A lot has changed in the seven years since we created London Lit Lab – for us as writers, for the writers we meet on our courses, and for the world in general. Through it all we’ve stuck steadfastly to the principle that writing communities matter, and the best thing we can do is support one another.
In 2022-2023 the mission continues: we try to connect writers, teach what we love, employ fantastic authors as tutors, and embrace writing for its own sake as a wonderful, life-enhancing process.
Keeping our courses accessible is the biggest challenge at the moment. Online courses have been a wonderful way to meet writers from all over the world – location, time zone and mobility being no barriers. But in 2022 and beyond we know that many of us are facing the barrier of cost. Our courses have never been expensive, but life is becoming very expensive indeed for millions of people, and a writing course can feel like an indulgent luxury.
To try and counter balance this:
- Keeping course prices low and the quality as high as ever
- Making free or half-price places available on as many courses as possible
- Offering the option of paying in instalments for any course
- Ensuring that writers who meet on online courses can stay in touch and continue as a mutually supportive community
We are also working with other writing organisations to make sure we can direct you to other affordable/free courses and events, provide discounts, and generally help writers find good value guidance whatever stage they are at. Look out for more on this in our newsletters.
Finally, we are planning a big project for 2023 that will allow us to offer far more free support to writers, in the form of mentoring, author-led writing groups, help and advice. Our Wild & Precious project, which culminated in an anthology of writers in recovery being published last year, was a great success, and allowed us to work with dozens of writers as editors and mentors. We aim to secure funding again so we can reach many more writers and keep our support and community available to as many of you as possible.
From the start, we’ve been buoyed up by the responses of fellow writers on our courses. We see so much creativity blooming, and the process of learning and writing alongside others spurring people on. We hope that, while some more costly writing courses may feel out of reach just now (with prices commonly ranging from the many hundreds of pounds to the many thousands), ours will provide more affordable alternatives. Your feedback has consistently confirmed that London Lit Lab courses are excellent value for money. We’re not here to boast, but here are some comments from course attendees that make us feel both proud and hopeful:
‘I’ve done a few London Lit Lab courses, and you get so much for your money. I’m always surprised at how jam packed they are with amazing material.’ – on Lily Dunn’s Self Adaptation: Making the Personal Publishable
‘This Lit Lab course felt head and shoulders above other courses that I’ve taken including some highly regarded courses with other providers.’ – on Zoe Gilbert’s Summer Seminars: Fantastic Literature
‘100% – this was one of the most thoughtful, considered, and useful writing courses I have ever been involved in. I can say without exaggeration it was more helpful to me in these short weeks than my year-long M.Phil in Creative Writing.’ – on Anna Freeman’s How to Plot a Page-Turner
‘I have been on a lot of courses and some are more expensive than others. But I like LLL courses because the teachers give a lot of feedback and you get a sense of their presence on the course. They’re a lot cheaper than other courses too.’ – on Lily Dunn’s Creative Nonfiction: Compelling Memoir
‘I have produced work with Tania that I am more pleased with than on any other workshop or course.’ – on Tania Hershman’s Science-Flavoured Writing
‘Just thank you again for a great course which is terrific value for money, and which inspires the participants to write – brilliant seeing how many pieces from the previous course have ended up published.’ – on Zoe Gilbert’s Wild Inside: More Folk Tales in Fiction
‘It’s a lucky writer who falls into the hands of Kylie Fitzpatrick. Astute, capable, experienced and with a fantastic intuition for drawing out the soul of a manuscript, Kylie is able – with great gentleness – to guide you in the right direction. If you require a sensitive yet precise look at your writing, then I can’t recommend Kylie enough.’ – on Kylie Fitzpatrick’s Finding your Voice: Reclaiming the Inner Writer
‘Just to say this is my second Lit Lab course and I just feel that this closeness of experience gives the writer a lot which sometimes is missing in other courses. Lily and Zoe really care about their participants and it shows.’ – on Lily Dunn’s Self-Adaptation: Making the Personal Publishable
‘Learnt more today than in a whole MA module. I particularly liked having pre-reading and lots of reading suggestions for later.’ – on Zoe Gilbert’s Folk Tales in New Fiction
‘I’ve studied creative writing in lots of different forms. This was one of the best courses I’ve done. Exceeded expectations.’ – on Anna Freeman’s How to Plot a Page-Turner
Thank you all of you – for joining us and for supporting one another along the way. We will carry on bringing writers together and finding ways to stay accessible to as many as possible. If you’d like to get in touch about this or anything else, we’d always love to hear from you. You can drop us a line at info@londonlitlab.co.uk.
Zoe & Lily x
