I N T R O D U C T I O N
Hi! Our names are Matt Maude and Susanna Davies-Crook. We're the founders and hosts of Write Club.
First of all, thank you for considering our request to be a guest speaker at Write Club. We're aware that it may be a daunting experience coming to speak to a new group of people within a new space. One of our core tenets of Write Club is to create and curate a safe and open space for both participants and the guest speakers alike. In short, you're entering into an informal, accessible and nurturing environment. Above all else, building and sustaining that atmosphere is the most important thing we do at Write Club.
If we can answer any questions beyond what is included here, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Matt is available on matthewmaude@gmail.com / +44(0)07816027636
Susanna is available at susanna.daviescrook@gmail.com /+44(0)7595046082
W H A T I S A W R I T E C L U B S E S S I O N ?
Working in partnership with arts organisations and private member spaces across London, Write Club delivers a series of monthly events that invite industry recognised guest speakers to deliver informal talks and Q&As to a small group of participants. Seated around a large table in which attendees and the guest speaker sit at the same level, the guest speaker is invited to share their origin story, anecdotal life experiences and professional workflows with our group. Although lightly moderated with a couple of kick off questions from us at the beginning of the session, the rest of the talk is entirely participant-led. Arranged as a peer to peer exchange, our constant aim is to close the gap between ambition and possibility - allowing participants to see themselves in your story, allay fears and find inspiration.
After finishing the guest speaker talk, we ask them to set a writing exercise for participants to respond to. Attendees then have an hour (or longer) to write before having the opportunity to read their responses to the exercise in front of you - the guest speaker - creating the opportunity to be heard and seen by an industry professional, whilst also creating unique pieces of work.
W H Y I N P R I V A T E M E M B E R S P A C E S ?
We're aware that private members spaces are, in their very nature, exclusive. As part of our ethos, each of our agreements with each partner venue stipulates that a minimum of 40% of participants must be made up of non-members. In doing so, it allows us to create greater diversity in the attendance of each event, whilst allowing us to invite individuals that represent our values and reflect the energy we want to create in each space. Openness, courage, vulnerability, safety.
Our agreement with each partnership provides each session with complimentary food, wine, Prosecco and room hire to run our events. In exchange, Write Club fosters greater connection within the private member club's community - helping build member retention and greater contact and collaboration between members.
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Q & A A N D E X E R C I S E S E T T I N G
After 15 minutes of mingling and socialising (to account for travel delays and meetings overrunning) we begin each Write Club with every participant introducing themselves. Thirty seconds of who they are, what they do and what they'd like to do. Based on the idea that hearing your voice in the room early means you're more likely to use it again in the future, these introductions also serve as a means for you to meet who you'll be talking to. Our attendees range from the published author to the first-time writer, and we cater to all experience levels and energies. After that round of introductions is complete, we invite the guest speaker to introduce themselves, and the Q&A begins.
After the Q&A is complete, we ask that you - the guest speaker - set an exercise for our participants to respond to.
These exercises can be as complicated or as simplistic as you like. Luke Jennings, the creator of Killing Eve, simply gave our participants one word as the prompt for his session. Laurie Nunn, the creator of Sex Education, brought three photographs for everyone to write a story from. Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate, asked each of our participants to respond to very strict parameters within a nine line verse in relation to a photograph within his exercise:
1. The colour / colours.
2. What time it is.
3. A line with just one word - repeated three times.
4. What’s that noise? Write about it.
5. There’s something in the bottom right hand corner of the photograph. What is it?
6. Write about the 'weather' in the photograph.
7. Somebody says something.
8. Make some kind of comparison, metaphor or image.
9. What’s happening in the photograph a year later.
Last year we were joined by the Oscar-winning movement director and acting coach, Polly Bennett. Her exercise asked our participants to write about characters purely through movement and no dialogue. In 2023, the Oscar-nominated film director Mike Figgis brought his pack of 36 dramatic situations cards and asked participants to pull three cards each to start the beginning of a new story or scene.
