DEVOTION: WEIRDO SCHOOL II

WEIRDO SCHOOL: How to write like you  

After a sellout first run in Spring, WEIRDO SCHOOL is back! The workshop will cover new prompts and material, whilst addressing the same vital questions.  (If you want to brush up on the first workshop you can purchase the recording here.) 

WEIRDO SCHOOL is a weekend intensive workshop designed to help you create charismatic, original and vital writing in an age of AI slop, mimetic “content”. Taking inspiration from the writers and artists who knew how to cut through the noise and make it the world seem new, we’ll explore how to make your writing sound as vital and weird as you.

The usual Devotion rules apply: no homework, no prep, and no prior experience needed; just bring yourself and a pen and we’ll do the rest together.

Our Muses:

Alice Notley, Bernadette Mayer, Lucille Clifton, Warsan Shire, Gertrude Stein, Yoko Ono, John Cage, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Madeline Cash, Samuel Delany, Lucy Ellmann, Dodie Bellamy, Nicole Eisenmann, Tracey Emin, Carolee Schneemann, John Waters, Wong Kar-Wai, Chantal Ackerman, David Lynch

We’ll practice:

how to sound exactly like ourselves

how to describe the world with preciseness and vitality

how to write urgent and vital sentences

how to use aphorisms and anachronisms like an esoteric baddie

how to love verbs and treat them well

how to be sentimental and get away with it

how to be weirder! than! necessary! about punctuation

how to write in a way that makes you want to keep writing, a way that makes the language a mirror for the world, a way that makes others want to keep reading, a way that makes you remember why you used to love this, all of it; a way that makes it seem less like the end of everything —

SOPHIE ROBINSON is a poet, novelist, nonfiction writer and teacher. She is the author of Prairie Oyster (2026) and Rabbit (2018). Her writing has been published in Granta, The Guardian, Stylist, BOMB Magazine, The Believer, N+1, The Poetry Review and The White Review.

Sophie founded Devotion in 2020 as a radical, inclusive and accessible creative writing workshop space. She was previously a full time assistant professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia for ten years, and has facilitated public creative writing workshops at the Tate, the V&A, the ICA, the British Library, Arvon, The Poetry Society, and The National Poetry Library.

About Devotion

Devotion is a practice-based creative writing workshop for everyone. It nurtures writing practices through communal writing sessions that foster accountability, solidarity and collective learning. Devotion is a writing workshop for everyone. All experience levels, forms and genres welcome 🌹

Devotion workshop testimonials

‘Despite years of formal education, I never had as meaningful an opportunity to develop my craft. Devotion fosters and nurtures a thoughtful, inclusive space for people to grow in their writing and their practice.’

‘I have attended every Devotion workshop so far & every time has been incredible. T he mix of poetry, music, film & art as inspiration makes it so stimulating & like a little party for the heart - because that's what Devotion seems to access, subtle connections to feeling.

‘Devotion has become a must in my life now & I would probably cancel most other things to be there because it does something that nothing else has ever done for me in my writing & has changed me in other more spiritual senses too. The space is nurturing & allows for everybody to be who they need to be on any given day.’

Devotion Workshop Terms & Conditions

Booking & Payment

Booking a place on any Devotion workshop, course, or event confirms your agreement to the terms outlined below. Full payment (or agreed installment payment, where applicable) is required in order to secure your place.

If payment plans are offered, participants are responsible for completing all scheduled payments by the agreed deadlines. Failure to complete payments may result in loss of access to workshop materials or participation in future sessions.

Refund Policy

Due to the limited capacity of Devotion workshops and the preparation involved in delivering each programme, refunds are limited.

• Refund requests made 14 days or more before the workshop/course start date are eligible for a full refund, minus any booking or processing fees.
• Refund requests made 7–13 days before the start date are eligible for a 50% refund.
• Refund requests made less than 7 days before the start date are non-refundable.

If a place can be filled from a waiting list, a discretionary refund may be offered outside of these terms.

For multi-week courses already in progress, missed sessions are generally non-refundable.

All sessions are recorded, so participants will be able to watch back any sessions they are unable to attend.

Session Rescheduling

Devotion is an independent creative practice run by a facilitator living with chronic health conditions. While every effort is made to deliver workshops as scheduled, there may occasionally be circumstances where illness makes teaching impossible.

In these situations:

• Sessions may be rescheduled to a later date where necessary.
• Participants will be given as much notice as possible wherever practical.
• If a session is postponed, the workshop or course will continue with the missed session moved to a new agreed date.
• Rescheduling a session due to facilitator illness does not automatically entitle participants to a refund.

By booking onto a Devotion workshop, participants acknowledge that occasional rescheduling may be necessary as part of maintaining a sustainable independent creative practice.

Every effort will always be made to minimise disruption and communicate changes clearly.

Cancellation by Devotion

In the unlikely event that Devotion needs to cancel a workshop entirely and cannot offer a suitable alternative date:

Participants will be offered either:

• A full refund, or
• Credit toward a future Devotion offering.

Community Care

Devotion workshops are collaborative creative spaces built on trust, curiosity, and mutual respect.

Participants are asked to respect the privacy of others where personal experiences are shared and contribute to creating an environment that feels safe, generous, and welcoming for everyone involved.

Course Materials

Any workshop materials, exercises, recordings, prompts, or written resources provided by Devotion are for personal use only.

Materials may not be copied, distributed, reproduced, or shared publicly without permission.

Contact

For questions relating to bookings, accessibility requirements, cancellations, or course participation, please contact Devotion directly prior to the workshop where possible: devotionworkshop@gmail.com