About Us

All About Writing was founded in 2007 by two writing professionals, novelist Jo-Anne Richards and scriptwriter Richard Beynon. We are passionate about writing and have devised our courses to help communicate that passion – plus the skills that make it all much more than an academic exercise – to others with a similar calling.

We offer courses, online, virtually and face-to-face, that promote good writing. They include creative writing and scriptwriting courses, coaching and mentoring programmes as well as workshops and writing retreats including our annual retreat in Venice, Italy and our annual Cotswolds writing weekend. We also offer literary assessments, one-on-one consultations and mentoring and coaching.

Jo-Anne Richards, based in Simonstown, South Africa, is an internationally published novelist with a PhD in Creative Writing from Wits University. Her first novel, The Innocence of Roast Chicken, was originally published by Headline Review in the UK, and has recently been rereleased as one of the prestigious Picador Africa Classics collection. She ran the Honours programme in Journalism & Media Studies at Wits University for fifteen years.

Richard Beynon, based on a houseboat on the River Great Ouse in the UK, is a story consultant and an an award-winning film and television scriptwriter with a long and accomplished career. He has written for – or headed the writing teams of – many of South Africa's most popular soaps from Isidingo and Isibaya to Scandal and S’gudi S’naysi.