Are you hoping for more than socks or bath salts this festive season? Or are you wondering what to buy your writer friend or loved one this Christmas? If so, this is a must-read!

The Writers Workshop is delighted to welcome two medical students from The University of Sheffield who are on placement with us until December 18th. Jake and Jaynie are with us to gain insight into the prosocial, emotional and mental health benefits our members get from creative writing and explore how our writing for wellbeing programme might develop in 2026. Find out more here!

Do you get stuck with your writing? Do you need more sources of support and inspiration? In this post, get the intel on some of the best free online resources for writers!

The Writers Workshop's Weird Weekend is happening Friday October 31 to Sunday November 2. Join us for a celebration of the weird and wonderful, strange and spooky, mystical and mythical! Read about the programme here.

Celebrate the publication of Writers Workshop member Bryony Shannon’s new book on October 2! It promises to be a fun and informative conversation with Beverley Ward about the importance of language and the transition from blog to book.

The Writers Workshop is pleased to support longtime member Tracey Ford for the launch of her memoir, Blood Is Thicker Than Alcohol, at Sheffield Cathedral on Thursday September 25. Find out more about Tracey’s book in our interview!

Amanda Marple’s popular Writers Toolkit series is back, this time with a new programme of sessions to help us be more productive writers. Designed with neurodivergent writers in mind, Amanda explains how EVERY writer can benefit from this series, however your brain is wired.

Are you a writer who waits for inspiration to strike? Or do you prefer to go looking for it? If your New Year’s resolution is to be more proactive and productive in 2025, perhaps Story Starters is just the ticket! Find out more about it in this post.

Writer Iqbal Hussain joins us for the first Sounds About Write of 2025. In this blog, Iqbal tells us about his brave decision to become a full-time writer following the publication of his debut novel, Northern Boy, in June 2024.

Moonwrite is a new monthly meetup, starting in January, using the Moon as a muse to inspire creative writing. Session facilitator Coco Lone Neal tells us more about it in this blog post.

Welcoming new associate Emma Garrard! Emma is launching a new monthly workshop in 2025 that will invite you to ‘Write Yourself Wise’. Find out more in this blog post!

One of our apprentice associates, Chivonne Head, is setting up a new Spoken Word Poetry Meetup. The first meetup is coming up on December 1st, so we asked her what our members can expect. 

Anna O’Steele, writing as Anna Mansell, has published several novels, How to Mend a Broken Heart, The Lost Wife, I Wanted to Tell You, Her Best Friend’s Secret, The Man I Loved Before, and What We Leave Behind. Her most recent release, writing as Lottie Brook, is Cheap Dates (HarperCollins). We’re delighted she’s running a writing romance workshop in November, so we asked her to tell us more about her writing.

The second Complete Fabrication Short Story Challenge is coming soon. If you’re looking for a new way to develop your short-story skills, could this course be what you need?

New associate at the Writers Workshop Gavin Extence shares with us what got him started and keeps him going as a novelist, as well as what our members can expect from his new novel-writing classes … plus a few tips for Novel Slam hopefuls this Friday!

Jools’s workshop on October 17th will focus on world-building in fantasy fiction. We asked Jools to tell us a bit more about what world-building is and what makes an engaging fantasy world.

The Sheffield Short Story Competition 2024 is now open, and you’ve got till September 30th to enter. Our very own Beverley Ward, one of the judges last year, gives her thoughts about what makes a good entry.

It’s summer, so it must be time to submit! If you’ve got some writing to share with the world, we’re here to help you. Find out more here.