Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 2nd Jun - Sat 7th Jun, 2025
All Day
Location
Moniack Mhor, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire , IV4 7HT
Non-Fiction Essay
The essay is a rich and varied literary form that can be seen as an attempt to express ideas, experiences, emotions and the everyday. It can be intensely intimate or engaged with the lives of others, sometimes both at once, and offers the chance to articulate large themes through small moments.
But how do you write an essay and write it well? This course will cover a range of techniques and issues, drawing upon examples of excellent non-fiction from across decades. Topics are likely to include: ways to structure; the ethics and challenges of writing about self and others; finding your voice; creating a sense of place. In a week of reading and writing, we hope to experience and explore the pleasure of getting the world down on paper.
Tutors
Jen Stout is the author of Night Train to Odesa, an account of covering the war in Ukraine as a freelance journalist. It was published in May 2024 and was a BBC Radio 4 book of the week. She’s also a photographer and radio producer, and has written for the London Review of Books, Prospect, the Sunday Post and others. Her work has been shortlisted for prizes by Amnesty International, the Foreign Press Association, and the Scottish Press Awards. Previous jobs include radio and TV at BBC Scotland, and reporter on a local paper. She comes from Shetland, and lives in Edinburgh.
Peter Ross is the author of the bestseller Steeple Chasing: Around Britain By Church and of A Tomb With A View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards, which won the Saltire prize for non-fiction and was a Radio 4 Book of the Week. He is an Orwell journalism fellow whose writing has been published in the Guardian, the Times, Smithsonian Magazine and the Boston Review. His work has received praise from Andrew O’Hagan, Robert Macfarlane and the late Hilary Mantel.
Guest Reader
Kathleen Jamie’s non-fiction includes the highly regarded Findings trilogy (Findings, Sightlines, and Surfacing), all regarded as important contributions to the ‘new nature writing’. Cairn was published in 2024. Between 2010 and 2020 she was Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Stirling, and from 2021–24 Kathleen served as Scotland’s Makar, or National Poet.
Fees
The full fee for this course is £725. 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, which can be booked in advance for a £50 surcharge. We will also reserve an en-suite room for anyone who may need it due to a medical condition. This will be offered out as an upgrade nearer the course start date if it is not needed.
A limited number of Twin Room places are available at a discounted price of £675 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 small single room with a skylight is available at a discounted price of £700. Please note this room does not have an ordinary window, only a small skylight.
A deposit is required to secure your place, which is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling-off period. The balance payment of £475 is due six weeks before the course begins. Refunds are not always available – please read our Terms & Conditions for full details about our cancellation policy. If you would like to pay the full amount in advance, please call our booking office on 01463 592 828 or email info@moniackmhor.org.uk.
Bursaries are always available, and you also have the option to pay in instalments. If you have any problems paying online, or wish to discuss paying in instalments or applying for financial help, or would simply like assistance, please contact us by emailing info@moniackmhor.org.uk or phoning us on 01463 592828.
Access
Please let us know in your booking form if you have any access requirements, for example a ground floor bedroom and / or access to a step-free accessible shower room. We also reserve one en-suite bedroom per course for anyone who may need this due to a medical condition. For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.
Terms and Conditions
Please read our Terms & Conditions before booking.