The Surrey New Writers Festival is back for 2021 and is better than ever

We all have a story to tell, a message to share. How can we bring life to these stories and share our inner creativity? Let Surrey New Writers Festival support this process.

Since 2013 the Surrey New Writers Festival has proved to be an exceptional experience and opportunity for any aspiring, emerging, and already established writer. This year is no exception! This festival is perfect for a writer of any style. We know that there are so many different writing and reading tastes that it can be difficult to please everyone which is why every year the Surrey New Writers Festival has a different theme to accommodate a variety interests. The theme for 2021 is ‘Long and Short Form’. So, what are the freedoms and restrictions of writing very long or very short form stories and poems? How are contemporary writers crafting their novel series, children’s fiction, or Instagram poems? What can we learn about dialogue, pacing, and the development of theme when getting started on a new book or working with relationships on the page? There are so many questions that you want to ask and although we may not be able to answer them all, we can explore all of these questions via our talks, panels, tasters etc.

Plus, what makes this year’s festival even greater is the broad horizon that the festival has been given. This year Surrey New Writers Festival will not take place on just one day. This year we have TWO DAYS to really get down to the really nitty gritty parts of writing such as creating believable dialogue, writing friendships, working with short form poetry, and how to get started with ghost-writing.

The festival will also be entirely virtual this year and one of the benefits of everything being online includes a stellar guest line-up. This year’s festival has more guest speakers than ever before including talks from Roz Morris on ghost-writing, and Nikita Gill on Instagram Poetry; masterclasses from Ruth Brandt on where to begin with your book, and Michael Donkor on presenting friendships on the page, and author of Ordinary People, Diana Evans will be headlining the festival. That’s just a taster of what’s to come, there will also be taster sessions and talks on writing dialogue, creative collaborations, and getting started with short poetry. There will be readings with authors of children’s books, young adult humour, magical realist stories, Victorian crime series, and contemporary literary fiction. 

However there is no need to worry if you can’t wait until the end of April for all of that literary fun. The organisers and volunteers behind the magic of the Surrey New Writers Festival have been working tirelessly to ensure that everyone has the best possible experience, not just on the weekend but also on the build-up to the festival. Every week they have been releasing a new blog to keep that need to read satisfied. What is great about these blogs is that they are so varied. Some of them focus on tips and techniques when it comes to writing poetry, screenplays, building character, book recommendations, and author interviews. But that’s not all, the festival’s Instagram has been constantly creating content with their writing challenges which has seen so many people from all around the world take part. This goes to show just how big the global writing community is, and the festival has managed to bring everyone together in a very safe and welcoming environment. 

So, if like us and countless other writers, you desperately want to get your hands on tickets (well zoom links actually but who cares, we just really want to go) then we suggest you get your tickets now because spaces have been known to fill up fast. A full festival ticket includes all events on Saturday 24th April & Sunday 25th April except for the two masterclasses and only costs £25 unless you are a student then it’s just £10! If you also want to attend either of the masterclasses (which we highly recommend you do) then hurry because there are a limited number of tickets per event, and they sell out fast. They cost just £15 per masterclass. Do note that a masterclass ticket is for one masterclass; it does not allow you into the full festival events. 

This last year has been both challenging and enlightening for all of us. Many of us have taken up journaling this last year and once you put pen to paper who knows where the words will take you. To quote local writer and one of last year’s festival authors Monica Suswin “The writing in itself has its own life [and] let the writing tell you what it wants to say.” The 2021 Surrey New Writers Festival is the perfect place to figure out where your writing is taking you so now is the time to get going on your own literary adventure and discover what your writing wants to say.