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An up-to-date list of workshops can be seen on the left of this screen. Please click on the workshop that interests you for full details, including dates, locations and payment options. If you have any query, please don’t hesitate to contact me via contact@nquentinwoolf.co.uk
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24th August 2010
“I have several books and websites bookmarked on self-publishing, so I was hoping that N Quentin Woolf’s workshops on Though the workshop lasted two hours, I could have stayed all night. The evening felt more like a cosy chat with a friend rather than a workshop, helped by the small group of attendees and the atmospheric location. I left inspired enough to re-visit my self-publishing books previously gathering dust on my bookshelf. I look forward to attending more of N Quentin Woolf’s workshops, and I suggest anyone thinking of self-publishing sign-up quickly for the next ones. I assure you, you will not be disappointed.” I look forward to attending more of your events. Ola Fagbohun of DiverseTraveller.com
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I normally ask my students for feedback after they finish the course so that I can keep on improving what I offer.
After the Sunday course that finished on August 8th, I hadn’t yet got around to asking for feedback when this came through:
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9th August 2010 Dear Nikk I just wanted to give you some feedback and say how pleased I am to have taken your course. It started off as very affordable, and quickly turned out to be excellent value. I have enjoyed every single minute of the programme. I have been made to think, to engage with my own writing processes, encouraged, supported, made to laugh, invited to contribute to my colleagues’ work and development in meaningful, constructive and ego-free ways. The feedback I got from others in the group was really astute, helpful and considered. The environment your teaching style creates makes for hard work and commitment as well as freedom and responsibility for our own contributions to the group. Perhaps most significantly, what I am left with to share with others is a predominant sense of your generosity – I always felt you were genuinely giving us important, relevant and detailed information, you were willing to be flexible and even if I was afraid, nervous or self conscious, I never doubted the safety of the space I was in. The written and face to face feedback was always honest, positive and much more than I would have expected for the money I paid. I know people at university who get less attention from tutors. Clearly you have a special gift. My experience was that your facilitation skills are excellent and your professionalism means that not only learning, but a sense of value is created for and with the group. It really is a special gift to support peoples’ learning and development in an unknown and mixed ability group. I felt included, present and equally involved and that all of us were participating at all times. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and hope to be able to write more, commit more to my writing practice and make really good use of the invaluable skills and tips you have shared with us. Your sentence construction is quite sophisticated, your handwriting could do with some work but your grammar is usually good. Well Done. Yours Sincerely, Charlie
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I have been consistently inspired and motivated by the creativity of the writers in the group. Having flitted between other writers groups, this is easily the best one I’ve been to – SHUAB
I really enjoy this group and the different characters and writing, and I think you are great at running it and are very simpatico! – FRANCES
Thank you for all the emails and for running the classes. They were fantastic and I loved all of the activities and meeting interesting people with wonderful ideas. – BRYONY
Have to say – both of these [short stories] have come as almost direct produce from my Tuesday Write Club sessions. It’s started to give me enough of a buzz to want to get home and just write my socks off, which was something I’d lost since April. Ta! – TIM
You’re doing a smashing job, love the book choice at Eastside, keep it up. You’re a natural faciliatator in the groups as patience is most definitely a virtue … – DAVID
I value your insights, expertise and kindness enormously. – AMANDA
Thank you, and all those present, for the helpful comments, criticisms and encouraging responses last night. You obviously have a gift for leading writing groups which I admire. – MARYBEL
It’s a brilliant group Nikk, and rapidly becoming one of my favourite nights out – SARAH
Thanks, I really loved the classes & hope to join in again next term/time – JO L
Nikk’s words are amazing: powerful and primitve – they’re very raw and have an understated power – sort of taking seed in me – JACK
Just wanted to say thank you for all of the competitions – it’s very useful to have an up to date compilation of them – MEL
Thanks again for a great writing course. :) I cannot believe how quickly the weeks have passed. – SHAUNA
This has been really important for me – DAN
last nights story/poety evening was great – really enjoyed it. Actually so much so that I found myself sitting at my desk today writing something that was sort of inspired by it. Thanks for getting this writing group together in such a constructive, supportive yet relaxed way – JANICE
I loved the workshop – MERIBETH
The first workshop was great. I really enjoyed it, thanks a lot for organising it so well, I already feel like I got a lot out of it. - JILL
The class was great, exciting about more & already have some great new words! – JO D
Just a quick email to say how much I enjoyed last week’s session – BRYONY
As always I loved the class… Thank you Nikk for sharing your creativity. – DESREEN
I am absolutely loving the course and learning so much each week as well as having a set time each week to indulge myself in writing and talking about writing with others. It took quite a lot for me to actually start coming although it is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I am really benefiting from both learning structure and technique as well as meeting and learning from like-minded people. Plus – who wouldn’t want to spend an evening huddled around surrounded by books and talking about writing!! I am already worried about what I will do when the course ends, although I suppose the point is that I should be using my time to write then. – SOPHIE
