Top authors are offering workshops for writers of all abilities at this year’s PENfro Book Festival.

PENfro Saturday, on September 13, is writers’ day and there is a wide range of workshops to choose from, including poetry, fiction, radio drama and memoir. Spaces are limited and booking is open now via the website.

Each of the six workshops lasts two hours, and all offer the opportunity to meet and chat with experienced writers. The cost for each is just £10 (£8 concessions).

Award winning Caribbean poet and prose writer Maggie Harris will use the garden as inspiration for writing poetry, and offer imaginative ways to stimulate and make your writing exciting. Maggie won the Guyana Prize for Literature for her first collection, Limbolands, (2000) and was Regional Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2014. Her latest book of poetry is Sixty Years of Loving, (Cane Arrow Press).

Novelist Nina Milton presents a workshop for people who enjoy writing fiction at any level. Some writers like to work with characters, others prefer to work with their plots. Nina will help create a good balance. She has worked with the Open College of the Arts for several years, tutoring, assessing, workshopping and writing course materials in Creative Writing. She has been publishing short stories and children's books for thirty years and has won many literary prizes.

Lucy Gough, who has written extensively for TV, radio and stage, presents a workshop on writing drama for radio. She has written plays for BBC radio 4, BBC radio 3 and the BBC world service. She has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including 'The John Whiting' and the Nick Darke Award.

She was awarded a 'Granada artist' writing residency in California and has just completed a Creative Wales Award by the Welsh Arts Council.

Reader and talent scout David Llewelyn, will provide an insight into the role of literary agents and advise aspiring authors on the do's and don'ts of submitting work for the consideration of agents and publishers. Topics will include The Covering Letter, The Synopsis and Presentation of material. This workshop will be an opportunity to get constructive feedback on work in progress.

Author Brian John, who penned the Angel Mountain series, presents a workshop on the value of establishing a sense of place in fiction. Participants will be asked to bring along short examples of their work for analysis and discussion. His novel for children, ‘The Strange Affair of the Ethiopian Treasure Chest’ won first prize in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2012.

Barbara Large presents a workshop on How to Write Memoir, which will feature lots of triggers to get writers started.

Tickets for each workshop are £10 (£8 concessions). Booking is essential. More information on the workshops and booking details at: http://penfrobookfestival.org.uk/tickets-pf/workshops-for-writers