There's no rules about what your exercise might contain. If we can be a sounding board for any ideas you might want to talk through about a possible prompt for a writing exercise, please let us know.
T I M I N G S :
Here are the usual timings for our evening events
18:00 - Event begins, 15 minutes mingling
18:15 - Event and participant introductions
18:30 - Guest speaker introduction and Q&A talk begins
19:25 - Exercise set
19:30 - Writing time
20:30 - Dinner service (buffet / tear & share food)
21:00 - Readings
21:50 - Event ends, 10 minutes mingling / exiting
22:00 - Room cleared
For our afternoon sessions, they normally begin at 1PM and finish at 5PM following the same timings as above.
F I L M :
While we were in Residence at Soho House, we asked a number of their members
to provide us with testimonials of their experiences at Write Club.
If you have 5 minutes available, we'd love for you to watch the film below.
It hopefully conveys much of what we feel Write Club is about.
P H O T O G R A P H Y :
At every Write Club session we host, we record the talk as an audio file to be transcribed. After the session, we identify key quotes that form a library of guest speaker testimonies - some of which can be shared for social media purposes if desired. In addition, we record parts of each session on an 8K high resolution film camera. The quality of the footage is such that we are able to pull off screenshots to send to participants as high resolution photos for their archives.
All images captured at the event are yours to be used with a full media license. We ask though, that you credit the photographer where you are able to do so (its usually Matt - @mattmaude)
Included below are images taken from a number of our previous events at Soho House, The Groucho Club, The House of Koko, The Barbican and The Royal Academy of Arts - featured from sessions with these guest speakers:
Laurie Nunn - Emmy Award Winning Creator & Showrunner of 'Sex Education'
Irvine Welsh - Bafta Award Winning Screenwriter and Author of 'Trainspotting', 'Filth', 'The Acid House'
Polly Bennett - Oscar Winning Movement Coach of the Films: 'Elvis', 'Bohemia Rhapsody', 'The Crown', 'Saltburn'
Mike Figgis - Oscar Nominated Director & Screenwriter 'Leaving Las Vegas', 'Timecode', 'Internal Affairs'
Jon Brittain - Olivier Winning Playwright & Screenwriter 'Baby Reindeer' 'Rotterdam', 'The Crown'
Vinay Patel - Award Winning Screenwriter & Playwright, 'Murdered by My Father', 'Doctor Who'
Selina Lim - Bafta Nominated & Emmy Award Winning Screenwriter 'Sex Education', 'Hanna'
Siddarth Shrikanth - Climate Author, Journalist and Investor: 'The Case for Nature'
Isis Davis - Award Winning Writer & Actor - 'Killing Eve', 'Fast Girls'
Laurie Nunn
Emmy Award Winning Creator and Showrunner of
'Sex Education'
Simon Armitage
Poet Laureate
'Dwell', 'The Not Dead', 'Stanza Stones'
Andrew Davies
BAFTA Award Winning Screenwriter
'War and Peace', 'House of Cards', 'Bridget Jones Diary'
Selina Lim
Emmy Award Winning Screenwriter
'Sex Education', 'Hanna'
Waleed Akhtar
Olivier Award Winning Playwright and Screenwriter
'The P Word', 'The Roadtrip'
Daisy Goodwin
Author, Screenwriter and Showrunner
'ITV's Victoria', 'My Last Duchess'
Isis Davis
Actor and Writer
'Killing Eve', 'Fast Girls'
Temi Wilkey
Writer, Actor & Director
'Sex Education', 'The High Table'
Jennifer Higgie
Author, Screenwriter and Arts Editor
'The Mirror and the Palette', Former Frieze Magazine Editor
Leon Mayne
Screenwriter and Producer
'End of the F*cking World, 'Brothers With No Game'
Jon Brittain
Olivier Winning Playwright & Screenwriter
' Baby Reindeer' 'Rotterdam', 'The Crown'
Polly Bennett
Oscar Winning Movement Director & Choreographer
'Elvis', 'Saltburn', 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
Maimuna Memom
Olivier Winning Writer & Actor
'The Grapes of Wrath', 'Standing at the Sky’s Edge'
