An eight-week course in attention, with four live classes on Zoom. Taught by Julia Bell, author of Radical Attention and Professor of New Writing at Birkbeck.
Something has happened to the way we pay attention. You can feel it when you try to read a book, sit down to write a difficult scene, or sustain a real conversation in a world designed to break our focus into pieces.
This winter, spend eight weeks slowing down: thinking with philosophers, poets, novelists and artists about how we look, read and listen, and finding out what changes when we do.
Who it's for
Writers, at any stage. Artists, photographers and anyone who makes things. Therapists, teachers and others whose work depends on noticing people closely. And anyone who has felt their attention thinning and wants it back.
You don't need qualifications or a writing background. You'll need a notebook, a pen, and a willingness to look again. The exercises can be done in words, drawings or photographs.
Session 1, The Art of Attention, is free.
Enter your email and you'll get instant access to the full 90-minute session, yours to keep.
Bring a notebook and a pen. It's the best way to find out whether the course is for you.
The Winter Cohort
The full course opens on Monday 18 January 2027. Sessions 2 to 8 are released one a week over the following seven weeks, so the group moves through them together. Session 1 is already yours.
Four live classes on Zoom
Thursdays, 6.30–8.30pm (UK time): 21 January · 4 February · 18 February · 4 March
Live writing and looking together, shared readings, and time for your questions. Recordings will be available if you can't make one.
Online sessions
Eight video sessions, each about 90 minutes, with readings and exercises to work through in your own time.
A shared space
A private online space to share work, read alongside others and keep going between classes. I'll be reading along.
Places are limited, so the live classes stay small enough for real conversation.
Syllabus
1. The Art of Attention (free)
What it means to really look. We set out the ideas for the course, with Iris Murdoch and Georges Perec.
2. Attention to the Self
Turning the lens inward: noticing your own habits of distraction, and what you reach for instead of looking.
3. Attention to Others
Close listening, and what it takes to see another person clearly.
4. Attention to Language
Slowing down to the level of the word, and hearing what's tired or borrowed in how we speak and write.
5. Attention to the Environment
The rooms, streets and green spaces we pass through every day without seeing them.
6. Attention to the World
Attention as a political act: the attention economy, and how to make work that resists it.
7. Attention to Stories
How sustained attention gives shape to a story, an image or a body of work over time.
8. Attention to the Future
How to think about the future and how to keep going after the course ends.
About me
I’ve been teaching writing for thirty years, mostly at Birkbeck, University of London, where I’m Professor of New Writing. For many of those years I ran the MA in Creative Writing. This course brings that Master’s-level teaching to people outside the university.
I’ve published novels, a verse memoir and essays, most recently a reissue of Radical Attention with a new afterword. Attention Practices distils what those thirty years have taught me about how attention actually works, and how it can be practised.
Pricing
Everyone gets the same course: all eight sessions, the four live classes and the shared space. Please choose the tier that fits your circumstances.
Early bird · £149 (or 3 monthly payments of £52) Until 1 December 2026.
Standard · £199 (or 3 monthly payments of £70) From 2 December 2026.
Supporter · £249 (or 3 monthly payments of £87) If you can afford to pay a little more, this tier funds free places for others.
Funded places · £0 If you're unwaged, on a low income, studying or caring for someone, you can apply for one of 5 funded places. Email me a few lines about yourself and what draws you to the course.
Avi Ben-Zeev
'Julia Bell’s teaching is transformative. She’s changed the way I see the world and how my perceptions morph into storytelling.'
Lily Dunn
'Teaching to Julia comes as naturally as breathing, and she takes this seemingly effortless style into the workshop space. It is more a philosophy of being and doing than focusing on the end result. To sit in a workshop with Julia at the helm is to learn about living better. This makes Julia, without a doubt, one of the UK's best creative teachers.'
Charlotte Northall
'Julia is an enormously skilled and passionate teacher. Working with her over the years has helped me write more clearly, formulate my ideas and learn how to shape them into a coherent narrative. Her guidance has been invaluable in the development of work that went on to become a published book.'
Sign Up
Join the waitlist and I'll send you the first session, The Art of Attention, free in November. You'll also hear first when enrolment opens. No frequent emails, no spam. You can unsubscribe at any time.