Make new friends over free cups of coffee or tea (and biscuits) and be inspired at Newcastle-under-Lyme library in Staffordshire.
Our next creative writing session is 11.30-1.00 on Saturday 19th September 2026.
Below you can see half of the linocut that will inspire our conversation and writing for the workshop. A print will be made from this image.
Q: Can you imagine what the top part of the picture shows?
Here’s a print we made from a linocut for an earlier workshop:
Newcastle Library is a welcoming and accessible place. Through supported imaginative conversation and factual and fiction writing we’ll explore how climate change affects people and nature.
You’ll go home feeling uplifted, not only by new writing inspirations, but an understanding of the way others think about and imaginatively describe their world.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Library, Castle House, Barracks Road, Newcastle, Staffs ST5 1BL
HOW TO BOOK YOUR PLACE
Email ALISON before the session: artificialsilkorg@gmail.com
Workshop cost: £15 per 1.5 hour session including light refreshments.
Details on how to pay for your place on a workshop will be emailed to you at the time of booking: artificialsilkorg@gmail.com
FREE places available for 18-25 year-olds.
Email Alison to request a free place: artificialsilkorg@gmail.com
Or pay for your tickets by bank transfer before the session. If you don’t have a bank account, just bring cash on the day.
Pay-what-you-can is also available. Email Alison: artificialsilkorg@gmail.com
The number of workshop places is limited so that everyone has the chance to be heard.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADER
Alison is a multiply published author of books for adults and children. After working as an editor and publisher, for the last 15 years she supported people’s creative development at Arts Council England.
Other creative writing workshops you can take part in:
Brampton Museum and Art Gallery
WHAT HAPPENS AT AN exObjects WORKSHOP?
1) You bring an object loosely connected with the workshop theme.
2) Through conversation, factual and fiction writing we explore your object and writing inspirations.
3) You leave the workshop feeling uplifted, bursting with new writing ideas and things you want to share with others.
WHAT DO MENTORED WRITERS SAY ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES?
Mahboobeh Rajabi sent us her thoughts on receiving mentoring from A.T. Boyle at Artificial Silk, while preparing her short piece ‘Dancing Skirt’ for publication in the exObjects magazine:
“Being part of the exObjects project was a very unique and meaningful experience for me. Through the object of a skirt, I had the opportunity to reflect on memories of girlhood, identity, and my journey as a Persian woman growing up under dictatorship and later rebuilding life in the UK.
What made the project special was the way personal objects became connected to deeper stories of memory, movement, culture, and lived experience. It created a space where personal history could be shared with honesty, vulnerability, and humanity.”
Read Mahboobeh’s short piece called ‘Dancing Skirt’ by clicking on the link below:
ABOUT exOBJECTS
We run creative workshops and projects in locations including Staffordshire, Derbyshire and India.
“Each workshop is unique because it brings together people from different walks of life and different ages, who imaginatively respond to the personal objects brought to the table.”
Listen to the Stories Seldom Told podcast: a 30-minute interview by Smita Tharoor about exObjects with A.T. Boyle of Artificial Silk (launched 25th March 2026).
‘In this deeply reflective episode we sit down with A.T. Boyle, the mind behind exObjects, a project born from loss, memory, and the quiet stories hidden in everyday things.
From a preserved wedding cake dove to fragmented paintings shaped by grief, this conversation moves through the spaces we often avoid: loss, distance, and the things left unsaid. More importantly, it explores what comes after: creation, connection, and finding meaning in what remains.
We talk about:
– How grief can transform into art
– The idea of “things we don’t see” in the people we love
– Objects as carriers of memory, emotion, and untold stories
– Why making something, anything, can help us move forward.
This isn’t just about loss. It’s about what we choose to hold on to, and what we create from it.
If you’ve ever attached meaning to something small… this one’s for you.’
FIND OUT MORE
Discover what other writers have gained from our friendly workshops and individual creative support.
Many first-time writers from all over the world have been mentored by Alison to produce stories published in the Artificial Silk magazine:
We look forward to hearing your voice.
EMAIL ALISON to book your workshop place: artificialsilkorg@gmail.com