Forest Arts Young Writers, Summer 2026

Do you enjoy writing? Would you like to develop your skills or be more confident with using words on paper and out loud? Are you aged between 11 and 14?

As a Forest Arts Junior Writer, you will get the chance to attend workshops led by professional writers, and you might get to see your work published online, in print, or perform it on a stage before a live audience.

Workshops are run on Saturday mornings from 11.30am - 1pm on a weekly basis during term times and offer a safe, supportive environment, encouraging young writers to share work and to give and receive feedback in a respectful way that empowers all voices in the group. You'll meet like-minded people and have fun along the way.

There are two groups:

9.30 - 11am - Junior Writers, ages 7-10 - please click here

11.30am-1.00pm - Young Writers, ages 11-14

Spring term runs for 10 sessions from the 25th April - 23rd May and 6th June - 4th July, with no session on the 30th May.

Attendance

ArtfulScribe are looking for a commitment on attendance. We have therefore now moved to a termly booking rather than individual sessions, but you can start at any time to join the rest of the term, or book a free trial session to come along to the next session to see what it's like. If you'd like to start mid-term please contact us for a payment link for a pro-rata contribution. Please only reserve your space if you are able to attend for all or the majority of the sessions (or those remaining for the term): this helps us build trust in the group.

Ticket prices

Our writing groups for young people have always been free to attend, supported with public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and by Forest Arts. Enjoyment of creative writing outside school is linked strongly to attainment in school and good mental wellbeing (National Literacy Trust), and ensuring cost is not a barrier to writing has always been important to us. As long as we’re able to, we aim to continue to offer free places on these classes to all who need them.

To support the programme going forward, we’ve recently introduced optional paid for tickets, offering the opportunity to support this work and help ArtfulScribe and Forest Arts to offer more activities for children and young people. When you book for these classes, you’ll now be given the option to book a standard priced ticket, a concession ticket or a free place. All prices are still subsidised and no differentiation will be made between students in the workshop; it’s up to you to choose what you can afford each term. ArtfulScribe is a not-for-profit community interest company and we welcome your support.

To find out more about ArtfulScribe and our work as a literature development organisation across the Solent, please visit www.artfulscribe.co.uk where you can also sign up for our newsletter. For any queries please contact [email protected].

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