Moniack Mhor is a creative writing centre in Scotland. Based in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

, Moniack Mhor is fourteen miles from

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

. The centre is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

and is supported by

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The o ...

History

The centre has given residential courses since its inception. These are usually up to a week long and the tutors are usually high-profile writers and other visiting guest speakers. The students range from established to teenaged writers. Courses include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, travel writing and song writing courses given by names such as

Morag Joss Morag Joss (born in 1955 in England) is a British writer. She became a writer in 1996 after an early career in arts and museum management. Life and career Joss was born in England in 1955 and from the age of four, grew up in Ayrshire, Scotland. ...

William McIlvanney William McIlvanney (25 November 1936 – 5 December 2015) was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was known as Gus by friends and acquaintances. McIlvanney was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works ''Laidlaw'', ' ...

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

Andrew O'Hagan Andrew O'Hagan (born 1968) is a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and non-fiction author. Three of his novels have been nominated for the Booker Prize and he has won several awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Award. His m ...

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and ...

Findlay Napier Findlay Napier (born November 1978) is a Scottish singer songwriter and teaching artist. He was a member of Scottish folk group Back of the Moon and runs music writing courses. Biography Napier was born in Glasgow, Scotland in November 1978 ...

and

Bella Hardy Bella Hardy (born 24 May 1984) is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale, Derbyshire, England, who performs a combination of traditional and self-penned material. She was named Folk Singer of the Year at the 2014 ...

. The centre also runs an outreach programme around

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

for young people in the Highlands and provides

bursaries A bursary is a monetary award made by any educational institution or funding authority to individuals or groups. It is usually awarded to enable a student to attend school, university or college when they might not be able to, otherwise. Some aw ...

for people struggling to manage the costs of the courses. From its foundation the centre had been set up as one of the centres for the writers’ charity Arvon. In 1999 the centre was temporarily closed but took off again. In 2015 the centre became an independent organisation assisted by funding from Creative Scotland .

Prizes

Places on courses at the retreat have been awarded as prizes for Scottish book awards, such as the Caledonia Novel Award and the Scottish Book Trust's Next Chapter Award,. There are a number of fellowships available through the centre. These include: * The Jessie Kesson Fellowship * Emerging Writer Award * Writing for Children Bursary * Travel Writing Bursary *

Katharine Stewart Katharine Stewart British Empire Medal, BEM (29 August 1914 in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, England – 27 March 2013 in Inverness) was an English author, Crofting, crofter, teacher and postmistress. Stewart is best known for her book ''A Croft i ...

Bursary In 2017 the centre founded the Highland Book Prize with the cooperation of The

Highland Society of London The Highland Society of London is a charity registered in England and Wales, with "the view of establishing and supporting schools in the Highlands and in the Northern parts of Great Britain, for relieving distressed Highlanders at a distance from ...

and

Ullapool Ullapool (; gd, Ulapul ) is a village and port located in Northern Scotland. Ullapool has a population of around 1,500 inhabitants. It is located around northwest of Inverness in Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands. Despite its modest size, ...

Book Festival.

References

External links

* {{Official website Organisations based in Scotland Scottish literature Writers' centres and houses 1993 establishments in Scotland Inverness-shire