A welcoming online home for all creative writers
It all started in North London back in 2013 with a search for something that sounds so simple: a room to write in.
The dream was a space where writers could get together and focus on words, develop craft and - most importantly - support each other, guided by experienced writer-tutors.
We searched far and wide, tried corners and hallways and cafés but nothing quite worked.
And then, the impossible happened. Collage Arts, a respected local arts charity, gave us a raft of support which included a room of our own. We called it Collage Writing Room and filled it with tables, books, cushions, plants, cups, a kettle and a huge tin of biscuits. We wrote inspiring words on the walls and hung up work in progress. In the evenings, we discussed our writing with low lighting, cake and wine. It was home.
But this wasn’t to be our happy ending. The global pandemic reached London and we had to say goodbye to our room and our fellow writers and our books and our biscuits and wonder how on earth we could hold onto the very special writing community we’d established.
At just the right moment, we had a phone call and gained a Patron. Steve Thompson had studied with us in the past and was determined to help us thrive.
And so we made a virtual room on Zoom and transferred our groups and courses online, hosting live sessions with familiar faces throughout the week.
We lost count of the number of times our writers referred to us as a lifeline.
And to our delight, the community grew. People joined from far and wide. Lasting friendships were forged. The beating heart of our writing room was still in North London but it reached out across the world.
The experience was a revelation. We started to see that it wasn't so much 'a room' we needed, as 'room'. Room in our week to cast our words onto the page, move them around and watch them grow, run them past other people and feel they matter - that the endeavour of writing matters.
And so we give you, and we give each other, writing room.
Welcome to our online creative writing home and our community of developing writers. We can't wait to meet you and read your work.
ABLE TO JOIN WHEN AWAY
“It has been wonderful over the past nearly two years to have students joining from Europe, Australia, and I've been able to join when away in Africa.”
From our anonymous
student survey
WARM AND FRIENDLY
“Such a lovely, warm, friendly and supportive place. Super helpful from the first enquiry email to the last day of my course. I really loved the teachers. All the other participants were so competent and they gave amazing feedback each time.”
From our anonymous
student survey
LOVE THE MIX OF PEOPLE
“I love the mix of people in the groups. All tutors create a supportive and inclusive environment where it's safe to share questions, doubts, inspiration, ambition and of course, pieces of writing.”
From our anonymous
student survey
Writing Room is a registered Community Interest Company: a non-profit arts organisation committed to serving the interests of our diverse community of creative writers.
© Writing Room CIC
Photography © Ruth Guthrie unless stated