Teaching and Mentoring
I teach a successful rolling 10-week evening course on the short story at Goldsmiths University on Tuesdays and Saturdays. For details and to book, click here.
I also teach courses for Collage Writing Room who run bespoke writing classes for adults of all levels in North London. For details of workshops and to book click here.
I am also available for mentoring writers on a one-to-one basis at all stages of their writing lives, including:
Support and feedback for early forays into writing short stories, life-writing or memoir.
Support and feedback for novel process/development/editing.
Getting a novel ready for agent submission.
Contact me using the button to the right of the page for more information and fees.
Teaching and Mentoring Testimonials
"The online writing course I took with Gio exposed me to new writers, techniques, and exercises that have evolved my writing in concrete ways. Gio created a warm environment in which students felt comfortable taking risks; she encouraged us to experiment, and our writing became stronger, bolder, and more distinct. She's an incredible teacher with vast literary knowledge that she wove into discussions. Gio's workshop pedagogy / facilitation made it so that every student in the room learned something useful while workshopping an individual student's piece of writing; she zoomed out and made feedback relevant, instructional. I use so many of those workshop lessons in my daily writing practice. Each class was dynamic, active, and filled with diverse perspectives - she made sure that each voice in the room was heard. I will be enrolling in another course with Gio in the spring!" Fiona Picard, 2021
The Short Story course with Giovanna has been a blessing amidst troublesome times. Gio is an incredibly warm and thoughtful person and her class has re-instilled my confidence as a writer. Although Zoom can be awkward and dull at times, Gio handled the remote setup with aplomb, keeping everyone engaged with her sense of humour. The course content was very useful and Gio is not short of reading recommendations. Reading more critically has helped me become more aware of various writing techniques and I now feel emboldened to practice more experimental styles of writing. Balance between 'lecturing' and discussion was brilliant, as well as opportunities to share work. I wish I could repeat the course all over again! Overall, it's been an absolute pleasure and I would gladly recommend this course to other writers. Harriet Lambert, July 2020
I would like to thank you for this wonderful class. I thought what really stood out was your engagement, care and commitment. I was also quite impressed with the amount of writing we did (I am not a fast writer!). But I think this is really good and allows those students who have more time to work on their skills. I also liked that you printed out the stories and updated material spontaneously. This was a lively form of teaching. In the end, I found that the zoom worked out quite well and that it brought the group closer together. Jelena Martinovic, April 2020
This course has shifted the direction of my career. Giovanna is an inspiring, thorough and relatable teacher and her love of the short story form is evident in every session. Each week we concentrated on structure, character, dialogue, starting points and many others ways into the creative process. We bonded as a group and took care in critiquing each others work. Every week felt like a new discovery. I have gone from this course straight into an MA in creative writing - at a much later stage in my life than I would have anticipated. Shelley, Goldsmiths, Spring 2017
I registered for the short story course looking for a creative outlet having never done any creative writing before. It turned out to be the most stimulating and fun course I have taken in years! The tutor, Giovanna, was both inspiring and encouraging. Each week she guided us through aspects of the short story form and provided an excellent handbook with a great range of short stories for us to read and discuss. Angela, Goldsmiths, Autumn 2016
The short stories course was a really rewarding experience, and I learnt far more about the craft of writing short stories than I thought would be possible in the ten weeks. Giovanna is a hugely knowledgable, entertaining and supportive tutor who has put together a course that is genuinely inspiring. One of the biggest strengths is the range of authors and types of story covered; the course has given me a much better appreciation of how short stories are imagined and written, and the range the form can cover. I'm now enjoying writing creatively for the first time since university, and have this course to thank! Sara, Goldsmiths, 2017
It would obviously be a mistake to turn down the opportunity of being in one of Giovanna’s classes. She is both encouraging and intellectually rigorous, furthermore it’s unusual to find such a wholesome, fostering environment in an art form that is frankly rather cutthroat. I think many people will flourish, across a variety of genres,from attending her short story course. Catherine, Haringey Literature Live Short Story Writing Student, 2017
I found Giovanna’s Life Writing workshops great! The group was friendly and supportive, and Giovanna is an enthusiastic and encouraging facilitator. She provided us with loads of stimulating ideas and readings and her feedback was always constructive as well as honest. Having been ‘blocked’ for a long time I was pleased that I was able to produce the beginnings of some worthwhile work, and the feedback I got from everyone was helpful and encouraged me to stick at it. Lucy, Haringey Literature Live Life Writing Student, 2017