I’ve been really enjoying the course. I find the on-the-spot exercises done during the session really helpful – immediately applying the ideas we discuss certainly makes them sink in more. It has been really helpful so far; when I sat down to write my first piece I found it a huge struggle; I wrote the same sentence over and over and had a sort of screaming noise in my head! Now – much easier! – MEL B
Nice job – you’re a born leader. – MARK
I just wanted to say thank you for your input. The inspiration from the group has been great – CHAZ
These Tuesdays are really special and I think you have created a little bit of magic there – many thanks – GERRY
I’m coming to the class tomorrow, inspiration is required & I know the class has that in abundance. – MARK
I’ve very much enjoyed the sessions – FRAN
Yesterday was brilliant – thanks. I did not know what to expect, but I came away with some useful advice. I am looking forward to learning more! – ANDREW
I would like to wish you a very successful future. Your students and members – I can already tell – will be in very good hands. – JILLY
That was a very good constructive session last night. I, for one really appreciate your help and guidance – and I really enjoy the openness and informality of the sessions – LINDA
I really enjoyed tonight’s session - HARRIET
Well I guess the class ends in a week or so and I must tell you that I have learnt a lot and and have hopefully embraced enough for it to filter through to my writing… I love writing and I love that I attended your class…Thanks again for sharing your creativity. I wish you happiness and more colour to your canvass… – DES
Wednesday Group
After last night’s Wednesday Critique Group, we critiquers made our way to Tayyabs in Whitechapel, for curry. The restaurant was bursting at the seams and put me in mind of a Mad Hatter’s tea party for bankers, top-hats and tea-pots exchanged for sharp suits and poppadums. The food was excellent, especially the curried pumpkin, which I’d never tried before but which alone warranted a return visit.
James and Sarah
It has been a great pleasure to work with the many writers who have
Steve's dangerously angled hat
attended the Wednesday group over the past year. In 2009 the group has grown from an offshoot of another group into something fully fledged, with its own unique identity and buzz. I’m very much looking forward to the launch of the Wednesday anthology in January next year and to the proposed writer’s retreat in the spring. Here’s to many fruitful projects and happy writings in 2010 and beyond.
body language
On Friday December 11th I’m going to be collaborating with Maddy Wynne-Jones’ Tempered Body Dance Company in a day-long workshop investigating the relationship between words, texts and dance. The workshop is almost fully booked. If you’re a dancer interested in participating, please email admin@temperedbody.com. There will be a performance in the evening which will combine improvised words, improvised dance and a combination of pre-written texts and improvised movement along with some performance from members of the Tempered Body Dance Company.
Xstream East
A workshop on how to criticise (shows, books etc.) is in the offing. I’ll be presenting this workshop for invited attendees only in collaboration with xstream East Radio. The workshop is aimed particularly at those in the 18-30 age bracket and with emphasis on using criticism as web-content. This two hour session will include theoretical and practical elements. For more details contact lit@nquentinwoolf.co.uk
I’m going to be working with Tempered Body Dance Company again soon, collaborating on the Body Language workshop and performance. The project, supported by Chisenhale Dance Space in Bow, is an exploration of movement and words for dance artists, culminating in a performance that puts into action the discoveries made during the day, embracing the collaboration dance and writing.
group crope
The space between words is both crucial for understanding and for effect and yet goes largely overlooked. I’m going to be looking at contact between words and particularly what happens in the spaces between words. How can a supposedly empty space have meaning? How can a space mean more? Do words – and people – ever truly touch one another?
The workshop runs from 10:30 – 5:00 on December 11th, with a performance open to the public at 7:00. Housed at Chisenhale Dance Space, 64-84 Chisenhale Road, E3. For tickets or to sign up for the workshop please contact admin@temperedbody.com For more information on this project http://www.temperedbody.com/News.html
Three success stories from members of the Brick Lane critique groups, which meets Tuesdays and Wednesdays:
Charlotte Kymberly Walsh, she of the hectic lifestyle, has gotten her debut novel snapped up by a Penguin imprint before even having written it. The novel will be called Faking It. Its protagonist is the ex who gets left behind but then takes control when her partner runs off with someone more limelit. Press release here.
Veteran member Shuab Parvez has recently released his novel Messiah of Green Street to the Harper Collins-run sharing/ranking site authonomy where the book was, at time of writing, at number 2.
Karen Andrea’s childrens’ fiction The Enchanted Library is featuring in readings at Borders and Waterstones up and down the country, and garnering rave reviews for its positive social ideas as well as its pro-literacy message and endearing protagonist.
Congratulations, all.
Following on from previous successful seasons of creative classes for complete beginners, I’ll be launching two new classes this month:
Thursdays evenings in Brick Lane from September 24th
Saturday mornings in Stoke Newington from September 26th
This workshop is an 8-week course for new writers who are looking to develop a portfolio of early-stage prose writing skills. Each week we address a different area of writing craftwork. The workshop incorporates instructive, creative and critical elements. The course includes:
…and much more.
The course aims to be relaxed and friendly, and it runs for eight weeks.
Places on this course always go quickly and pre-booking is essential, so please email workshops@nquentinwoolf.co.uk to book your spot. Sessions £10 each and can be paid weekly. Further information at www.nquentinwoolf.com
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