Writers’ Gathering D&G goes online

Writers’ Gathering D&G, our annual conference for writers, is going online this year on 14-16 May with a lively mix of Zoom workshops, a live-streamed panel discussion, an open mic night, and more.

We will kick off on the evening of Friday 14 May with a panel discussion on “Writing in the time of Covid”. Jan Carson, Jarred McGinnis and Saeida Rouass will discuss how they've coped as writers during the current pandemic and how lockdown has impacted on their creativity. They might even share the odd tip for finding motivation and maintaining health and well-being during challenging times!

The weekend of 15-16 May will include a range of workshops on short fiction, nature writing, crime writing (including how to poison your characters), creating authentic worlds, memoir and life writing, and more. Confirmed workshop leaders so far include Jan Carson, Jarred McGinnis, Saeida Rouass, Jessica J. Lee, and E.S. Thomson. Our final line-up will be announced next week.

Our open mic night will take place on the evening of Saturday 15 May, intended to provide a safe space for participants to share their work and practise their spoken word skills. We also hope to facilitate networking with some digital lunchtime hangouts and what would normally be our book stall for participants to share and sell their work will be replaced by an online showcase.

The Friday evening panel discussion is free, however the workshops will be ticketed, providing on-the-day access only, so make sure you book your place. There will be a range of affordable booking options available, including bursaries.

We missed our annual Writers’ Gathering last year when it had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, so it’s great to see it returning this year in a new virtual format, and it will be exciting to find out what development opportunities a digital format might offer for our workshops and our participants.

As one former attendee said to us recently, “It’s a place to connect, talk, learn, geek out and write – what more could you want?” We couldn’t agree more!

Booking opens next week, so stay tuned for more information. You can also follow our Facebook page for regular updates.

It’s a place to connect, talk, learn, geek out and write – what more could you want?