Writing is a large part of my life: my own work, the books I read, and the time I spend helping other people develop their texts.
With La Petite Librairie, I want to bring these experiences together. The books on the shelves can also become starting points: a passage we read closely, a voice that interests us, a detail that makes us want to write.
From November, I’ll be offering writing workshops in French in Oxford and online, with separate groups for intermediate learners and advanced or Francophone writers.
The experience I bring
I have written four novels and have been leading writing workshops for three years. I have also trained in creative and expressive writing.
These experiences inform the attention I bring to each person’s voice, the feedback I offer, and the freedom to choose what to write and share. Here, our focus is literary and creative: exploring language, developing a text and discovering your own possibilities as a writer.
Intermediate French learners
Finding the words for your own ideas
Perhaps you can hold a conversation in French, but when you want to describe a memory or tell a story, you find yourself using the same familiar words. You have more to say than you can easily express.
In these workshops, I bring a short literary extract, a clear writing invitation and useful vocabulary to help you begin. You might describe a place, invent a small scene or write about an everyday moment.
There is time to look for a word, ask a question and develop a sentence. As a French teacher, I help you with the language you need for the particular thing you want to say.
The aim is to give you more freedom in French, through writing something that belongs to you.
Advanced & Francophone writers
Exploring your writing
If you already feel comfortable expressing yourself in French, we can give more attention to how a text works.
How does a character become convincing? What changes when a scene is told from another point of view? What can dialogue suggest without saying it directly? Where does a paragraph need more space, or a sharper rhythm?
You don’t need to be writing a novel or arrive with an existing project. Each session offers a starting point, time to write and an opportunity to develop your text through attentive feedback.
Advanced learners, bilingual writers and native French speakers can each bring a different relationship with the language. That variety gives us something interesting to work with.
Why I lead these workshops
Writing four novels has given me practical experience of beginning, hesitating, returning to a draft and discovering that a scene needs something different from what I first imagined.
I bring that experience to the workshops, alongside three years of accompanying other people’s writing. My role is to offer a precise invitation, read carefully and help you recognise the possibilities in your text.
I pay attention to your voice, your intention and the effect your choices have on a reader. A suggestion should help you take your writing further while leaving the decisions with you.
We begin with literature, then make room for your own words. Those who wish can read aloud; listening to the different responses is part of the experience. Sharing is always optional.
Join us in Oxford or online
From November 2026:
- Oxford: Tuesday evenings, 6.30–8pm, at North Oxford Association Community Centre, Diamond Place, Summertown, Oxford.
- Online: Wednesday evenings, 6.30–8pm UK time.
- Intermediate and Advanced & Francophone groups alternate each week.
Six participants per session · £30 for 90 minutes · Book one workshop at a time.
Find your group and choose a workshop →
