My writing workshops are less about teaching people what to write than creating the conditions in which writing can happen naturally and without pressure.
The aim is to make space for curiosity, conversation, and attention, allowing people to discover what genuinely interests them and how that might find its own form in language.
I work with schools, libraries, festivals, and community groups, developing sessions that respond to the people in the room and the questions already present there.
Some workshops begin with literature, myth, or shared reading.
Others emerge from memory, observation, place, or everyday experience.
The precise structure is always shaped by context, but the central concern remains the same: writing as something lived, exploratory, and communal rather than simply instructional.
I am particularly interested in helping people develop a relationship to writing that feels personal and sustainable.
This often means moving more slowly than conventional classroom practice allows: staying with an image, a conversation, or a line of thought long enough for something unexpected to emerge.
The work is less about producing finished pieces than cultivating confidence, attentiveness, and a sense that writing belongs to one's own experience of the world.
No two groups ask for quite the same kind of attention.
Workshops may be developed around particular texts, themes, curriculum topics, or broader questions about reading and writing, and I am always happy to think together about what might be most appropriate for a particular context.
Creative Writing Workshop
A single workshop for schools, libraries, festivals,
and community groups.
60 minutes · £150
Extended Workshop
A longer session allowing greater space for
discussion, shared reading, individual guidance, and
the development of writing over the course of a
morning or afternoon.
120 minutes · £250
If you'd like to discuss a workshop, visit, or possible collaboration, you're very welcome to get in touch.
Please send enquiries with the subject WORKSHOPS to:
contact@maxthackara.uk
Practical Information
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
Enhanced DBS
Safeguarding trained