How I Write: Natasha Carthew (2024)

Hear from the director and founder of the Working-Class Writers Festival as she talks about writing her way out of rural Cornwall. Natasha has written all her books outside, either in the fields and woodland that surround her home or in the cabin that she built from scrap wood. She has written two books of poetry, as well as three novels for young adults.

Natasha Carthew is a working-class writer from Cornwall. She is published by Hodder, Bloomsbury, Quercus and the National Trust. Her new book Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience, is shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards 2023 and is out now with Coronet/Hodder. She is known for writing on Socioeconomic issues and working-class representation in literature for several publications, podcasts and programmes; including The Booker Prize Foundation, ITV, Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, The Royal Society of Authors Journal, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, The Bookseller, The Guardian, Caught by the River, The Observer, Mslexia, The Dark Mountain Project, The Big Issue and The Economist. Natasha is Founder and Artistic Director of The Working Class Writers Festival and The Nature Writing Prize for Working Class Writers. She guest edited the working-class edition of The Bookseller in 2022 and is recipient of The Bookseller Rising Star Award 2022. She is represented by Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedman Literary Agency.

This session will be delivered via Zoom webinar, so you can take the session at your own pace, without the pressure of having your video or camera on. Sessions are also recorded so if you are unable to attend live, you will have access to the recording for a month afterwards.

Online: Pay what you can

Suggested donation £5 or £2.50

We are committed to making our Arvon at Home programme accessible to as many people as possible.

Across all of Arvon at Home

• All sessions will have auto-generated captioning.
• There is a Chat facility to ask any questions.

Masterclasses

• A recording of the Masterclass will be available to view for one month after it is aired live, simply log in to your account on our website and you’ll find a link under the ‘Event Details’ tab in the ‘Video recording’ column (you may need to scroll right on your screen to see it), similarly, if any learning resources are available, another link will appear under the ‘Course Materials’ tab.
• There is a Chat and Q & A facility to ask any questions.
• Zoom webinar format (your  video and audio will remain off throughout & your name will not be visible to other participants, so it is a ‘relaxed’ event).
• During sessions we will have a text version available via screen share (if you require these in advance of the session, please email arvonathome@arvon.org).  

Online Writing Day

• A recording of the workshops will be available to view for one month after it is aired live, simply log in to your account on our website and you’ll find a link under the ‘Event Details’ tab in the ‘Video recording’ column (you may need to scroll right on your screen to see it), similarly, if any learning resources are available, another link will appear under the ‘Course Materials’ tab.
• There is a Chat and Q & A facility to ask any questions.
• All sessions of the day are delivered live via Zoom meetings, with the option of cameras off or on.
• During sessions we will have a text version available via screen share (if you require these in advance of the session, please email arvonathome@arvon.org).  

How I Write

• There is a chat and Q&A facility to ask any questions.
• Zoom webinar format (your video and audio will remain off throughout, & your name will not be visible to other participants so it is a ‘relaxed’ event).
• A recording will be available to view for one month after the event is aired live, simply log in to your account on our website and you’ll find a link under the ‘Event Details’ tab in the ‘Video recording’ column (you may need to scroll right on your screen to see it), similarly, if any learning resources are available, another link will appear under the ‘Course Materials’ tab.

Online Writing Weeks and Evening Courses

• Courses are delivered by Zoom meeting, which means they are not recorded.
• Courses have much smaller groups than Masterclasses and How I Write events, and are also more interactive with your fellow course participants and tutors, so cameras and audio are usually on (though both are completely optional). If you would prefer your camera and audio to be off at all times, it would be helpful to let your course host know this in advance.
• We use Padlet as a landing page for all course materials, and to provide an optional platform for interaction with your tutors and fellow course participants. If you would like some more information about this, or if you have any anxiety about using this platform, please email arvonathome@arvon.org.

Subject to funding/permissions (please contact arvonathome@arvon.org for more details)

• Recording of Writing Weeks and Evening Courses.
• Downloadable transcripts.
• BSL interpretation.
• Live captioning.

If you have any access issues that we have not covered here, please contact us on access@arvon.org

See here for more access information.