The Writers Workshop’s Weird Weekend
We’re super excited to be hosting the inaugural Writers Workshop’s Weird Weekend from October 31 to November 2, celebrating the weird and wonderful, strange and spooky, mystical and mythical! Tickets are available now, so snap yours up before they’re gone! Here’s a taste of what’s in store.
Friday October 31
11:00am-12:15pm: Writing Wicked Secrets with Carmel Page. Bring your kids, grandkids, nieces/nephews to a family storytelling, writing, and crafting event downstairs at Sheffield Plate. Kids eat free at Plate during half term, so why not stick around afterwards for lunch? GET YOUR TICKETS.
6:30-11:00pm: Weird Weekend Halloween Party (adults only!). Join us in the Back Room at The Lescar pub for a night of Halloween fun, including a suitably strange spoken-word performance, a spooky quiz, and a chance to dance to scary-good tunes. Costumes strongly encouraged! Ticket holders can enter our Weird Words Writing Contest. See below for more info. Members of the Writers Workshop get the cheapest available tickets until September 30th (limited number). GET YOUR TICKET.
Saturday November 1
11:00am-1:00pm: Tarot & The Writing Path - Part One with Jools Warner at The Writers Workshop. A workshop looking at how to use the evocative imagery of the cards for insights and guidance on the writing journey itself, and also ways to apply its archetypes and themes in fiction writing to access layers of character, setting, and story. GET YOUR TICKET.
2:00-4:00pm: Tarot & The Writing Path - Part Two. A follow-up workshop for those who have completed Part One previously (earlier that day or before that). Part 2 will build on part one by using the tarot to determine plot events, twists and turns, and interactions between the protagonist and other characters you’ll introduce to your story. GET YOUR TICKET.
4:30-6:30pm: Toil & Trouble - Conjuring Magic in Your Fiction with Sally O’Reilly (author of forthcoming Hagtale) at The Writers Workshop. This workshop will include excerpts from sample texts, discussion, and writing exercises, and we will be looking at where to get ideas, new ways of working with traditional folklore, and the witch as heroine. GET YOUR TICKET.
Sunday November 2
11:00am-12:30pm ONLINE: The Weird Women of Folklore - A Workshop for Writers with author and researcher Dr. Sophie Parkes. This workshop delves into the feminine mythic figures, uncovering their stories and the strange, symbolic roles they’ve played in shaping our cultural imagination. How might your draw on these weird women in your writing? GET YOUR TICKET.
1:00-3:15pm: Among the Tombstones - A Nature Writing Workshop at the General Cemetery. Join nature writer and poet Anne Grange for a guided stroll around the beautiful and fascinating General Cemetery, followed by a writing session at the Samuel Worth Chapel. GET YOUR TICKET.
1:15-3:15pm: Talking to the Dead - A Creative Writing Workshop with Beverley Ward at the Samuel Worth Chapel (Sheffield General Cemetery). In this session, we will be drawing on the worldwide traditions of honouring the dead, from All Souls Day to the Mexican Day of the Dead, as we write to celebrate those we've loved and lost. GET YOUR TICKET.
3:45-5:45pm: Pagan New Year (Samhain) Creative Writing Workshop with Coco Lone Neal at the Samuel Worth Chapel (Sheffield General Cemetery). Join nature writer Coco Lone Neal for a special celebration using creative-writing prompts to reflect on our personal relationship with this time of the year, when the nights are drawing in, and find the points of light that still shine in the darker half of the year. GET YOUR TICKET.
4:00-5:30pm: Write from the Art: Spirits & Spectres (ONLINE) with Rosie Carnall. An artwork is the spark for a series of themed prompts and exercises to inspire your thinking and writing. GET YOUR TICKET.
4:30-6:30pm: Therapeutic Writing Group (ONLINE) - Weird Is a Compass with Emma Garrard. Explore your weird and let it direct you to the untamed truths of who you are. GET YOUR TICKET
Weird Words Writing Contest
The winner will have their entry read out by our spoken-word performer on the night and receive a 'contest winner' badge to share on their socials. The piece will also be published via our newsletter/website (with permission).
Guidelines:
The entry must address the theme of 'Weird' somehow (interpret this how you please!)
Maximum words: 500 (exc. title)
You must have a ticket for the event
It must be entirely your own work (please, no plagiarism or AI!)
Deadline is midnight October 21, 2025
Previously published material is accepted (as long as you have full rights or the permission from the publisher)
Entries must only be emailed to lorna@thewritersworkshop.co.uk