Writing for self-expression 💻
- Starts, Friday 27th June (4 sessions)
- 10:30 - 12pm
- Online, via zoom
Writing for self-expression, 4 week courseÂ
The Royal Literacy Fund is a British charity that has been supporting authors since 1790. In this series of guided sessions (a collaboration between the Recovery College and Royal Literacy Fund) Ruth Dugdall.
Ruth Dugdall is an internationally published novelist and short-story writer known for her seven novels that delve into the psychology of deviance.  Her debut, ‘The Woman Before Me’ (2010), won the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger award. ‘The Sacrificial Man’ (2011) a psychological thriller featured on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and ‘My Sister and Other Liars’ (2019), became an Amazon number one bestseller.
Before her writing career, Dugdall worked as a probation officer in a high-security prison and has held various roles in the criminal justice system, including crisis worker and prison visitor.  In 2019, she was invited by the British Ambassador to Luxembourg to write a short story for the anthology ‘The Many Faces of 1918’.  Dugdall spent two years in Silicon Valley researching and writing ‘The Seventh Circle’, a campus thriller, while also engaging with the civilian police academy and guest lecturing at Stanford University.  She now resides in Suffolk, where most of her books are set.
What to expect from the course:
Expressive writing is about self-expression, it pays more attention to thoughts and feelings rather than detailed descriptions of the events, objects, or people in the contents of a narrative. Just like narrative writing, expressive writing may have the arc of a story: beginning, middle, and end.
Sometimes expressive writing behaves like a story that swells to crest and resolves itself on firm ground. But often, expressive writing can be turbulent, unexpected and unpredictable, and that is OK.  Expressive writing can help people think about their experiences and put their thoughts and feelings into words.
In this series of 4 guided sessions, you will have the opportunity to reflect and write in an informal and friendly space.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve written before, the exercises and conversation aim to promote discussion, and capture your thoughts.  From a few lines of a story, a short list or a poem, each session is facilitated by the professional writer, who will read aloud a selection of published work (poetry and prose) and invite you to reflect, on if and how, those words have connected with you.
You’ll then be invited to take part in some short exercises to think about connecting your own experiences, thoughts and feelings to an individual piece of work.
4 session course (10:30-12pm, online);Â
- Friday 27th June
- Friday 4th July
- Friday 11th July
- Friday 18th July
Please note:
Writing for Self-Expression is a 4-week course, and we kindly ask that when making your booking that you are able to commit to attending each of the four sessions. Our continued partnership with the Royal Literary Fund relies on good and consistent attendance, and we’d love to continue offering creative courses like this in the future.
Thanks for your understanding and support!
| Date | Time | Venue |
| Fri 27th June | 10:30 am - 12:00 pm | Online |
Page last updated: 15th Apr 2025 1:40pm