I am an experienced tutor registered with the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature Scheme and a member of the National Association of Writers in Education. I can deliver taster sessions, workshops and classes in creative writing across all its forms, as well as workshops facilitating writing specifically focussed on landscape and place. Click on the image above to view the Scottish Book Trust listing.

Recent and Upcoming Workshops:

Forthcoming in Autumn 2025:

EXPERIMENTING WITH VOICE – Forest, Mountain, River, Sea

In this block of four workshops running as part of The Barn Arts Third Stage Programme, participants will be encouraged to experiment and play with the writing voice through a focus on different environments.

Drawing on both established and well-known Nature writers as well as novelists, poets and short story writers, we will explore how a creative use of voice can bring new perspectives and a deeper connection with Nature.

Beginning September 16 and running through to October 07, each workshop is designed to work as a standalone session, but are linked by theme. 

Week One – Forest 

Week Two – Mountain

Week Three – River

Week Four – Sea 

WRITING NATURE AND PLACE – Autumn 2024

Starting Tuesday 29 October 2024 and running weekly at The Barn Arts space in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, participants were invited to experiment with different ways to think about place through a series of close reading and creative writing exercises over the course of four workshops:

Workshop One – ‘Taking Notice’

Workshop Two – ‘Working with Memory‘

Workshop Three – ‘Research‘

Workshop Four – ‘Pulling it all Together’

It was a delight to work with the group as part of BarnArts Third Stage Programme, which addresses loneliness and isolation in the community and aims to enhance wellbeing among individuals aged 55 and above. All those attending generously shared their life experiences and produced some wonderful writing exploring our relationships with nature and place.

Some of the comments from the group below:

“Ian’s been an excellent tutor. He has a great ability to listen, draw people out. Challenged and feel encouraged.”

“It was a challenging workshop – I have enjoyed it and learnt a lot. Thank you.” 

“This was a wonderful workshop. Really enjoyed learning and writing. Great and inspiring. Have been inspired to write again. Thank you”

“A fabulous course. Can we have more please?”

Paperboats Wild Seeds for Hope Workshop

Plenty? Festival – Barn Arts, Banchory

05 and 06 October. 2024.

This was a really fun drop-in style workshop, run over two days as part of the Paperboats collective at the Plenty? Festival laid on by The Barn Arts in Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

We worked with family groups to encourage thinking about our connections with Nature through Place, expressing our experiences and feelings about Nature with simple poems and descriptive fragments, alongside our hopes for the future, which we folded into paper boats made from wild seed paper.

We then launched our boats in the wild seed ‘harbour’ in the walled garden where our seeds of hope for the future will germinate and flower in the spring.

Ongoing Workshops / Sessions

The aim of Open Book is to help remove the barriers to access and enjoy literature, and to connect communities through shared reading and writing.

Between May and July 2023 I ran a creative writing group as part of a growth pilot for Open Book in partnership with Live Life Aberdeenshire Library Services. The pilot consisted of five open sessions and was well attended with people from across Aberdeenshire. The group has received further funding through the support of Creative Scotland and the Scottish Book Trust, and continues to meet for regular, monthly sessions.

Some feedback from those attending the pilot sessions below:

“Enjoyed having the space and time to immerse myself in writing & creativity.  Meeting liked minded people. Being led with themes & timed writing.”

“Enjoyed the opportunity to meet with other people keen on writing and discussion and get feedback. I enjoyed the format, and our tutor was lovely and very encouraging! It feels like an inspirational and safe space. Thank you.”

“Really enjoyed the event: it was good to get the chance of close reading/poetry/prose and to meet new people.”

“Didn’t feel under pressure, even with the poem. The pace of the class was perfect. I feel inspired to carry on writing.”

“Enjoyed reading poetry & trying something I don’t usually do. The group was relaxed & friendly – it didn’t feel intimidating.”

Past Workshops:

May 2024 – Finding Your Voice: an open workshop at the Bennachie Visitor Centre.

Some feedback:

“Ian gave a great balance of info’, inspiration, room to write and good feedback. I loved it!”

People attending, liked:

“listening to others’ writing.”

“Being outside.”

“Ian’s approach to group – good facilitation.”

“Relaxed and informal. No pressure.”

April 2024 – Writing the Littoral: Place, Practice and Form: a workshop for Mearns Writers based in Stonehaven.

Some feedback:

“Thank you very much for the excellent workshop. Well constructed, clearly focused and above all stimulating. And highly enjoyable.”

“The best bit was how you engaged us to ‘be here now’ and that was particularly delightful on the outing part to the beach…the sea…  That was meaningful.”

“Hearing the writing of others was great for us.”

April to June 2024 – Close Encounters

Between April and June 2024, I ran a series of community-based workshops exploring local heritage and relationships with place for the Silver City Heritage and Place Project, led by Aberdeen City Council with funding from Historic Environment Scotland and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Some of these workshops led to a series of audio-recorded interviews to capture a sample of individual experiences relating to the Castlegate area of Aberdeen city-centre for the Close Encounters Project and exhibition commissioned as part of the wider heritage project.

September 2023 – Autumn Words: A creative writing workshop at the Bennachie Visitor Centre.

Some feedback from those attending:

“Such an inspiring morning, I absolutely loved it!”

“I liked how it focussed my mind on our surroundings, the interaction with others and how Ian presented and coordinated everything.”

“The tutor was excellent at drawing the creativity out of everyone. Thank you so much.”

“Very relaxed, friendly, non-judgemental atmosphere. Very important to me as this was my first ever creative writing workshop.”

September 2022 – Writing Landscape and Place as part of WayWORD 2022. Details of the workshop session can be found here.

Some Feedback from WayWORD:

“Ian’s workshop was excellent – informative and enjoyable. My only criticism would be that it should be much longer next time.  He has a lovely manner, making everyone feel welcome and at ease.” 

“Enjoyed the opportunity to be with people who are interested in literature and writing – Just a great chance to be with like-minded people and discuss literature!”

Jan 2019 – two introductory creative writing workshops for Live Life Aberdeenshire

May – Dec. 2019 – designed, produced and delivered a series of classes in fiction, poetry and non-fiction with two groups for Aberdeenshire Council.

Some Feedback:

“I am exactly where I wanted to be with my writing and recognise the improvement.”

“I have loved doing the course and want to thank you for leading it so well and also for all the materials and feedback that you have given us along the way.”

“Thanks Ian for setting us all on our way to being confident writers – I have learned so much in a short time.”

“Thanks for all your advice and really helpful tips.  It’s helped spark my interest in creative writing again!”