2346 Short Fiction with A.L. Kennedy and Sean Lusk, Guest Reader Bernard MacLaverty

Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 13th Nov - Sat 18th Nov, 2023
All Day

Location
Moniack Mhor, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire , IV4 7HT

Making Your Story Sing

Wouldn’t it be nice if one simple magic key could make a story sing? In fact, writing that sings relies on a writer undertaking a number of interlinked processes, committing to improving their technique, and developing a dogged habit of reappraising what they’ve already done. On this course, you’ll learn practical, dynamic ways to improve your drafts, lift the level of your prose, serve your voice and ask more from your stories. You’ll come away with a better understanding of the fundamentals that underpin strong, engaging fiction. And we hope you will have renewed your drive and a great ability to bring your ideas onto the page.

 

A.L. Kennedy was born in Dundee. She lived for almost 30 years in Glasgow and now stays in North Essex. She has won a variety of UK and international book awards, including a Lannan Award, the Costa Prize, The Heinrich Heine Preis, the Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rees Prize. She has twice been included on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. She has written 9 novels, 6 short story collections, 3 books of non fiction and 3 books for children. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the Akademie der Kunst. She also writes for the stage, screen, TV and has created an extensive body of radio work including documentaries, monologues, dramas and essays. She also performs occasionally in one person shows and as a stand up comic.

Sean Lusk’s short stories have won the Manchester Fiction Prize, the Fish short story prize and been runner-up in the Bridport and Tom-Gallon Trust prizes. His debut novel, The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley (Doubleday/Penguin, 2022) was shortlisted for the Saltire Prize debut of the year and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. He has lived in Greece, Pakistan and Egypt, working variously as a gardener, speechwriter and diplomatic official. He now lives near Forres in Moray, Scotland.

You can find him at www.seanlusk.com or on twitter @seanlusk1 and Instagram @seanluskauthor

Bernard MacLaverty was born in Belfast and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland to teach English (Edinburgh and Islay). He now lives in Glasgow. He is a member of Aosdana in Ireland and has published six collections of short stories and five novels. He has written radio plays, television plays, and screenplays. He has also written libretti for Scottish Opera.

Fees

The full fee for this course is £650. This includes your accommodation in a single room with shared bathroom, all meals, hot drinks and snacks from Monday afternoon until Saturday morning, and your tuition. For more information about the practicalities of our courses and retreats, please visit our About the Courses page.

A limited number of en-suite rooms are available for a £50 surcharge, and a limited number of Twin Room places are available at a discounted price of £600 per person. When booking a Twin Room place, please tell us in the comments box which gender you are and which gender(s) you are comfortable sharing a room with. This information will remain confidential.

A deposit is required to secure your place, which is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling-off period. The balance payment of £500 is due six weeks before the course begins. If you would like to pay the full amount earlier than this or at the point of booking, please call our booking office on 01463 592 828 or email info@moniackmhor.org.uk.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements, for example a ground floor bedroom and / or access to a wheelchair-accessible shower room. For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.

Bookings