As we focus on Letter, Word and Text in our 2024 programme, we are delighted to host this one-day writing workshop with Cambridge-based writer Sophie Hampton. Participants will be given an introduction to the short story, its structure and the importance of setting. Taking inspiration from a tour of selected rooms in David Parr House, participants will then develop ideas for short story settings, characters and scenarios with the help of prompts from Sophie. In the second half of the workshop, participants will spend time writing and translating ideas into prose, before group sharing and feedback.
The aims of the workshop are to provide participants with:
– An introduction to the short story genre, an understanding of its structure and the importance of setting;
– Sensory response notes to two rooms in David Parr House to use as inspiration for the basis of a short story;
– The beginning of a short story and clear goals and plans for its development.
This workshop is open to beginners or anyone seeking creative inspiration.
Tea, coffee, light refreshments and a David Parr pencil are provided, but please bring a packed lunch.
About Sophie:
Sophie Hampton is a writer and editor. She has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia and an MA (Distinction) in Writing from Sheffield Hallam University for which she was awarded the AM Heath Prize.
Her fiction has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in Southword, The London Magazine, the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, the Bath Short Story Award Anthology, The Bath Flash Fiction Award Anthology, The View From Here, The Yellow Room, the Eastern Daily Press, Scribble magazine and by Ether Books.
Competition success includes winning the Sean O’Faolain International Short Story Prize, The London Magazine Short Story Competition, the Highlands and Islands Short Story Association Competition (HISSAC) and the Eastern Daily Press Short Story Competition; 2nd Prize at the Wells Festival of Literature; shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the Bristol Short Story Prize, the Fish Prize, the Bath Short Story Award, the Exeter Writers Short Story Competition and the Hayward Gallery George Condo Competition; Finalist at the Brit Writers Awards and longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
Her debut novel Neighbours, Strangers was longlisted for the Discoveries Prize 2024.
She has been invited to read her work at venues including the London Review Bookshop in Bloomsbury, The Society Club in Soho, Triskel Christchurch in Cork, and St James Wine Vaults in Bath.
Facilities
- Assistance dogs welcome
- Car Parking
- Cloakroom facilities
- WIFI
Accessibility Facilities
- Blue Badge Parking
- Staff available to assist
