Arvon runs residential creative writing courses which aim to challenge, inspire and transform your writing.
You can now download a pdf of the 2012 course brochure here and if there is a course you would like to book, please phone the centre that is hosting the course. Online booking will be available early next week.
Our five day courses are held in beautiful and historic houses in Devon, Yorkshire, Shropshire and Inverness-shire. Discover more about our writing houses.
We work with writers of every age and at every stage of their writing lives. Whether you are a beginner or more experienced, there is a course for you. Read testimonies from people who have experienced the Arvon magic.
If you are on low or no income, you can apply for a grant to help with your course fee. Find out how to apply for a grant.
- 2012 programme download
Really sorry for the technical problems today, due to an upgrade to a new website and booking system.
In the meantime you can download a pdf of the 2012 brochure here and if there is a course you would like to book, please phone the centre that is hosting the course.
more - Arvon 2012 programme download
A new website with the Arvon 2012 programme, open for booking, is currently being tested, and is due to go live shortly.
In the meantime, a pdf of the 2012 programme will be downloadable on the existing site from 2pm today (Wednesday).
Apologies for the delay.
more - Arvon 2012 Programme update
Due to a major upgrade to our website and booking system, the Arvon 2012 course programme will now not be made public and available for online bookings till Wednesday 18 January. Sorry for the delay.
more - Arvon 2012 programme
Arvon's 2012 proramme is open for bookings for Arvon Friends, and will go public on January 16. If you would like to receive the 2012 brochure as soon as it is goes public, please email london@arvonfoundation.org with your postal address and we will mail a free brochure to you.
more - The Jessie Kesson Fellowship - writer in residence opportunity
Moniack Mhor - The Jessie Kesson Fellowship
5th – 30th March 2012Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre is offering a unique opportunity for a published writer to spend a month at the centre to dedicate time developing their own work. The centre would like to encourage writers from out-with the United Kingdom to apply.
The writer in residence will work a minimum of two sessions a week in Highland schools. The writer may be expected to participate in a literary evening event either as part of a ceilidh setting or at a designated local venue.
more - Jerwood/Arvon mentee Janice Okoh wins the 2011 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting
Janice Okoh, one of the playwriting mentees on the 2010 Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Scheme, has been awarded the 2011 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting for her play The Real House.
more - Jerwood/Arvon mentee Stevie Ronnie shortlisted for Biscuit Factory Foundation award
Stevie Ronnie, who completed the second year of the Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Scheme, has been shortlisted for the Biscuit Factory Foundation's Young Artist of the Year Award.
more - Arvon launch Winter Warmer - courses in January and early February 2012
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Can’t wait for Arvon’s 2012 programme? Treat yourself to the perfect Christmas present and give those New Year’s resolutions a chance to succeed.
Winter Warmer is Arvon’s brand new programme, a range of creative writing courses in January and early February that offer the perfect way to start the year as you intend to go on. Join fellow writers at our beautiful country writing houses and, with the help of expert tuition from professional writers, give yourself the boost you need and the impetus to carry on writing throughout the year. - The Escalator Literature Fiction Competition Now Open
Writer’s Centre Norwich are looking for talented novelists from the East of England.
Are you a novelist based in the East of England? Want to get professional? If you could benefit from a year's worth of development and support then please apply for the Escalator Literature Fiction Competition.
more - An evening of poetry at the Free Word Centre
On Friday 7 October, Arvon and The Poetry Business present an evening of poetry to launch the debut collections of two Arvon/Jerwood 2009 mentees, Maitreyabandhu and Carole Bromley. They will be joined by their mentor Mimi Khalvati.
The readings will begin at 7pm.
more - Arvon 2012 Course Programme update
We are all very happy with the courses and tutors lined up for Arvon in 2012. Arvon Friends will receive and be able to book courses on the 2012 programme first - in the first week of December. The programme will be made public in the second week of January.
more - MUJU and Arvon Young Playwrights Partnership
The Young Playwrights Partnership brings together MUJU and Arvon to offer two grants to a young Muslim and a young Jewish playwrights and existing members of MUJU to attend our theatre course, Tell it the only way you can at Totleigh Barton in Devon from 21 –26 November 2011.
more - Grants available for writers from West Midlands
Script, the West Midlands agency for dramatic writers, has donated some money towards Arvon's grant fund, specifically to help writers from the West Midlands who are on low incomes or unwaged. If you would like to attend an Arvon course on theatre, film, comedy, TV or radio and live in the West Midlands, please contact emma@arvonfoundation.org for information on how you can apply for a grant for up to 90% of your course.
more - Grand Fundraiser 2011
Arvon's next grand fundraiser will be held at Lincolns Inn on Monday 14th November 2011. King Lear: The Pantomime, written by Simon Brett, will star (subject to availability) Juliet Stevenson, Nigel Planer, Hugh Dennis, Clive Anderson and Mariella Frostrup.
Tables seating 10 guests in the magnificent Great Hall are available at £2,000.
Profits from this event go towards our charitable work with young people
more - Sandra Powley wins the Arvon Postcard Competition
Sandra Powley has won the Arvon Postcard Competition with her poem Antipodean Pepper Tree. The winning entry and four runner-ups were chosen by Sunday Times Magazine Deputy Editor Cathy Galvin and can be seen here.
more - Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Scheme Anthology now available
The 2010 mentoring year has now finished, and the anthology of the mentees' work, Marginalia, is now available from Arvon for just £2.00 (the cost of the postage and packing).
more - URBAN ARVON
An exciting new series of three-day writing courses in Bloomsbury, London, at Birkbeck College
more - Moira Buffini and Patrick Marber confirmed for Adaptation course
Arvon is delighted to announce that Moira Buffini will be tutoring and Patrick Marber will be the guest on Totleigh Barton's Adaptation course, 3rd-8th October 2011. Moira's recent feature film adaptations include the Stephen Frears directed Tamara Drewe, from Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel. Patrick’s screen adaptations include Closer, from his acclaimed play and Notes on a Scandal from Zoe Heller’s novel. They join Deborah Moggach who will also be tutoring the course. There are spaces still available, call 01409 231338 or email totleighbarton@arvonfoundation.org for more details.
more - Arvon successful in Arts Council Funding
Arvon's Chief Executive Ruth Borthwick, announces the exciting news:
"I am very pleased to announce that Arvon has been successful in its bid to Arts Council England for National Portfolio Funding. Arvon will receive a 54% uplift over five years, 2012-17. In its assessment, Arts Council recognized Arvon as ‘the flagship for excellence in the literature portfolio – the art-form’s equivalent of the Royal Opera House’. This generous support will enable us to build on our work and extend opportunities for more people of all ages and backgrounds to transform their lives through creative writing. Whilst we celebrate, we also recognize that there will be very good work by other arts and literature organisations that hasn’t been funded due to the cut of 30% in overall funding to ACE.
more - Voluntary Workers Grant 2011
Arvon is happy to announce that the recipient of the 2011 Voluntary Workers Grant is Leonie Martin. Thanks to an anonymous donor, Leonie will attend the Life Writing course at Moniack Mhor in August. Find out more about Voluntary Workers Grants here.
more - Order The 2010 Poetry Competition Anthology
The 2010 Arvon International Poetry Competition Anthology is available to order online. The anthology will contain all the winning and commended poems from this year's competition, which is now closed to entries.
more - Connect with Arvon on Facebook and Twitter
If you're on Facebook you can now become a fan of Arvon. Or why not follow us on Twitter.
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