Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 10th Nov - Sat 15th Nov, 2025
All Day
Location
Moniack Mhor, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire , IV4 7HT
Short Story Writing: The Adventure Starts Here!
Do you have ideas for stories you’ve never got around to writing? Or need inspiration and a kick-start to writing them? Or perhaps you have been working on something but not known how to get on and finish it, or create a collection? Or you just want to make your stories more interesting? More fun to write?
This course, designed for anyone interested in short fiction, is an adventure in creative writing. Whether you’ve never written before, or have stories in hand you’d like to develop, Meaghan Delahunt and Kirsty Gunn will work with you to make your writing sing with possibility and excitement.
Tutors
Kirsty Gunn’s internationally published fiction has won Scottish Book of the Year, The Edge Hill Prize for Short Stories, a New York Times Notable Book, New Zealand Book of the Year, and the Robert Musil Prize for work in translation. She is Research Professor of Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee, and Associate Member of Brasenose and Merton Colleges, Oxford. Her latest collection of Short Stories, Pretty Ugly was published in 2024.
Meaghan Delahunt is a novelist and short story writer. Awards for her novels include a Commonwealth Fiction Prize, a Saltire Award and a nomination for the Orange Fiction Prize. She won the HQ/Flamingo National Short Story Award ( Australia) and was nominated for the Edgehill Short Story Award. Her most recent book is The Night-Side of the Country(2 UWAP, 2020).
Guest Reader
Duncan McLean’s books include Bucket of Tongues (short stories), Blackden and Bunkerman (novels) and Lone Star Swing (travel/music.) He has written extensively for the stage, including Aalst and Long Gone Lonesome(National Theatre of Scotland), Telling the Truth Beautifully (St Magnus Festival) and Treasure Island (Royal Lyceum.) In the 1990s he edited the Clocktower Press, which introduced writers like Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner and Alison Flett; more recently he has published Orkney writers though the Abersee Press. Born in Aberdeenshire, he has lived in Orkney for over 30 years, where he writes a weekly column for The Orcadian.
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 format and practicalities of our courses, tutored courses, and retreats, please visit our About the Residential Courses & Retreats 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 £575 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.