannah Silva
These masterclasses focus on the neurodivergent tendency to loop, to glitch, to tic, to stim, to have an internal monologue or polylogue, to delight in repetition. We will approach the patterns of our minds as outlets, engines and hubs of creativity. This theme in two parts explores the topic from each artist’s perspective. Choose one or attend both. Join us if the topic calls to you, no writing experience or diagnosis required!
Part I. Polylogues and Loopetitions with Debris Stevenson
“To keep hold of things in the chaos I tend to loop over and over, be it a phrase, a melody or a movement. This is really how I started to build songs, plays and ideas. Much of my practice has been about holding onto and organising the pieces, maybe that’s why the name Debris stuck so hard.” – Debris Stevenson
Let’s repeat: sounds, words, movements, music. This session draws from my experience of a multi-sensory ‘polylogue’, a mind filled with conversation, smells, textures, dances, images and sounds. We will lean into the weird repetitions of our minds and work across art forms, blurring the lines between text, music, theatre and movement. Starting with simple repetitions, we will move into some guided writing techniques. By the end of the session we will devise new writing tasks and techniques, processes and forms, drawn from observations of our individual minds.
Follow this link to book your space for Part I with Debris Stevenson
Part II. Glitching on the page with Hannah Silva
How can repetition change us and our writing, transforming into new ideas, meanings and revelations? I want to know how your mind works. Do your thoughts loop? Do you replay dialogue over and over? Does your mind glitch on a particularly tasty word? How does this impact how you write? We will see how far repetition can carry us, how meanings can be transformed, characters revealed and plots tumbled. Let’s approach writing as a joyful composition of riffs and motifs, leaning into the sayings, stims and patterns that pepper our thoughts. Through examples, exercises and exchange this session will unlock nooks in your writing minds.
Part of Finding the Right Words, a research and development project by Hannah Silva and Debris Stevenson. Supported using public funding by the Arts Council England.
About Finding the Right Words:
After 20-year international careers spanning poetry, radio, theatre and non-fiction and a 10-year friendship, queer writers Debris Stevenson and Hannah Silva received ADHD and autism diagnoses. Using two years of text messages documenting their experiences, this project will develop pedagogy for neuroqueer approaches to writing and creative research on neuroqueer form and language, resulting in a set of artistic endeavours expressing what it is to be neuroqueer in a neurotypical and heteronormative world.
Tutors
Debris Stevenson is a dyslexic writer, Grime poet, hybrid actor and pro-raver. Her work explores the intersectional, unexpected, and unjust – often whilst making her audiences dance, question, and laugh. Debris had her acting screen debut in Medusa Deluxe at Locarno Film Festival in 2022, and recently played the role of the Narrator in the sell-out concert of Treason the Musical at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
With the community interest company Debris founded and artistically directed for 6 years, The Mouthy Poets, Debris raised over £300,000 to develop young talent. She has worked in over 30 countries, designed foundation performance poetry modules at Nottingham University, and had her debut poetry pamphlet, Pigeon Party, published by Flipped Eye. Debris’ debut show, Poet In Da Corner, premiered at The Royal Court in 2018, receiving 4-5 stars and seeing Debris nominated for an Emerging Talent of The Year Award (Evening Standard Theatre Awards). Poet In Da Corner toured the UK in early 2020 alongside the release of the album (Accidental Records) and a free school’s educational pack.
Debris is currently working with television companies developing shows, as well as working on a play for Hightide Theatre and a Shakespeare adaptation for National Youth Theatre. When Debris is not writing or acting, she can be found dancing at carnivals, prides, and parties around the world.
Hannah Silva is a writer and performer working in sound poetry, radio and experimental non-fiction. Their eighth BBC radio play, ‘An Artificially Intelligent Guide to Love’ was the starting point for My Child, the Algorithm – an exploration of love and queer single parenting, woven into surreal and funny contributions by a predecessor of ChatGPT, and a toddler (a Granta Book of the Year 2023). Silva’s story ‘A Single Parent Flat Hunting on Universal Credit, London 2023’ was recently shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness.
Fees
We are running this as a ‘pay as you can’ event. Please see our booking options below. By paying our standard price wherever possible you help us give people on lower incomes more opportunities to attend, thank you.
We have a limited number of free places for this event, if these are showing as not available and you need a free place to be able to access the event, please email a request to us on online@moniackmhor.org.uk, thank you.
Access
Please let us know in your booking form if you have any access requirements when working online so we can do our best to support you. For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.
Terms and Conditions
Please read our Terms & Conditions before booking.