events
What connects the National Football Museum with the Marble Arch Inn and the Sacred Trinity church a few minutes away?
On this walking-tour and writing workshop led by me and my great friend and tour guide Emma Fox, we will meet the radical women connected with each of these locations – from the early trailblazers of women’s football to Sister Elizabeth Prout, known as the “Mother Teresa of Manchester” and Edith Cavell, the British nurse executed for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium during WWI. The work and lives of these pioneers will be our inspiration for writing exercises along the route.
The walking pace will be slow, and the writing exercises are suitable for all, no writing experience necessary.
Details and booking for Mon Oct 12th here: https://manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events/brave-bold-women-history-forgot-a-writing-walking-tour-12-oct and Fri Oct 23rd here https://manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events/brave-bold-women-history-forgot-a-writing-walking-tour-23-oct
workshops
Scroll down to find out how to access recordings of my previous zoom workshops
All the workshops I run always offer free, concessionary and pay-what-you-can places, you’re very welcome to have your camera off – and if you can’t join live on the night, all ticketholders receive a link to the recording shortly afterwards. Scroll down for access to recordings of past Zoom workshops.
My Next Unbox Your Words Workshop:
October Zoom workshops announced soon! To be the first to hear about new workshops, sign up for my Substack newsletter: https://taniahershman.substack.com/
IN PERSON Jan 18-23rd, The Hurst, Shropshire Arvon course – Poetry: Queer and Queering Poetic Forms
What might a ‘queer’ poem be? I’m delighted to be co-tutoring with fellow Nine Arches poet James McDermott on this wide-ranging course exploring poems from the traditional to the experimental, using a wide range of sources to generate material and taking prompts from a variety of topics, including science. You will gain tools and techniques to help you explore queer content and a queering of form in your writing. All abilities welcome. Midweek guest is our fellow Nine Arches poet, Kym Deyn! Details and booking here: https://www.arvon.org/writing-courses/courses-retreats/residential-writing-course-poetry-22/ As with all residential Arvon courses I tutor on, I will be raising funds to offer at least one free place to someone from an underrepresented or marginalised community who would never otherwise be able to attend this course. Announcements soon on fundraising, and once we have the funds in place, I’ll be opening applications for the free place in November. Stay tuned!
SOLD OUT: Unbox Your Words Zoom course: 2 workshops in June, 2 in September
I’m running my very first Unbox Your Words Zoom course! The course theme will be “unboxing your words”, and we will explore different word-shapes and configurations, trying out some swerving, shapeshifting, transformation and hybrid writing to help you write what you want in the way you want to write it. More intimate than my usual workshops, the group will be a maximum of ten people, to open up space for discussion and sharing and, I hope, the creation of a community of writers who can keep giving each other permission once the formal course has finished!
There will be four Zoom workshops – two in June and two in September, with an assignment over the summer – and each participant, if they’d like it, can have a one-on-one Zoom “permission conversation” with me about their work afterwards. Because the focus is on sharing and discussion as well as creating new writing, unlike my regular Zoom workshops they won’t be recorded. I have never done anything quite like this before, so I will be “unboxing” too, finding new ways for us to take our words in different directions, listening to what the group’s needs are and shapeshifting my approaches as we go along. I really hope to see some of you there!cMore details about workshop dates and booking: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/taniahershman/2153586.
Recordings of Past Zoom Workshops
‘When Physics Meets Fairy Tales’
‘Fairy Tale and Crime Mashup’
Unwritten Women – Filling History’s Gaps’
Writing Muscle Workout 6 (April 2026)
Writing Muscle Workout 5 (Feb 2026)
Writing Muscle Workout 4 (Nov 2025)
‘Permission’ Workshop (Jan 2026)
To watch recordings of one or more of my previous Unbox Your Words Zoom workshops above – slip whatever amount feels right to you into my Tip Jar below, let me know in the PayPal message or by email to taniah@gmail.com which one (or more than one) you’d like to watch, and I will send you links and passcodes!
Testimonials:
Lovely feedback from Michelle M on my March 2026 Zoom writing workshop: “Phenomenal, Tania. The time flew by, and none of it felt like work. I have a few promising ideas.” That’s exactly what I’m hoping for!
“Last night was JOYOUS! Thank you! …A shot in the arm in an overly-earnest world (which, as we know, is STIFLING for creativity!) Your workshops are like rocket fuel.” Writing Muscle Workshop Participant, Sept 2025
From Zoom workshop March 2025:
Workshop participant: “You were amazing. Everyone was buzzing afterwards and there was a sense of permission to play that was talked about all day”
Sue: It’s been a great workshop – I write historical fiction so this has been a real eye opener for me – thank you Tania
Bridget: Thank you so much. Got me writing again! Such fun.
Sarah: Such a liberating freeing experience, thank you
Karen: This was definitely fun and instructive – thanks so much, Tania!
Monica: Thank you for the workshop!! Got to read so many interesting pieces
Pauline: Fabulous, Tania – love your sessions. So refreshing to try new approaches/ideas. Thank you!
Georgina N, participant in a Zoom flash fiction masterclass, Nov 2021: “Thank you Tania. It was like letting loose a swarm of humming bees to make honey. Clever facilitation.”
“Two hours of flash heaven this morning with Tania Hershman on her #flashfiction workshop. Excellent #writing exercises (I have 3 new micros at least!) & thoughtful, intelligent tips. ‘Liberation through constraint’ is my new mantra.” Tracy F, 2020
“Didn’t think I had it in me, but here I am at 8am EST, with four new flash story drafts written in the past two hours, thanks to Tania Hershman & her fab writing exercises… Thank you, Tania I’ve been writing, but not freely. This forced me to let go, something I have a very hard time doing with my writing. So grateful to Tania.” Janice L, 2020
“Brilliant flash fiction workshop with @taniahershman this morning. Came away with 4 drafts and now I need a nap! Also lovely to hear Tania echo my own sentiments of the line between poetry and flash being so thin” Sarah S, 2020
“I haven’t written anything new in months and this was exactly the kickstart I needed!!!” Marina S, 2020