The Writing Salon is unlike any other event for writers. It seeks to draw inspiration from unlikely places as it dissects genre and narrative, explores fiction and non-fiction, and dives into all forms of storytelling. Through a mixture of video, audio, theory, practical exercises, interviews with guests, and a very social and engaged membership it will make you feel energised about your writing. Everyone is welcome, as well as all writing genres and formats. Some members have no previous writing experience – others write regularly for stage, page and screen. Whatever your level, you’ll get a warm welcome.
Over the past few months, The Writing Salon has been on a journey, a quiet rebellion in four acts. We began with “Strange twins”, discovering that stories in completely different genres share the same bones. That was our first liberation, structure belongs to no one. Then we moved to “Language is a parasite”, where we realised words don’t just serve us, they feed on us. We saw language as a living thing that evolves through us, not because of us. Next came “Luxury horror”, our experiment in beauty and discomfort. We learned that creative risk is an aesthetic pleasure, and that unease can be exquisite. Now, on Tuesday 18th November join host Mark Heywood for our final salon of 2025, “Poetry as system error.”
This is where everything we’ve explored, structure, infection, beauty, and transgression fuses into a single idea. When form fails on purpose, something living appears. This month, poet Rufo Quintavalle joins us to show how language can behave like an ecosystem, wild, fragile, and capable of renewal. His collection shelf reimagines Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass for the twenty-first century. A world not of endless expansion but of contraction, care, and attention.
And because Rufo is in London for the 50th anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, in which his father appeared, we’ll also look at that film’s shocking brilliance. Salò is what happens when art uses structure as a cage; Rufo’s poetry is what happens when we break the cage and let language breathe again. Together, they reveal the two extremes of artistic courage: destruction and renewal. Expect an evening that moves between film, poetry, conversation, and experiment. You’ll build your own “shelf” of language , fragments that connect like cells in a living organism. Whether you write fiction, essays, or screenplays, you’ll leave with new ways to treat language as material, rhythm, and weather.”
As ever, there will be a practical section, so grab your pencil cases, and we’ll see you there.
RSVP to catherine@unionclub.co.uk
The session starts at 7pm but please feel free to book a table at the Club from 6pm to enjoy a bite to eat, or arrive a little early in order grab a drink before we begin (you can also book a table for 9pm to have your supper afterwards!)
Email reception@unionclub.co.uk to book. PLEASE NOTE – Writing Salon is getting very busy. Do make sure you RSVP to guarantee admittance.
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WRITING SALON DATES 2025
November 18th