Graeme Armstrong is a Times bestselling author from Airdrie. His teenage years were spent within Scotland’s ‘young team’ gang culture. His debut novel, The Young Team, was published by Picador in 2020 and won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Betty Trask Award and was named Scots Language Book of the Year 2021. He wrote and presented a BBC factual series on Scottish rave culture, BAFTA and RTS Scotland nominated Scotland the Rave (BBC, 2021), and on the evolution of Scottish gang culture, Street Gangs (BBC, 2023) featured on BBC iPlayer. In 2023, he was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, a once-in-a-decade literary honour. The Young Team is currently in development as a major BBC 1 drama, expected late 2026. His new novel Raveheart publishes with 4th Estate in April 2026. It has been optioned for screen by Warp Films (This is England/Adolescence).
Writing the Working-Class Experience
How do you start, and continue, writing from the margins?
How will you define your work and what is your ultimate intention for it? Where do you get ideas and then how do you develop them? What makes a great character, setting and story?
We’ll explore all this and more by seeking out and discussing the best of working class writing and using short accessible exercises to get you writing pieces that you can then develop long after your course.
This course is suitable for those beginning their journey and writers with a project in mind or underway.
There are a limited number of bursaries available for this course. Please visit the Financial Support page to find out more, and to apply by 11 March 2026.
Tutors
Graeme Armstrong
Ali Millar
Born in Edinburgh and raised in a cult in the Scottish Borders, Ali Millar is the critically acclaimed author of The Last Days (PRH, 2022) and Ava Anna Ada (White Rabbit, 2024). The Last Days became a Guardian Book of the Year, and in 2024, The Scotsman named her their artist to watch in books. As journalist, her work has featured in The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Stylist and The Independent among other outlets. She has interviewed some of the world's leading authors and artists including Rachel Cusk, Samantha Harvey, Maggie O'Farrell, David Baddiel and Jeremy Deller. She has an MA with distinction in Creative Writing, and has guest lectured at the University of Bologna and Bath Spa University. She regularly tutors in creative writing across a number of writing ccentres including Arvon, Moniack Mohr, and Hawkwood. She divides her time between Scotland and the south coast of England.
Guest Reader
Anthony Shapland (Digital)
Anthony Shapland grew up in the Rhymney Valley. He is the co‐founder of g39, Cardiff, where he works. He was part of Literature Wales’ Representing Wales 2022/23 Cohort with mentoring support from Cynan Jones. He was shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition for Foolscap, part of the anthology Cree, published by Parthian (2022). His creative non-fiction essay, Meantime, was commissioned by Inclusive Journalism for the Seren anthology Cymru & I (2023) and he recently contributed to (un)common, an anthology published by Lucent Dreaming (2024). He was selected for the Hay Writers at Work programme in 2023. His fiction, Feathertongue, will be broadcast as part of Radio Four’s Short Works series in autumn 2024. He is represented by Cathryn Summerhayes, Curtis Brown, and his debut novel A Room Above a Shop was published by Granta in 2025.