all about writing
All About Writing was founded in 2007 by two writing professionals, novelist
Jo-Anne Richards and scriptwriter Richard Beynon. We are passionate about
writing and have devised our courses to help communicate that passion – plus the
skills that make it all much more than an academic exercise – to others with a
similar calling. Operating from South Africa and the United Kingdom, we offer
courses that promote good writing. They include creative writing and
scriptwriting courses, coaching and mentoring programmes as well as workshops
and writing retreats including our annual retreat in Venice, Italy and our
annual Cotswolds writing weekend. The All About Writing team – here’s who we are
We believe our greatest skill in All About Writing has been to bring together an
unbeatable assembly of global expertise. All that we have achieved in our lives
individually has coalesced into a collective set of skills capable of providing
any help you could need, at any stage of a writing project. Here is what we can
offer you As a company, we are based equally in the UK and South Africa. Our
experience covers: Eight fiction titles and seven non-fiction books, published
in the UK, Europe and South Africa Over 100 documentaries Well over a thousand
scripts for feature films and TV series Podcasting for a European audience
Journalism in Europe and South Africa. We can offer you the benefits of our
book-learning, which includes: A PhD in Creative Writing A Masters in Creative
Writing A post-Masters degree in Journalism. We have: Provided assessments and
edited manuscripts for publishers Supervised post-graduate writing students
Acted as examiners and external examiners for post-graduate writing programmes.
Collectively, we have won the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award and
been nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award, the Sunday Times
Fiction Prize, the Gouden Uil European book award, best Journalism Book and best
Travel Book in the Netherlands. We have been short-listed for the M-Net Book
Prize. Together, we have been nominated for an Oscar (for a documentary), and an
Emmy. We have won a Mail & Guardian Short Films Prize, a Special Jury Award at
Skip City International (Japan), a Banff World TV Award (Canada), numerous
SAFTAs (South African Film and Television Award), an Idem Scriptwriting award
for children’s drama, an Artes award for comedy, and the Andrew Murray – Desmond
Tutu Prize. We have produced documentaries that premiered at the Berlin Film
Festival, have been shown at Hot Docs and Cannes and on the The Guardian’s
documentary channel. Complementary skills Our skills mesh to provide a strong
foundation. Journalism taught us accuracy, clarity, the importance of research,
and a strong beginning. Writing for film and television has strengthened our
understanding of scenes, dialogue, and showing rather than telling. Fiction
skills can brighten non-fiction, while non-fiction provides a strong basis of
reality and believability for fiction writers. Perhaps most importantly, we have
placed at your disposal not only our successes but our failures, our strengths
and weaknesses, and our vulnerabilities. We bring you what we’ve learnt in all
humility, understanding exactly what is involved in being a writer. We know what
you need, and we’ll give it with our characteristic blend of honesty and
kindness. This is who and what we are. No matter who you are, or what you need,
we believe we have the understanding and expertise to provide you with the
skills, to hold your hand and give you objective, compassionate and
knowledgeable advice on the way forward. simonstownJo-Anne Richards is an
internationally published novelist with a PhD in Creative Writing from Wits
University. Her first novel, The Innocence of Roast Chicken, was originally
published by Headline Review in the UK, and has recently been rereleased as one
of the prestigious Picador Africa Classics collection. She ran the Honours
programme in Journalism & Media Studies at Wits University for fifteen years.
rjb-and-boatRichard Beynon is an award-winning film and television scriptwriter
with a long and accomplished career in the local industry. He has written for –
or headed the writing teams of – many of country’s most popular soaps from
Isidingo to Scandal and S’gudi S’naysi.