Irvine Welsh
Author and Screenwriter
'Trainspotting', 'Filth', 'The Acid House'
Esther Freud
Author
'I Couldn't Love You More', 'Hideous Kinky', 'The Sea House'
Mike Figgis
Oscar Nominated Director and Screenwriter
'Leaving Las Vegas', 'Timecode', 'Internal Affairs'
Luke Jennings
Screenwriter and Show Creator
'Killing Eve'
Travis Alabanza
Author, Writer & Performer
'None of the Above', Burgerz', 'Overflow'
Anthony Anaxagorou
Poet, Author and Royal Society of Literature Fellow
'Heritage Aesthetics', 'The Blink That Killed The Eye'
Vinay Patel
Screenwriter & Playwright
'Murdered by My Father', 'Doctor Who'
Daniel Bailey
Artistic Director at the Bush Theatre
'Wolves on Road', 'August in England'
Katherine Angel
Author
'Sex Will Be Good Again', 'Daddy Issues'
Henry Mance
Chief Features Writer, Financial Times
'How to Love Animals and Protect our Planet'
Emily Hayward-Whitlock
Screenwriters Agent and Head of Book to Film
at The Artists Partnership
Naomi Sheldon
Actor, Producer & Screenwriter
'The Girlfriend', 'The Good Girl'
Siddarth Shrikanth
Climate Author, Journalist and Investor
'The Case for Nature'
P R E V I O U S G U E S T S P E A K E R S :
T E S T I M O N I A L S F R O M P A R T I C P A N T S :
“I sit on the Inclusivity Board at Soho House and the Committee at Soho Works. I go to a lot of the events here and the Houses, and I don’t feel like I’ve got the sense of community from other workshops I’ve attended. We have a lot of people that come in and create space, which is great, but all of the connections I have in Soho are a result of the people I met at Write Club. It feels like family rather than just a community”.
- Melissa Sinclair
"As a new writer, Write Club has been transformative for me. It’s given me a sense of community, access to inspiration, and, most importantly, the confidence to believe I can pursue writing seriously. It’s not just an event—it’s a safe haven where I feel seen and supported, a space where I’ve been able to truly hone my ‘voice’ and explore my creativity without judgement.
- Adwoa Akoto
"The Write Club team run fantastic sessions which I’d recommend to anyone with an interest in writing. Their guest speakers - often impressively big names! - talk about their careers and use their experience to offer a mix of advice and encouragement that usefully straddles the border between ‘inspiring’ and ‘realistic’. Plus, there are always ingenious exercises to get everyone in the room writing there and then, often in ways they might not have done so before - and it’s a treat to hear the results of these read aloud. I’ve really enjoyed getting involved with their sessions - and I can see that any organisation which has an interest in driving creativity could do well to book Write Club, too."
- Toby Smith
"Matt and Susanna have done an incredible job of curating guest speakers each month that span industries, genders, races, sexual orientations, social classes and life experiences. And it’s this effort that attracts an equally diverse community to Write Club that makes for one of the richest, most welcoming, caring and inspiring communities I’ve been a part of.”
- Jamie Tomkins
At each of our sessions we welcome everyone coming to Write Club for the first time with a small speech - the invitation and encouragement to be the person who they want to be whilst they are with us, rather than the person they have to be. Our small offering to disarm imposter syndrome and creating the space for each participant to step into their chosen self. We know its a little vomit inducing / cliched / not the most British to express, but we truly hope that you'll feel the ability to do the same with us. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help to create this possibility for you. Thank you for the time taken coming to speak with our group. We appreciate it hugely.
Best wishes,
Matt and Susanna