CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS AT THE JOHN HEWITT INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL 2026

Monday 27th, Tuesday 28th & Thursday 30th July | 2.45pm – 4.45pm | £80 for three-day workshop course 

• Workshop course is delivered over three days.
• Each workshop lasts two hours and all workshops are delivered at the same time.
• Participants should attend all three sessions.
• Tutors are experienced creative writing facilitators and published authors.
• All levels are welcome.

Spaces are limited – advance booking is essential.

Story Building: How to plan and structure your novel with Stuart Neville 

Stuart Neville takes budding writers through his process for taking a raw idea and turning it into a novel. This course is particularly aimed at those wishing to write plot-driven fiction of any genre, and the ideas can be applied to any kind of longform storytelling, including writing for the screen. 

Stuart Neville’s debut novel, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, won the Mystery Thriller category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He has since published thirteen more critically acclaimed books, including a short story collection.

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS AT THE JOHN HEWITT INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL 2026

Monday 27th, Tuesday 28th & Thursday 30th July | 2.45pm – 4.45pm | £80 for three-day workshop course 

• Workshop course is delivered over three days.
• Each workshop lasts two hours and all workshops are delivered at the same time.
• Participants should attend all three sessions.
• Tutors are experienced creative writing facilitators and published authors.
• All levels are welcome.

Spaces are limited – advance booking is essential.

Poetry: Three Lines and their Wide-Reaching Influences with Csilla Toldy 

The rule of three in poetry is a principle that groups words, phrases, or ideas into lines to create a pattern. Starting from Japanese poetry and its influences on modern poets, followed by looking at traditional forms such as the terza rima and its modern variations, we can find patterns in our writing. Join poet Csilla Toldy in three writing sessions that will include close readings of poems with this pattern, giving inspiration and encouragement to create your own. 

Csilla Toldy published three volumes of poetry with Lapwing Belfast and a first full collection, Firebird, with Arlen House (2025). Her novel Bed Table Door, which won the Desmond Prize, was published by Wrecking Ball (2023). Recent poetry appeared in Southword, Cyphers, PN Review and Abridged and her poems were shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and nominated for the Forward Prize. 

Supported by the Open University