The Joy of Creative Writing

This 10-week course will use a variety of innovative and unusual writing prompts, activities and practical exercises to help you discover the joy of creative writing.

Using music, visual arts, tangible objects, the great outdoors and much more, we will work to discover your creative voice. Each session will focus on a particular prompt with at least two practical writing exercises, PowerPoint presentations to inform our learning and time to share and give/receive feedback on our work in a safe and supportive environment.

The course is equally suitable to absolutely new writers – people who have never written anything before – or to more experienced writers who would like to develop their skills and explore new ways to become creative.

Week 1

Introduction to the course content, ice-breaker exercises, understanding the blocks that stop us writing, a 15-minute writing exercise and how to incorporate this into your writing practice.

Week 2

Music as a creative prompt – using several styles of music as a starting point to our writing and exploring song lyrics as poetry.

Week 3

Uncreative writing – using found texts as a creative prompt, exploring the work of Kenneth Goldsmith and Vanessa Place as our starting point in creating work that uses existing texts.

Week 4

Field trip – exploring New Walk and finding images and situations to inspire our own work.

Week 5

Fan Fiction or why writing about other people’s characters might take our own writing in unusual and productive directions.

Week 6

Writing using tangible objects – we will use a range of objects provided by the tutor as creative prompts for our own work.

Week 7

Writing about place – using examples of work from the anthology “The ground aslant” as prompts to write about physical places.

Week 8

Using visual art as a writing prompt – this session will also explore the work of Pascal Petit and her writing based on the work of Frieda Karlo.

Week 9

Telling other people’s stories – using some of the methodology from Cathi’s own PhD to explore how we can use Life Writing and biography in creative and imaginative ways.

Week 10

Student led session – an opportunity to share work written during the course and give/receive feedback.

All sessions will include two practical writing prompts, a PowerPoint with background information, group discussion and tasks and time for writing and sharing of work.

Cathi Rae is a widely published poet, spoken word artist, multiple poetry slam winner and workshop facilitator. Her work has appeared in journals, online magazines, poetry anthologies and art exhibitions.

She has performed throughout the UK at poetry events, festivals, arts events and has over 20 years’ experience in facilitating adult learning. Cathi has an MA in Creative Writing and PhD in Poetry from the University of Leicester.

Participants must be aged 18+.

This 10-week course runs on Thursday evenings, 6pm – 8pm, starting on 23 January and ending on 27 March 2025.

Please ensure that you agree to our updated Terms & Conditions before booking as courses/workshops are non-refundable in some circumstances.

We aim to make all our sessions as accessible as possible and carers/PAs are very welcome – just remember to book their free place when you book your session. If you'd like to talk to us in advance of booking or attending your sessions to discuss your access needs, our Box Office team is here to help! Email arts-centre@le.ac.uk, pop in or call 0116 252 2455, open 7 days a week.

We have four blue badge parking spaces outside Attenborough Arts Centre, plus double yellow line roadside parking very close to the building for blue badge holders for up to three hours if our parking spaces are occupied.

Free parking for all customers is available after 5pm on weekdays and all day at weekends in the University of Leicester car park next door to Attenborough Arts Centre on Lancaster Road. The closest public car park

for parking at all other times is Victoria Park, 5-10 minutes walk from us (near De Montfort Hall).