Writers' Day
Join us on Saturday 6 June 2026 for a day filled with creativity and inspiration.
This event will take place on our Clifton campus at 7 Woodland Road, where writers from all backgrounds can come together. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting out, it's an opportunity to enjoy a day devoted to your craft and to celebrate the power of prose and poetry.
You'll hear from best-selling and emerging authors, take part in workshops to increase your skill and stimulate your imagination and hear speakers talk about the latest issues and ideas in writing.
The day will include:
- Headline talks from industry stars: Nikesh Shukla and Lily Dunn
- Workshops from our award-winning writers on staff, including Mimi Thebo and Jo Nadin
- A Q&A with agents to answer all your questions about breaking into the industry
- Celebratory drinks reception to conclude the day.
Date: Saturday 6 June 2026
Time: 10 am to 4 pm, followed by the Bristol Short Story Prize winners announcement and wine reception until 6 pm
Tickets are £30 for the day, with a discounted rate of £18 for concessions (disabled, student and seniors 65+) and University of Bristol staff and students.
If you would like to attend Writers' Day but cannot afford a ticket please email us at uob-creativewriting@bristol.ac.uk.
The event is taking place in the University of Bristol Arts Complex. The address is 7 Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1TB.
The number 8 and 72 buses from Bristol Temple Meads run a combined service up to every 10 minutes from Bristol Temple Meads. There are various other bus services (1, 2, 2a, 3, 4, 5 and 77) running from elsewhere in the city which will take you to stops close to the campus. The closest train station is Clifton Down station with services running from Bristol Temple Meads every 30 minutes. There are cycle racks available outside the venue’s entrance and street parking available along Woodland Road. The nearest multistorey car park is on Trenchard Street, a short walk away from the venue. For further information about travelling to campus and for specific bus routes please click here.
There will be a coffee truck outside the venue, and there is a small supermarket and coffee shops, sandwich shops and restaurants behind the venue on St Michael's Hill and close by on Cotham Hill. Do feel free to bring your own food too.
Blue badge users can park along Woodland Road for free (please make sure you display your blue badge). The venue is fully accessible and once inside the building attendees can access all seminar rooms without stairs. There will be a quiet room with low lighting for anyone who might need to take some time out on the day.
If you have any access requirements, please indicate this in the booking form and let us know how we can support you. We will then get in touch with you directly to discuss your needs prior to Writers’ Day. We can make specific arrangements, including reserved seating, building/room tours, contact with the course tutor/organiser before the event, large print etc.
Should you have any queries about access please do not hesitate to contact us on uob-creativewriting@bristol.ac.uk.
A timetable for the day will be released on this page soon.
Click here to book your tickets via the online shop
Tickets
Please note tickets must be booked in advance for Writers' Day. There will be no facilities to book tickets on the day.
Booking is available online through our University of Bristol secure online shop only. We are unable to take payment by any other means.
Refunds
Refunds for our short courses are only to be given in exceptional circumstances and no less than one month before the course is due to start.
Refunds for a course already started cannot be accepted.
Exchanges
If a booker is unable to attend, tickets can be transferred to another person. Please email english-lifelong@bristol.ac.uk with a request to change the name on the ticket. If you cannot attend, fees paid for Writers' Day can be used towards the cost of another Humanities short course.
We are unable to accept exchange requests made on the day of the event or once the day has begun.
Headline Talks
Nikesh Shukla is a novelist and screenwriter, who wrote a Spider-Man comic book miniseries for Marvel as well as numerous television projects. Most recently, he released his first children’s book, called The Council Of Good Friends.
Nikesh wrote the award-winning short film, Two Dosas, a Channel 4 Comedy Lab called Kabadasses and the award-winning short film, The Great Identity Swindle, and has worked in numerous writer’s rooms both in the UK and US for HBO, Prime, BBC, Sky, and Apple. Nikesh is a fellow of the Sundance Institute and the Royal Society of Literature. Nikesh is a columnist for the Bristol Cable.
He is the author of Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award), Meatspace and the critically acclaimed The One Who Wrote Destiny. Nikesh is the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, which won the reader's choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards. He co-edited The Good Immigrant USA with Chimene Suleyman. He is the author of three YA novels, Run, Riot (shortlisted for a National Book Award), The Boxer (longlisted for the Carnegie Medal) and Stand Up. Nikesh was one of Time Magazine’s cultural leaders, Foreign Policy magazine's 100 Global Thinkers and The Bookseller's 100 most influential people in publishing in 2016 and in 2017. He is the co-founder of The Good Literary Agency. Nikesh’s memoir, Brown Baby: A Memoir Of Race, Family And Home was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. He has also written a book on writing called Your Story Matters.
Nikesh teaches creative writing for Faber Academy.
Dr Lily Dunn is an author, mentor and academic. Her debut nonfiction, Sins of My Father: A Daughter, A Cult, A Wild Unravelling, a memoir about the legacy of her father’s addictions (W&N) was one of The Spectator and The Guardian best nonfiction books, 2022. She is also author of hybrid craft-memoir, Into Being: The radical craft of memoir and its power to transform (MUP, 2025) and a work of fiction, Shadowing the Sun (Portobello Books, 2007). She is co-editor of A Wild and Precious Life (Unbound, 2021), an anthology of stories on recovery from mental illness and addiction, and co-runs London Lit Lab. She also teaches narrative nonfiction and memoir at Bath Spa University.
Please note our booking system works best when accessed through a laptop or desktop computer. If you are having difficulty booking, or if the system tells you the event has sold out, please try this route first.