DEVOTION: TOO MUCH!
TOO MUCH!
A TWO DAY CREATIVE WRITING MASTERCLASS ON MESS + EXCESS
NO PREP.
NO HOMEWORK.
EVERBODY WELCOME.
FACILITATED BY SOPHIE ROBINSON
Anyone who has taken a creative writing class or lived in a body in the world will be familiar with the fetishisation of slimming down. Anything tidy and lean enough can pass for good taste, and economy of the expression can do a fine impression of well crafted writing. This workshop is the opposite of that.
This masterclass is for anyone who longs to lean into mess, excess, and the gristle of their creative work.
We’ll be working with layering, palimpsests, collage, repetition, additive editing, linguistic maximalism, oversharing, infodumping, tautology, granularity, listing, obsession, hunger, greed, pleasure, laziness, masturbatory writing, monomania, cliché, sensory overload, and (of course) more.
Our Muses:
Mary Gaitskill, Dodie Bellamy, CAConrad, Michelle Tea, Kevin Killian, James Joyce, Tracey Emin, Carolee Schneemann, Melissa Broder, Jacques Demy, John Waters, Eileen Myles,Bhanu Kapil, Precious Okoyomon, Samuel Delany, Laurie Weeks
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