Working with a dedicated cohort of approximately twenty young writers, each partnership follows students as they develop original writing towards a finished anthology representing their school community.
The programme is designed not as a series of isolated workshops, but as a sustained literary process: students begin with exploratory writing, move through editorial conversations and redrafting, and conclude by seeing their work gathered into a professionally produced publication.
The Partnership
Each Common Room partnership is developed collaboratively with the school. The exact shape of the programme may vary according to year group, timetable, and literary focus, but the central aim remains the same: to give young writers the experience of being taken seriously as authors.
Over the course of the term, students work towards a piece for publication in Common Room: [School Name], published by Walkden House Press. Each contribution is also automatically considered for publication in The Parlour, our local literary magazine for writers of all ages.
Structure
The first stage is exploratory. Through shared reading, discussion, and writing exercises, students begin to discover the subjects, memories, and questions they might wish to pursue.
Sessions may draw upon lived experience, place, family, myth, observation, conversation, and the textures of everyday life.
The same cohort continues working together, developing pieces through discussion, redrafting, and one-to-one editorial guidance.
This stage introduces students to writing as an ongoing practice of attention, revision, and discovery, rather than simply the production of finished work.
Walkden House Press edits, curates, designs, and produces the finished anthology, including an editorial introduction and one hundred printed copies.
Each contributor receives a complimentary copy, with further copies retained by the school for libraries, displays, families, open evenings, or wider distribution.
What Is Included
- Six two-hour workshop sessions across one school term
- Work with a dedicated cohort of approximately twenty students
- One-to-one editorial guidance and manuscript development
- Curation, editing, design, and typesetting of the anthology
- An editorial introduction by Walkden House Press
- Publication as Common Room: [School Name]
- One hundred printed copies of the finished publication
- A concluding reading or launch event within the school
- Consideration of outstanding pieces for publication in The Parlour
The fee covers the full term-long partnership, including workshop delivery, editorial development, publication work, and one hundred printed copies of the finished anthology.
Working Together
Common Room partnerships are suitable for schools wishing to cultivate writing for pleasure, develop a small community of young writers, and create a lasting publication that reflects the voices of their students.
Schools interested in developing a partnership with Walkden House Press are warmly invited to get in touch.