Truth and Trickery: A workshop and writing series exploring the stories we tell

Truth and Trickery: A workshop and writing series exploring the stories we tell.
Words … couldn’t change half way through a sentence like people, so it was easier to spot a lie.
(Jeanette Winterson: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit)

In short, trickster is a boundary crosser. We constantly distinguish – right and wrong, sacred and profane, clean and dirty, male and female, young and old, living and dead – and in every case trickster will cross the line and confuse the distinction.
(Lewis Hyde: Trickster Makes This World)

Six online monthly workshops £18 per month (£108)
24th September 2025 – 25th February 2026
7 – 8.30pm GMT

People use trickery on a daily basis. Families have secrets, couples deceive one another, and those with power lie for political gain. Why do we lie and are there multiple versions of truth? Who suffers from the telling of untruths and when does it matter? Are there conditions of power that determine what is truth and, how has social media added a new dimension of what might be termed ‘post truth?

This creative writing programme is an invitation to pause, reflect, and explore the personal and professional impact of truth and trickery. We will use guided writing, reflective discussion, and optional sharing to consider the subject at a micro level (personal life) and a macro level (social media, history and social-political institutions).

No previous creative writing experience is needed. Just bring curiosity, a pen, and a willingness to explore.
This series is not a therapy group, however, the process may stir emotions or insights. Please ensure you have appropriate personal or professional support in place if needed.

Confidentiality, mutual respect, and care are at the heart of this offering.

We will provide texts and writing prompts to give you the opportunity to explore your ideas around the following

24th September – Session 1
Who do we think we are? In every story there is a truth waiting to be told, or to be made, and in every story, there may be a fantasy waiting to run wild. What can our writing make of an imaginary self?
This session will be dedicated to meeting one another. We will begin with a light-hearted opening writing game and explore what happens when we tell a story, examining how and why we tell it that way. Who do we tell what? What presumptions do we make and why? We will look at the language we use to make our story more vivid, and more persuasive.
During this session, Lucy and Graham will talk about the ideas that have brought this course into being and help the group form some guidelines to ensure confidentiality, trust and enjoyment.

29th October – Session 2
Beauty tricks and pleasure. Using published text and writing prompts this session will explore questions such as – Does beauty reside in the object, the eye of the beholder, or the act of perception itself? How does aesthetic pleasure relate to authenticity? Can a pleasing lie be more beautiful than a harsh truth? In this session we will write into the nature of beauty and pleasure, viewed through the context of truth and lies. This is an invitation not to dismiss the masks we wear, but to understand their purpose, their power, and their promise.

26th November – Session 3
Doing justice to, and with, the stories we encounter. In this session we will consider the range of our concerns – from the personal to the societal: health, politics and the law. As writers, how can we deal with ethical and artistic issues with regards to writing about others? Can we be true witnesses for others’ stories? We will look at the art of transcription poetry and creative amalgamation and consider the challenges of writing in places like prisons or hospitals and working with the vulnerable, perhaps by, to misquote Emily Dickinson, “telling the truth but telling it slant”.

17th December – Session 4
Trojan horses and cyber trickery. What if the most dangerous threat isn’t an obvious enemy, but a gift bearing a hidden agenda? We will look at deception in the digital age, viewed through the tension between appearance and reality. We’ll question the nature of trust in a virtual world where identities can be forged, and realities can be manipulated. Is the digital ‘Trojan horse’ a new phenomenon, or a modern echo of ancient deceptions, revealing fundamental truths about human vulnerability and desire.

28th January 2026 – Session 5
Walking the Maze. This will be a responsive and developmental session, looking over some matters and ideas that have arisen to date, sharing writing and re-writing that has been produced thus far and trying out some new things brought by you, the participants, to the group. What have we learned from each other? We will be responding creatively in writing.

25th February 2026 – Session 6
Final Truths. In a world of shifting realities, what truths remain at the very end of the journey? We will inquire into the ultimate questions of meaning, purpose, and existence.
We’ll explore the ‘truths’ revealed in moments of change, loss, and acceptance. These are not the truths found in a textbook, but the fundamental realities that emerge when we strip away our daily fictions and confront the core of who we are. We’ll question the relationship between living a good life and understanding its end. How do our personal narratives shape the legacy we leave behind? Is there a single, final truth waiting for us, or do we create our own meaning in the face of an uncertain conclusion?

Dr Lucy Windridge-Floris has over 30 years’ experience in the creative arts working in academia, healthcare and private settings. She actively contributes to the global conversation on the intersection of creativity, therapy, and social change. She and her husband travel between Cape Town and the UK to stay close to family.

Her duo-autoethnography Unpicking Horrifying Moments of Uneasy Silence: Writing Responses to Gestures of Islamophobia in the UK is grounded in her and her husband’s personal experiences and illustrates how creative writing can be a powerful tool for processing, understanding, and healing.

Graham Hartill was born in the English Midlands and has lived in the Black Mountains of Wales for over thirty years. He teaches post-graduate students Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes for the Metanoia Institute, has worked in a wide variety of community and health settings and was writer-in-residence in HMP Parc for fifteen years.

Recent publications include: Knotworks: (with artist Jeanette McCulloch, 2025);  Rhapsodies: (poems, 2021) both from Aquifer Books; and The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove (translations, with Wu Fusheng, 2020), The Commercial Press, Beijing.

Image Made by The Jolly Chameleon