Climate Stories Creative Writing Workshops

Climate Stories is an exciting creative writing project connected to research at the University of Glasgow, exploring how people across Scotland really think and feel about the climate crisis and how this connects to emotional wellbeing.

This free, six-part, in-person workshop series offers a welcoming and supportive space to develop a short piece of climate-related writing over time. Through guided conversations, creative and reflective writing exercises, and optional sharing, you’ll be encouraged to explore your own stories, uncertainties and perspectives.

You don’t need to be a writer or a climate expert – just curious about using creative writing as a way to think, feel, and imagine more deeply.

By the end of the six sessions, you’ll have developed a short piece of climate writing (fiction or nonfiction), with the option to submit it to the Climate Stories project anthology.

Every Thursday 6-8pm

22nd January – 26th February 2026

Please only book if you can attend all six sessions

Who this is for

• Anyone aged 18+ currently living in Scotland
• No previous writing experience required
• Open to fiction and nonfiction writers
• Those interested in climate, place, emotion, and personal storytelling

What the workshops involve

• Six in-person sessions (2 hours each)
• Small group setting (8–12 participants)
• Guided discussions on writing, climate, and emotion
• Creative writing exercises
• Gentle peer sharing and feedback
• Support to develop one short piece of writing across the series

Workshop structure (each session)

• Introductions (10 mins)
• Discussion on the session theme (15 mins)
• Creative writing exercises (30 mins)
• Break (10 mins)
• Creative writing exercises (30 mins)
• Sharing and feedback (20 mins)
• Closing (5 mins)

Workshop themes (overview)

Workshop 1 – Genre

Introducing what climate writing can look like, story structure, and creative permission. Generating ideas and drafting an opening scene or paragraph.

Workshop 2 – Personal experience

Writing in times of crisis, looking after yourself, and writing about emotions. Developing character or perspective.

Workshop 3 – Place

Building worlds through setting and perspective. Placing your character within a specific environment.

Workshop 4 – Scale

Connecting the global and the personal. Writing through detail, everyday life, and emotional specificity.

Workshop 5 – Relationships and the more-than-human

Exploring relationships and non-human perspectives. Expanding and developing the story.

Workshop 6 – Piecing it together

Returning to chosen themes, polishing structure, and shaping an ending with flow and impact.

(Workshop structure and themes based on draft outlines)

Research participation

As part of the research project, participants will be asked to:

• Take part in a 45-minute online interview before the workshops
• Take part in a 45-minute online interview after the workshops
• Further information and consent will be discussed in Session 1.

Booking information

• Free to attend
• Spaces limited (8–12 participants)
• Please only book if you can attend all six sessions

Booking deadline: 3 January 2026

Hosted by

Edinburgh Communities Climate Action Network (ECCAN)

In partnership with the University of Glasgow