How do you strike the right balance when mining your own personal experiences to develop the story you're working on?
Learn from a king of storytelling by joining us for this exclusive online masterclass with the inspiring and critically acclaimed author Alex Wheatle. In this practical 90-minute session, Alex will ask attendees to consider where the line is when it comes to drawing on personal experiences for inspiration, look at how personal experience can generate ideas and authenticity, and ask about the ways in which we fictionalise real life.
Attendees can expect this session to include invaluable writing exercises and in-class discussion on how to effectively draw on personal experiences to shape your writing for children and/or young adults, from plot and character development to writing voice.
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This session forms part of our Children's Writers & Illustrators Festival 2025. A range of ticket-types are available to purchase, and to view our full 2025 festival line-up, please visit our Weekend Pass page.
Alex Wheatle is the author of several acclaimed novels, many of them inspired by experiences from his childhood. He was born in Brixton to Jamaican parents and spent most of his childhood in a Surrey children's home. After a short stint in prison following the Brixton uprising of 1981, he wrote poems and lyrics and became known as the Brixton bard. Alex has been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Carnegie Medal and the YA Book Prize. He won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008.
And There's More... Pitch Your Work to a Literary Agent!
Reserving a place at this masterclass entitles you to a place at our literary agent panel discussion, which begins at 14.45 on Sunday 23rd March 2025.
Two specialist children’s agents will join us to critique your pitches live, offer general guidance and advice on the submission process for both authors and/or illustrators, and take questions via a live Q&A.
Ahead of this session, you will be invited to submit your own novel pitch. A select number of pitches will then be chosen by our agents, and critiqued during the session itself! Look out for an email from W&A in days leading up to the festival, which will contain all the information you need about how to submit your pitch.
Festival Raffle
Every festival attendee is automatically entered into our festival raffle, while weekend pass holders receive two raffle entries. The raffle will be drawn at the end of the festival, with the following prizes up for grabs:
3rd prize: Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2024 and Bloomsbury Children's book bundle
2nd prize: complimentary place at any W&A evening masterclass (RRP £30) + Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2024 and Bloomsbury Children's book bundle
1st prize: gratis Opening Chapters editing service (RRP £240/£380)
Testimonials from 2023 and 2024 Festivalgoers
"Treated me like a professional, motivated artist"
"Inspiring, informative, inclusive & confidence building."
"Excellent speakers, a well thought out and balanced programme, very inspiring and enjoyable."
"Made a few little idea's into a realistic possibility of being published one day; something between a big hug & a kick up the proverbial bum."
"Practical tips, inspiring and well organised."
"Something for everyone currently writing for children."
"Inspirational. I felt like I had been immersed in a world of children’s literature and heard the perspectives of many from the industry."
"Such a great sense of community and lots of really interesting workshops and talks"
"Inspiring, uplifting and made me want get back to my desk and write :-)"
"Really feels like it has been totally designed with writers in mind."
"Absolutely FANTASTIC! [...] I'm new to the world of writing - and I wasn't expecting much as a result - but I have to say that it completely knocked my socks off in every way."
"Every live session left me with loads of notes in my notebook and really inspired."
"A lovely way to enter this world and get some helpful, encouraging advice."
A booking for this masterclass gives you access to three hours of festival content. This is made up of a real-time masterclass with Alex Wheatle (14.00-15.30, Saturday 22nd March 2025) and a live panel with two literary agents (14.45-16.15, Sunday 23rd March, 2025). You will also receive a single entry to our festival raffle.
This festival will take place online in full, and will be presented using video conferencing software. Joining instructions, links, and full guidance will be circulated for the above in the week leading up to the festival.
Any event materials associated to individual masterclasses will be made available to attendees at the author's discretion, and all recordings will be made available for a time-limited period.
A single masterclass booking is priced at £40 (inc. VAT), and payable in full online.
Please note that payment instalment plans are available for all W&A events, writing courses and editing services. Contact W&A Admin on events@writersandartists.co.uk so that we can find a payment schedule that works for you.
To view our event refund and cancellation policy, please click here.
Accessible to All
It’s of real importance to Writers & Artists that our events and courses remain accessible to all.
- Writers & Artists has made one Weekend Pass+ available as part of our accessibility scheme. Please visit our bursaries page for further information about how to apply. All bursary applications must have been submitted for consideration by 2nd March 2025
- At the author’s discretion, event materials will be made available to attendees after their real-time masterclass.
- A link to a recording of live masterclasses will be circulated after the event. This will be made available to event attendees only, and for a time-limited period.
- Each event will include written text and visuals. Please contact us in advance so that we can make arrangements to be sure all documents appear in a format that works for you.
- If you’d like to attend but have any questions or concerns regarding accessibility, then please email AccessWA@bloomsbury.com
