WRITING courses & workshops

Sian is an inspiring creative writing teacher. She lectures at RMIT University, and her popular Refine Your Memoir course is a regular feature of Writers Victoria’s program of workshops.

Sian also runs her own short writing courses, both online and in person. Drawing on her many years of experience as a journalist and a published author, she creates warm and welcoming learning environments where her students can acquire new skills, meet other aspiring writers, receive encouragement and feedback, and explore their story-telling interests.

For those interested in improving their mental health and wellbeing, Sian has developed a series of Writing for Wellbeing workshops. She has delivered these workshops for a range of community organisations including The School Of Life, local libraries, Vision Australia, Positive Women and the Vanish adoption network.

For corporations and community groups, Sian offers a one-day workshop on how creative writing techniques can enhance corporate communications.


For soon-to-be-published writers who are about to begin promoting their books, Sian also offers one-hour individual workshops on Media Training for Authors.

Courses and Workshops

  • CREATIVE NON FICTION SHORT ONLINE COURSE (SIX WEEKS)

    We are living in the age of ‘reality hunger’. The reading public has an insatiable appetite for well-crafted true stories. This six week course will introduce you to some of the essential skills required to write publishable works of creative non fiction.

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  • ADVANCED CREATIVE NON FICTION SHORT ONLINE COURSE (SIX WEEKS)

    The Advanced Creative Non Fiction course builds on the content covered in Sian’s Creative Non Fiction course, but the CNF course is not a pre-requisite.

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  • FEATURE WRITING SHORT ONLINE COURSE (SIX WEEKS)

    Freelance feature writing can be a great way to earn money while pursuing your research an story-telling interests. Features usually benefit from the writer’s unique individual view of the subject matter, rather than requiring a homogenised style of factual news reporting.

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  • WRITING FOR WELLBEING COURSES

    Writing is a tried and tested method for coping with and understanding personal crises, depression, anxieties, stresses and traumatic events. The simple act of putting down words on the page can reflect our attempt to make meaning from the thoughts and feelings and experiences we have. It helps us to gain distance from the things that cause us distress.

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  • MEDIA TRAINING FOR AUTHORS

    I have developed a one-off hour-long individual media training session specifically for writers, to help you to handle the media and publicity side of book publishing.

    The session shows you how to make the most of your interviews for print, TV, radio, podcasts and writers festivals.

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  • CREATIVE WRITING TIPS FOR CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

    In this one-day workshop for corporate communications professionals, participants will learn: how to engage your reader from the very first sentence; how to move from describing a ‘situation’ to telling a ‘story’; how to choose the most appropriate writing ‘voice’ to tell your story; how to ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ your reader what you want them to know; how to declutter your writing; ten quick tips for non fiction writers.

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  • What a fantastic and inspiring class that was, thank you so much for all your feedback and investment of time and energy in my project’s development over the year.

    — Crystal

  • I want to thank you again for a brilliant year. You have helped me so much in developing my writing and I have really loved all the workshopping opportunities. Thank you so much.

    — Alison

  • This year, for the first time, I thought I would try some Victorian Writers Centre workshops. I would like to pass on to you directly how excellent your workshop was, and what a model of clarity and focus it was.

    — Peter

  • Never has playing 'worst-case scenario' been so reassuring. Sian is an expert guide through media minefields, generous with her own experience and analytical of yours.

    — Jenny Valentish, author of Cherry Bomb, Allen and Unwin

  • I really enjoyed the workshop on Saturday and I’m looking forward to actually doing some of the writing now. It will be great to have the goal of getting it done by a particular date – there is nothing like a deadline.

    — Julie

  • Thanks again – a million thanks – for the inspiration and encouragement you gave me over the two years of RMIT Journalism and Non Fiction.

    — Carole

  • Thanks again for the media training - it was really helpful and I look forward to using it in lots (fingers crossed!) of interviews.

    — Emily (Brewin) Stoikovich, author of Hello Goodbye, Allen and Unwin