ArtfulScribe presents
Raise Your Voice: A Writing Day for Women
6 June 2026
Event details
ArtfulScribe presents Raise Your Voice: A Writing Day for Women, including workshops, writing practice, networking, and a relaxed open-mic with headliner Laurie Bolger.
Focused on finding, amplifying and honouring women’s voices, this event is open to all those who identify as a woman, or who are non-binary and are comfortable in a space centred on women’s experiences. Hosted by writer-facilitator Joanna Barnard (ArtfulScribe), the day’s sessions include a generative writing workshop with poet and presenter Laurie Bolger, confidence building techniques with speaker coach Liz Garland, time to write, networking, and an opportunity to share your writing and listen to others with an open-mic session to close the day. Babies in arms are welcome.
ArtfulScribe will also be launching What Women Write, a publication gathering women’s voices from across Southampton as part of celebrations of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, supported by Southampton Forward.
The open mic session is also available to those who are unable to commit to the full day, as well as offering a great chance for audience members to celebrate women in a creative and supportive space, and will include readings from What Women Write.
Agenda
10.00am – 11.15am: Welcome and Workshop 1: Liz Garland’s ‘Communicating with Confidence’
11.30pm – 1.00pm: Workshop 2: Laurie Bolger’s ‘You Do You’
1.00pm – 1.30pm: Lunch
1.30pm – 2.00pm: Have Your Say: Reflections on what people would like from a women’s writing offer in the city
2.00pm – 3.00pm: Guided communal writing time
3.15pm – 4.45pm: Relaxed open mic with Laurie Bolger*
*If you wish to attend the open mic portion only, please arrive by 3pm to register your interest if you would like to read
Venue
GA Studios — Mayflower Studios
Price
Open Mic Only: £5
Duration
Full day including Open Mic approx. 7 hours.
Open Mic approx. 1 hour and 45mins.
Age advice
Recommended age 14+
Under 2s not allowed
Communicating with Confidence
Communicating with Confidence with Liz Garland will explore confidence in everyday communication. Through gentle group exercises, you will be guided to discover simple tools to feel calmer and more grounded when expressing yourself. You will have the chance to look at how you can stay ‘in the moment’ when communicating, using the breath to calm nerves, and uncover your powerful voice.
You Do You: Creative Writing with Laurie Bolger
Join writer Laurie Bolger for an energising in-person creative writing session designed to get you scribbling together in a relaxed & welcoming space. Inspired by Laurie’s Creative Writing Breakfast Club as featured in Time Out, this Free Flow Writing Workshop invites you to let your creativity lead the way generating fresh new ideas in your own unique voice & style.
Laurie will guide you through a series of fast-paced writing prompts to encourage mindfulness & play. There’s no pressure to have tried anything like this before just take some you time to let your imagination do its thing & create some fizzy ideas along the way. Creative connection & ‘you time’ guaranteed.
About Joanna Barnard
Joanna Barnard’s first novel Precocious won the inaugural Bath Novel Award in 2014 and was subsequently published by Ebury.
Her second novel, Hush Little Baby, was published in 2017. From January 2017 to May 2021 Joanna facilitated the So:Write Women groups in Southampton. She is a qualified counsellor and now leads ArtfulScribe’s Writing for Wellbeing (Online) group.
When she’s not reading or writing, Joanna enjoys walking (or being walked by) her rescue spaniel and wild swimming. She lives in Godalming with her family.
About Laurie Bolger
Laurie Bolger is a London-based poet, presenter & founder of The Creative Writing Breakfast Club & Poetry in Pyjamas, both with international acclaim. Laurie’s work has featured across Glastonbury Festival, BBC Global News, Channel 4 and Sky Arts.
Laurie has collaborated with a wide range of arts organisations, charities & global brands including Choose Love, Mind, TATE, The Royal Academy of Arts, YouTube, Google, Nationwide and Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
Laurie has been shortlisted for various awards including Young Poet Laureate for London, The Sylvia Plath Prize, Bridport Prize and Forward Prize, and was awarded The Moth Poetry Prize judged by Nobel Laureate Louise Glück. Her publications include Box Rooms, Makeover, Spin. Her latest full collection, Lady, explores resilience, identity, community and connection.
www.lauriebolger.com | Instagram @lauriebolger_ | X @lauriebolger
About Liz Garland
Liz Garland is an actor, writer and speaker coach. As an actor she has worked in all areas of the industry, from No1 tours to West End, TV and Radio.
Her writing work has included the short film Living Loud, which was selected for inclusion in the Portsmouth Short Cuts Festival, and she recently completed a pilot tour of her new play Becoming Simone.
Her speaker coach work has seen her work with CEO’s, corporates and charities, enabling people to feel more confident when communicating.
www.lizgarland.com | Instagram @lizziegarland
