Filtering by: “creative writing workshop”
An evening of poetry and music with Sophie Buchaillard and friends
Oct
15
creative writing workshop, Event

An evening of poetry and music with Sophie Buchaillard and friends

Poetry meets performance in this intimate evening marking the release of Sophie Buchaillard’s debut collection, Painting Over the Cracks. Blending personal experience with poetic insight, Sophie’s poetry traces a journey through trauma, motherhood, and healing, where community, friendship, and creative expression offer ways to mend what lies beneath the surface.

Sophie will be joined by special guests: award-winning poet Mab Jones and folk singer Siobhan McCrudden. Together with these three artists, we invite you to a night that celebrates resilience and the strength found in sharing stories.

***
Painting Over the Cracks is novelist Sophie Buchaillard’s poetry debut. Inspired by her life, this collection explores the healing power of expression, friendship, and community in overcoming trauma. Split into four chronological sections, the collection travels from the anxieties of a single mother to memories of buried traumas and how unspoken shame has a way to colour every interaction, fraying family ties, and making it hard to fully engage with the world. Poetry, here, becomes a means of articulating the unspoken, claiming back a sense of community, and recognising the strength that comes from friendship without judgment.

Sophie Buchaillard: Sophie is the author of two novels and a dozen essays. Her second novel, Assimilation, was described by cultural critic Jon Gower as “thriller meets magic realism”. Her first novel, This Is Not Who We Are, was shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award and the Wales Book of the Year.

She has written extensively about the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda and also contributed essays to three collections: Woman’s Wales? about women and devolution; An Open Door: New Travel Writing for a Precarious Century, about modern travel writing; and the COVID-themed collection Together and Apart.

After attending the Hay Festival in 2023 as a Writer at Work and benefitting from the mentoring of inspiring poets, she went home and exclusively read poetry for a year. Not knowing what she was doing, she simply wrote, exploring family relationships at first, letting herself being led by the words. In that sense, she fell into poetry, and poetry wouldn’t let go. Painting Over the Cracks is the result, a debut collection about the healing power of expression, friendship, and community in overcoming trauma - its title poem was shortlisted for the International Bridport Poetry Prize in 2024.

Mab Jones: Mab is a multi-award-winning writer and performer whose work spans the UK, US, France, Ireland, and Japan. Her poetry collections include 111 Haiku for Lockdown, The Land That Grew Me (Selcouth Station Prize winner), Yubitsume, Poor Queen, and the recent mythological wetlands memoir Bog Witch. She has written for The New York Times, presented BBC poetry programmes (including two Radio 4 Pick of the Week choices), and taught at Cardiff University. Mab has received accolades including the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, the Aurora Prize, and a Creative Wales Award.

Siobhan McCrudden: Described as “a singer who is gifted with one of the finest voices in contemporary UK folk music”, Cardiff-based Siobhan crafts songs of intensity and sweetness, recounting personal stories whilst reflecting a vivid fascination with dark folk tales and superstitions. Raised in London to parents with Scottish and Irish roots, her vocal leanings reflect early memories of folk musicians at family gatherings and a strong desire to connect with these emotive beginnings.

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JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’
Jun
30
creative writing workshop

JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’

Just What You Need: A creative writing ‘reset’ is an online writing session that takes place every Monday in June, 6-7pm

The aim of the session is to come together with other writers in a virtual room, to set some writing goals for the week ahead and work of directed prompts, to help you set a writing practise for yourself.

This session is for emerging writers needing writing prompts to work on their craft, and more experienced writers looking for help setting goals to work on a new or existing project.

The session is held online to maximise accessibility and help you slot the writing into your busy week.

Each session is £20 and you are welcome to attend one, a few or all five of them. To book, email: growritersb@gmail.com

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JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’
Jun
23
creative writing workshop

JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’

Just What You Need: A creative writing ‘reset’ is an online writing session that takes place every Monday in June, 6-7pm

The aim of the session is to come together with other writers in a virtual room, to set some writing goals for the week ahead and work of directed prompts, to help you set a writing practise for yourself.

This session is for emerging writers needing writing prompts to work on their craft, and more experienced writers looking for help setting goals to work on a new or existing project.

The session is held online to maximise accessibility and help you slot the writing into your busy week.

Each session is £20 and you are welcome to attend one, a few or all five of them. To book, email: growritersb@gmail.com

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JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’
Jun
16
creative writing workshop

JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’

Just What You Need: A creative writing ‘reset’ is an online writing session that takes place every Monday in June, 6-7pm

The aim of the session is to come together with other writers in a virtual room, to set some writing goals for the week ahead and work of directed prompts, to help you set a writing practise for yourself.

