In the summer 2023 school holidays, Milton Keynes Literary Festival is running a programme of free weekly workshops based in central MK for young people aged 14-18yrs.

The workshops are designed to:

• give an insight into careers involving writing and publishing
• help develop creativity and writing skills
• prepare for future volunteering opportunities at the festival to develop confidence and transferable skills to build up CVs.

MK Lit Fest is dedicated to fostering a love for literature, writing, and all things word-related, and to empowering people to explore the realms of publishing, writing, screenwriting, poetry - and the vibrant local literary scene in Milton Keynes.

Our ambition is to create a space where young people can come, be inspired, collaborate with each other and create a real community of local young writers. Each week, a local writer will lead a talk  about how to get into literary careers in different fields. We’ll be exploring publishing, fiction, short stories, political writing, memoir, screenwriting, and poetry.

This week's guest workshop facilitator is playwright and former MK Writer in Residence Rachel Barnett-Jones. 

Rachel is a versatile writer, producer and educator with experience in creating work for screen, stage and print. She has a particular passion in writing for young people and family audiences and has written for theatres including York Theatre Royal, Chichester Festival Theatre and The Royal Court. Rachel was part of the 2022 Creative UK Accelerate Film and TV Cohort and recipient of a ScreenSkills Bursary. She was also recipient of the 2018 Sally Goldsworthy Memorial Bursary from the Discovery Story Centre and the 2016 Milton Keynes Writer in Residence.

Rachel is co-artistic director of Fly High Stories – creating work which puts ‘Learning Through Laughing’ at its heart. Rachel has a BA in English Literature from Cardiff University and an MA in Writing for Performance from Central School of Speech and Drama. You can find her on her website www.rachelbarnett.co.uk