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The South London Writing School presents a six week creative writing course led by award-winning author and performer Karen McLeod. Weekly sessions provide the structure to help you start writing and find what it is you want to write. Karen introduces the importance of craft, while equally encouraging experimentation to discover your writing voice and see the world as a major source of inspiration.The course is held within the events space of The Bookseller Crow bookshop in south east London and takes place on Tuesday evenings over six consecutive weeks from 27th January - 3rd March 2026, 7.30 pm - 9.30pm. The content has been developed for beginners, as well as creatives who have lost their mojo or writers in need of motivation and confidence. Places are offered on a first come, first served basis with a maximum of thirteen students in each class. The total cost is £249 and is suitable for over 18s.
COURSE STRUCTURE:
Writing exercises attuned to a specific aspect of creative writing will be set each week during class. As well as this, there will be weekly explorative ‘creative assignments’ to be completed outside of class and writers should put aside a minimum of three hours per week to complete these. During the six weeks the following areas of creative writing will be introduced:
Using our stories, place and time to inspire fiction
Points of view - who is telling your story
Building characters/method writing
Story structure/shape
Dialogue
Final week - a reading and feedback party
In honour of Jonathan Main, our bookseller at Bookseller Crow who sadly died in September, we are offering one free scholarship place for someone who would be unable to attend due to financial constraints. This is aimed at the unemployed, the unwaged carers or those on a low income. To apply for this scholarship please do not book below and instead send your details, including a short description of your circumstances, including where you live, with SCHOLARSHIP in the email title to: scribblingcrow[at]hotmail.com The deadline for scholarship applications is 6pm, Monday 15th December 2025. Applications after this deadline cannot be considered.
Participant feedback:
"I got exactly what I wanted and needed on your course! I was looking for ways to access writing that felt all locked up inside of me and I didn't want to 'learn to write like everyone else' ... thank you for an absolutely fantastic course."
"I loved the course - it knocked me off my normal pattern of thinking and got me to try new things! Also I got some really useful feedback."
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The Lineup
Karen McLeodKaren McLeod
Karen McLeod is a writer, performer, creative writing tutor and writer-in-residence at Bookseller Crow. She has been running creative writing courses at Bookseller Crow & nationwide for the last 13 years. She teaches writing with the Arvon Foundation, National Centre for Writing in Norwich, Scotland's National Writing Centre and Polari LGBTQ+ salon.
Her debut novel, In Search of the Missing Eyelash, was published by Jonathan Cape and went on to win the Betty Trask Award and was translated widely. In 2024 it was celebrated as a ‘lesbian classic’ by being republished by Muswell Press. She wrote In Search of the Missing Eyelash in hotel rooms across the globe while working as cabin crew. Coming full circle, her memoir, Lifting Off published by Muswell Press is about the years she worked, and subsequently went into free-fall, as cabin crew. It was longlisted for this year's Polari Prize.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
50 Westow Street, SE19 3AF London, United Kingdom, 50 Westow Street, London, SE19 3AF, United Kingdom, Croydon
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