Unlock Your Creativity

What might happen if, over six months, you made space for your creativity – to experiment, play, remember, imagine and discover stories you didn't know were there?

Unlock Your Creativity is a six-month creative writing journey that follows the changing seasons from autumn into spring. Meeting once a month, we'll explore different ways of finding inspiration and turning it into writing – starting with the things we notice and uncover around us as autumn arrives, moving through the darker months of senses and memory in winter, embracing chance and alternative viewpoints in the new year, and emerging into spring with fresh perspectives and  beginnings.

Each month brings a different creative experience. Through Lost & Found, Come to Your Senses, The Way We Were, Roll With It, Someone Else's Shoes and Beginnings & Endings, we'll use playful prompts and exercises inspired by journalism, storytelling and everyday life to explore how ideas can be discovered, developed, disrupted and transformed.

Over the six months, you'll create a collection of new writings, build up a bank of ideas to return to, and develop your own toolkit for keeping creativity going. There'll be conversation and opportunities to share, but the emphasis is on curiosity and experimentation rather than polished work.

The course takes place in the welcoming surroundings of Only Make Believe bookshop at Merton Abbey Mills, with a small group and a relaxed, supportive atmosphere. No previous writing experience is needed: it's equally suitable for complete beginners, people returning to writing after a long break, and experienced writers looking to shake up their habits and find fresh inspiration.

The workshop is led by Dr Glenda Cooper, associate professor at City St George’s, University of London.  I'm an award-winning fiction writer (Poetic Republic, Writers' Bureau, longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize) and playwright (my work has been performed at Theatre 503, The Pleasance Theatre, Islington, Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Rose Theatre Studio, Irlam Fringe). I've also worked as a staff correspondent and editor for BBC Radio 4, The Washington Post, The Independent, Telegraph and Sunday Times. You might have also caught my shows at the Wandsworth Fringe and the UK River Festival and Summit at Morden Hall Park.

Dates and times are: 

Weds 7 Oct 2026, 

Tues 3 Nov 2026, [nb please note day change due to venue availability]

Weds 2 Dec 2026,

Weds 6 Jan 2027,

Weds 3 Feb 2027  

Weds 3 Mar 2027

All sessions run 7pm-9pm

Price: £30 per session (discounts available if you book more than one session)

Come curious. Leave creative.