Open Mind Creative Writing

Writing workshops and courses in Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwickshire

Writing workshops and courses in Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwickshire

Cathy and Connie, two published writers, work together to design and deliver writing workshops and courses for beginners and more advanced writers. They are flexible when it comes to time and place, and can tailor their workshops to fit your group’s needs. They can concentrate on a specific genre (fiction, poetry, memoir) or work more generally across the writing spectrum.

They are currently tutoring a course at the Brook Arts Hub in Shottery, Stratford upon Avon, and have upcoming courses and workshops at Coughton Court and at Percival Guildhouse in Rugby.

Connie leads an ongoing Creative Writing group that covers memoir, fiction and poetry (open to new members) at the Methodist Hall in Stratford on Thursday mornings. Contact connie.bott@mac.com for details.

Cathy tutors in fiction, memoir and poetry at Percival Guildhouse, an education centre in Rugby. (percival-guildhouse.co.uk). She also tutors a course in Stratford (stratfordscribes.co.uk).

Together, Cathy and Connie have taught Creative Writing summer schools, weekend schools, and day schools at Warwick University and Percival Guildhouse, and have held Creative Writing workshops at the Herbert Gallery in Coventry, Rugby Literary Festival, Warwick Words Festival of Literature, Cannon Poets (Birmingham), Worcester Cathedral poetry group, Suddenly (bookshop) in Daventry, and for local writing groups and book clubs.

About us

  • Connie says

    I'm an American living in the UK. I'm in the unusual position of being an observer in both countries. This is a wonderful vantage point for me as a writer. My stories and poems take place in both countries, and the narrative voices range from young children to the elderly. 

    My novel Girl Without Skin was published by Cinnamon Press. My short story “Watching Robert Duffin” won the Baker Prize, and I have won the Welshpool Poetry Competition. My poems and short stories have been published in a number of magazines and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic, including a series of poems in the poetry anthology Resurrection of a Sunflower, curated by Catfish McDaris and Marc Pietrzykowski, and my short story “Ripples” was published in Momaya Short Story Review, edited by Maya Cointreau and Monisha Saldanha. I’m currently working on my second novel and a series of poems about Vincent Van Gogh.

    Cathy says

    What can I say about writing? It's a form of communication, a great way of meeting people, swapping ideas, and learning from others. We need to work with fellow writers to realise and develop our writing potential. I think discussion and feedback helps us to grow as writers.

    I have a degree in Creative Writing from Birmingham University. My poetry has been published widely in magazines; Under the Radar, Mslexia, Spelt, Dreamcatcher, Sarasvati amongst others, and in anthologies including, This Place I Know (A new anthology of Cumbrian Poetry) edited by Kerry Derbishire, Kim Moore and Liz Nuttall, and in #Me Too: A Women’s Poetry anthology, edited by Debra Alma. I won the Second Light Poetry Prize, and was runner up for the Welshpool Poetry Competition. I was shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize. I have a sequence of poems published by Cinnamon Press. I was Poet Laureate for Warwick.



Contact

Email

connie.bott@mac.com