This session is for emerging writers needing writing prompts to work on their craft, and more experienced writers looking for help setting goals to work on a new or existing project.

The session is held online to maximise accessibility and help you slot the writing into your busy week.

Each session is £20 and you are welcome to attend one, a few or all five of them. To book, email: growritersb@gmail.com

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JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’
Jun
9
creative writing workshop

JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’

Just What You Need: A creative writing ‘reset’ is an online writing session that takes place every Monday in June, 6-7pm

The aim of the session is to come together with other writers in a virtual room, to set some writing goals for the week ahead and work of directed prompts, to help you set a writing practise for yourself.

This session is for emerging writers needing writing prompts to work on their craft, and more experienced writers looking for help setting goals to work on a new or existing project.

The session is held online to maximise accessibility and help you slot the writing into your busy week.

Each session is £20 and you are welcome to attend one, a few or all five of them. To book, email: growritersb@gmail.com

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JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’
Jun
2
creative writing workshop

JUST WHAT YOU NEED: A Creative Writing ‘reset’

Just What You Need: A creative writing ‘reset’ is an online writing session that takes place every Monday in June, 6-7pm

The aim of the session is to come together with other writers in a virtual room, to set some writing goals for the week ahead and work of directed prompts, to help you set a writing practise for yourself.

This session is for emerging writers needing writing prompts to work on their craft, and more experienced writers looking for help setting goals to work on a new or existing project.

The session is held online to maximise accessibility and help you slot the writing into your busy week.

Each session is £20 and you are welcome to attend one, a few or all five of them. To book, email: growritersb@gmail.com

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Writing the menopause
Dec
13
creative writing workshop

Writing the menopause

Despite increased mentions of the menopause in the media, there are still very few activities that address the experience itself, in an environment which facilitates creative engagement.

Over the course of five consecutive Fridays, from the 15th of November, the two-hour workshops will provide a free, flexible, and accessible experience for women who are looking for a creative activity that allows them to discuss, reflect and share their individual experiences of the menopause.

  • 29 November 10-11.30am

  • 6 December 10-11.30am

  • 13 December 10-11.30am

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Writing the menopause
Dec
6
creative writing workshop

Writing the menopause

Despite increased mentions of the menopause in the media, there are still very few activities that address the experience itself, in an environment which facilitates creative engagement.

Over the course of five consecutive Fridays, from the 15th of November, the two-hour workshops will provide a free, flexible, and accessible experience for women who are looking for a creative activity that allows them to discuss, reflect and share their individual experiences of the menopause.

  • 29 November 10-11.30am

  • 6 December 10-11.30am

  • 13 December 10-11.30am

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Writing the menopause
Nov
29
creative writing workshop

Writing the menopause

Despite increased mentions of the menopause in the media, there are still very few activities that address the experience itself, in an environment which facilitates creative engagement.

Over the course of five consecutive Fridays, from the 15th of November, the two-hour workshops will provide a free, flexible, and accessible experience for women who are looking for a creative activity that allows them to discuss, reflect and share their individual experiences of the menopause.

  • 29 November 10-11.30am

  • 6 December 10-11.30am

  • 13 December 10-11.30am

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Writing the menopause
Nov
22
creative writing workshop

Writing the menopause

Despite increased mentions of the menopause in the media, there are still very few activities that address the experience itself, in an environment which facilitates creative engagement.

Over the course of five consecutive Fridays, from the 15th of November, the two-hour workshops will provide a free, flexible, and accessible experience for women who are looking for a creative activity that allows them to discuss, reflect and share their individual experiences of the menopause.

  • 22 November 10-11.30am

  • 29 November 10-11.30am

  • 6 December 10-11.30am

  • 13 December 10-11.30am

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Creative Cardiff Classroom: Travel Writing with Sophie Buchaillard
Sept
17
creative writing workshop, Book talk

Creative Cardiff Classroom: Travel Writing with Sophie Buchaillard

Join Sophie Buchaillard for a four-hour masterclass on travel writing, hosted by Creative Cardiff Classroom. See link for details of how to book a place.

Dr Sophie Buchaillard is the author of two novels, Assimilation and This Is Not Who We Are, which was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year. She also contributed to the travel writing collection An Open Door: New Travel Writing for a Precarious Century (Parthian), edited by Steven Lovatt. She holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing and taught at Cardiff University until this year. Her academic research focuses on the link between travel writing, identity and belonging.

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