The November Writing Stories for Children course is now full, but fear not! My next course, Creative Writing For All, starts Sunday 11th January, 2pm, for six Sundays.. You can expect the usual relaxed and encouraging atmosphere, and tasks suited to both beginners and more experienced writers, taught by the author of more than sixty works, previously tutor in creative writing at the universities of Glamorgan and Newport. Workshops are an hour long, and there is also the opportunity to get further tuition by email during the week. The venue is Insole Court, with its lovely grounds, excellent cafe and pleasant teaching spaces. If you don’t already know the reputation of these courses, which have run since 2013, have a look at the reviews. Early booking is advised as there is a numbers limit to ensure everybody gets the attention they deserve!

Please note – now fully booked. I’m delighted to announce that Writing Stories for Children will be taking place in November and December, again in the fantastic setting of Insole Court, Llandaff, in Stable One. This, the thirty-fifth course I have run since the first in Bute Park in 2013, will as usual take place over six Sundays and be suitable for adults of any experience. There will be opportunities to write for any age from babies to young adults under the tutelage of a highly experienced teacher and author of best-selling picture books, early readers, middle grade and teen novels. And there can be few better places to spend a Sunday afternoon than Insole Court, with its beautiful grounds, modern and well-equipped teaching spaces, excellent cafe and easy parking.

Listen to some tuition from a previous course: https://soundcloud.com/jonblake/2025-tuition-at-insole-court

I’m delighted to announce the launch of my 65th title, a young adult title dealing with themes of misogyny, the climate crisis and the rise of the far right, with a plot and main character which I hope readers will find compelling. It’s the story of a teenage girl who’s dropped out of school due to a defiant nature and unwillingness to compromise, who gets a job in a backstreet store selling woefully inadequate dragons. She’s desperate to succeed at this, but everything changes when she becomes attached to a dragon who seems strangely obsessed by her. Her feelings for this creature will test her to the limit.

I qualified as a teacher in 1979, and largely thanks to that experience, became a published author five years later, with a story in the collection Misfits, published by the Bodley Head. So those with a talent for maths will recognise that this year I am celebrating forty years since first finding myself on bookshop shelves. And I’m delighted to say I’ve just got hold of a later edition of Misfits that I’d never set eyes on before – thanks to the Hay-on-Wye Children’s Bookshop. As you’ll see I was in good company in this collection, and at the launch party met the legendary agent Gina Pollinger, who kindly signed me up and got me deals with Puffin and Walker, with many more publishers to follow. I’m hoping to hold a celebratory talk – hopefully an entertaining one – sometime later this year, with details to be posted here – always a good idea to follow this blog! And as advertised below, there should be another six week course coming, probably in September, which you can provisionally book a slot on by emailing me.

I had the honour of running a creative writing workshop and Q&A session for the BBC last weekend – such a pleasure to have nearly a hundred students, and to get such enthusiastic feedback afterwards. It’s only added to my own enthusiasm to work with the next bunch of face-to-face students in Cardiff in September. Check out the post below for dates and times as booking has already begun.

The first post-lockdown course has been a great success and more courses are now planned. The common room in Chapter has proved a popular alternative to the usual venue in Bute Park and will be used while the Bute Park Visitor Centre remains closed on the weekends as is presently the case. However there remains the possibility of running half day workshops in Bute Park on a weekday if there is sufficient demand. Let me know if you are interested in this.

The next Creative Writing for All course is now confirmed: Sunday afternoons, 2.30-3.30, starting Sept 11, for six weeks, in the common room at Chapter Arts. It’s still £95 and you can now book. We’ll be sticking to a strict numbers limit, so you can be assured there will be ample social distancing and plenty of attention to each student’s work. As always writers of any level of experience are welcome.

I am also now offering inexpensive editorial services: just £32 (the cost of two workshops) will get you advice from a writer and teacher of over 35 years experience (half price for former students). You’ll now find this on the booking page.

Check out the unique qualifications of your tutor here, read reviews here, and contact me here or by ringing 07599 293480.

The long wait for Cardiff’s most popular creative writing classes is thankfully at an end and a six-week Creative Writing For All course starts Sunday April 3rd for six Sundays, excluding Easter. The price is still £95, tuition is still by Cardiff’s most widely-published YA and children’s author (former lecturer at the universities of Glamorgan and Newport), but the venue this time will be Chapter Arts Centre as we are still waiting for the reopening of the Bute Park Visitor Centre. Numbers will be limited to six to allow for generous social distancing.and workshops will last one hour, with a further half-hour weekly being conducted online. As usual writers of any level of experience are welcome (check out the reviews) and early booking is advised! If you have any questions, feel free to email me or ring me on 07599 203480.

Sadly the dreadful mishandling of the covid pandemic continues to make it impossible to meet in the Bute Park Education Centre, but it is still my plan to resume these popular courses in the new year, if necessary in an alternative venue, and anyone is welcome to contact me to book a place on the first available course without needing to pay up front.

In the meantime I have a new book out! The Thimble monkey books have been widely praised for teaching children about disability while actually making them laugh. The fourth in the series, Thimble and the Girl from Mars, is aimed squarely at those girls who mistakenly thought that the first three books were only for boys (they certainly weren’t, check the reviews!). TATGFM is my 64th book, and hopefully proof that I do have something to teach those of you who also aspire to write. You can buy signed copies at my author site.

Hoping to see you in the park eventually!

Feel free to email me or ring 07599 203480 if you have any questions. You can book here.