A small, advanced group (maximum 8) for writers ready to turn existing material and ideas into a structured manuscript opening and outline in 10 weeks.
You’ve explored, sketched, and gathered your stories. This advanced 10‑week, small-group course offers a small, committed group of writers the space, structure and feedback needed to turn fragments into form — to create shape, coherence, and momentum in your life writing.
Open to writers working in memoir, autofiction, essays, hybrid forms, or creative nonfiction, the course combines close reading, craft discussion, and personalised feedback to help you refine your voice and move confidently toward a finished manuscript. You’ll leave with a strong opening chapter and a clear structure for a full manuscript.
What You’ll Gain
A polished opening chapter or equivalent and a clear structure
A mini‑portfolio (up to 9000 words) of newly-developed or revised writing
A clearer sense of your project’s shape, purpose, and direction
Individual mentoring and editorial guidance in a supportive and committed small group
Course Format
Each 2.5‑hour weekly Zoom session includes:
Craft discussions on advanced topics in life writing
Close reading and analysis of published work
Focused in‑session writing to deepen your material
Peer and tutor feedback on developing projects
Participants receive:
Brief written feedback on up to 1,000 words each week
Detailed editorial feedback on their opening 3,000‑word chapter or equivalent
Access to a shared online space for readings, resources and discussion
A one‑to‑one mentoring session at the end of the course to plan next steps
We’ll learn from a range of life writers, including Mary Karr, Melissa Febos, Jay Griffiths, Robert Macfarlane, Ocean Vuong, Ross Gay, Olivia Laing, Maggie Nelson, Patricia Lockwood, Maggie O’Farrell, Alison Bechdel, Marianna Brooker, and others.
This course is best suited to writers who already have material and are ready to commit to a book-length project.
I keep this group intentionally small. It will run whether there are 4 or 8 participants, but the depth of feedback and the energy of the group changes depending on who joins.
The workshop will meet on Zoom for accessibility, and to bring together writers across different locations.
Weekly Outline
From Fragments to Focus: Defining Your Life Writing Project
Voice, Style and Distance: Writing the Self as Character
Truth, Memory and Invention
Structure and Momentum: Finding the Right Container
Revision as Re‑envisioning
Ethics, Vulnerability and Exposure
Self and Surrounding Worlds: Writing Place and Context
Character, Relationship and Dialogue
Pattern, Image and Resonance
Beginnings, Endings and The Way Forward
‘I returned home each week eager to rewrite, or write more. It was a very motivating course.’
-Carole May, participant in Writing Our Lives (life writing)
Course Details
Dates: Fridays · May 8th – July 10th · 10:00 – 12:30 (Zoom)
Fee: £445
Reduced rate for low-waged/precarious writers: £395 (two spaces available)
Group Size: Maximum 8 writers
If you cannot attend a session, you’ll be given access to materials and a recording.
A free taster workshop, Beyond Chronology: Finding the Right Form for Your Life Writing, will run on Wednesday 29th April.
Book your place
This course is offered in partnership with Dialect, a collective supporting writers in rural and edgeland places.
You can book your place via the Dialect website (booking link below).
Once payment is received, you’ll receive a confirmation email with Zoom details, reading list, and pre‑course materials.
Cancellation Policy
Full refund available up to 14 days before the course starts. After that, refunds can only be offered if your space is filled from the waiting list.
About the tutor
Kate Potts is the author of three poetry collections. Her latest, Pretenders (Bloodaxe, 2025), is a hybrid, multi‑voice exploration of imposter feelings and identity. Feral (Bloodaxe, 2018) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation and a Telegraph poetry book of the month.
She has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing and a PGCE in post‑16 education, and has taught at City, Royal Holloway, Oxford, and Middlesex Universities, as well as for The Poetry School, Arvon, and other creative‑writing and community organisations. Her work has been supported by Arts Council England and shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award and The Moth International Poetry Prize.
Alongside her teaching, she runs Poetical Workshop, an online poetry community, and writes Speak Up! — a Substack newsletter about creative practice, failing better, and taking up space.