Neuroqueering Your Creative Practice 2.0
we're baaaaccckkk!
Last fall my friends Meg Max1, KR Moorhead2, and I3 dreamed up a new course called Neuroqueering Your Creative Practice. We each had a body of work related to neuroqueering, and our hunch was that we’d all be better together. We were so right!
We put the course on sale in August and it quickly sold out in two weeks. The sessions ran over 12 weeks in the fall, and I can confidently say it went even better than we could ever have dreamed! (See testimonials below from Session 1 participants.)
We are now gearing up for the next iteration of the course, starting in late March 2025. Please register your interest in the course and we will notify you when discounted Early Bird tickets go on sale. For more information and session descriptions, see below.
“I feel much more open, curious, and inspired about my creative practice! And feel more trust in my Neuroqueer self ^•^...This course reinvigorated my spirit and bodymind. It helped me understand myself and past more deeply, recharged my present self, and excited me about my future. It also introduced me to many electrically smart and creative people; how wonderfully brain tingly good it feels to be in a Neuroqueer space! Thank you for making and holding that space for us!”
Time & Location
25 Mar 2025, 18:00 GMT – 10 Jun 2025, 20:00 BST
Zoom & Google Classroom
About the event
Neuroqueering Your Creative Practice:
Neuroqueer (v): the practice of queering (subverting, defying, disrupting, liberating oneself from) neuronormativity and heteronormativity simultaneously
This 12-week online course is co-facilitated by KR Moorhead, Marta Rose and Meg Max.
“...The delivery, each of the tutors, as well as the general vibe was so neuroqueery that the experience as a whole has been profoundly affirming and delightful, as well as bringing up deep grief at how constrained we've been, followed again by potent affirmation of our wild and creative spirits…Thank you for creating it!”
What is the course about?
This course is an introduction to a variety of ‘neuroqueering’ practices, geared towards artists and creatives. As a community, we will deconstruct capitalist/colonialist concepts of time, work, productivity, shame, ‘executive function’, giving and receiving feedback, and more, while simultaneously constructing new systems, languages, narratives, and ways of being/creating that subvert, defy, disrupt, and liberate us from neuronormativity and heteronormativity.
Sessions will feature a mix of facilitator presentation, practical and reflective writing exercises, and opportunities for group discussion. No attendees will ever be pressured to speak or share.
Who is this course for?
Anyone who writes or makes art (or would like to). No previous knowledge or experience required.
“One can neuroqueer, and one can be neuroqueer. A neuroqueer individual is any individual whose identity, selfhood, gender performance, and/or neurocognitive style have in some way been shaped by their engagement in practices of neuroqueering, regardless of what gender, sexual orientation, or style of neurocognitive functioning they may have been born with.” (Walker, N.)
When will this course run?
Every Tuesday: March 25th - June 10th. 6-8pm UK/1-3pm EST
Where will this course run?
All sessions will run on Zoom. Sessions will be recorded and shared with all ticket holders.
What is the group size?
We offer a maximum of 100 places - but are aware this is a large group. Each weekly session will be presented to the full group, but attendees will be placed in much smaller groups for discussions. Additionally, each facilitator will offer an extra one hour drop-in session per week, which will be centred around small group processing and reflection on the week's topic. Attendees are also encouraged to join the NQ Discord for connecting, communicating and creating in community.
“Very validating to be around people trying to do things in a way that works for them and embracing their nq-ness…Thank you to the three of you - I really got a lot out of it and your way of welcoming everyone to participate in a way that worked for them was fantastic. You are all warm and welcoming and approachable and encouraging. Thank you.”
Session Titles and Descriptions:
Introduction to Neuroqueering & Creative Practice (KR, Meg & Marta):
This first session will be an opportunity to get to know all three facilitators, and each other. KR will introduce the concept of Neuroqueering (through the writings of Dr Nick Walker) and how the course will be oriented around this. Meg will introduce the concept of Creative Practice and how we approach this from a neuroqueering perspective. Finally, Marta will host a peer support session designed to give space and opportunities to process and digest the session. There will be opportunities throughout to reflect on and discuss how we already practice neuroqueering in our lives and creative practices.
Discovering Your Neuroqueer Lineage (Meg):
Despite irrefutable proof that neuroqueerness has always existed, it has consistently been erased, refuted or dismissed. We will discuss the impacts this ongoing erasure has on our creativity, reflect on our own creative lineages through a neuroqueer lens, and consider the impact our work might have on the future.
Do it on Purpose: Neuroqueering Language & Style (KR):
Do you ever find that the ‘right’ word for something you experience just doesn’t exist, and so you have to make one up? When writing, do you find yourself eschewing the rules of ‘standard’ English grammar? Building on Meg’s session on creative lineage, we’ll create and collect our own neuroqueer vocabulary and stylistics. To do this, we’ll look at examples of reclaimed and newly created language, as well as the ways we naturally bend punctuation and sentence structure to fit our linguistic needs.
Disrupting Shame (Marta):
Shame is a powerful political tool used in almost every area of our lives—our families, our schools, our workplaces, even our identities—to wrench us into conformity with the values of industrial time and compulsory executive functioning. How does shame show up in our lives? What does it feel like in our bodies? How does it creates dysfunction in our creative practice? Through freewriting and artistic invitations, we will examine some of the ways shame shows up and explore ways we can disrupt it so it becomes less and less debilitating.
Monsters, Magic and Machines: When truth is stranger than fiction (KR):
Have you ever felt like an alien, observing humans as an outsider? Have you ever strongly related to an android character, striving to understand what it means to be human? Were you ever convinced you had powers like Matilda? Or that you were psychic? Have you ever found yourself feeling like Alice in Wonderland, the only sane person, in an insane world? Or like Frankenstein’s monster, forever the ‘other’? In this session we’ll consider how blurring the lines between realism and fantasy, autobiography and invention, fact and fiction, can allow us to get to the actual ‘truth’ of our lived experiences as neuroqueering individuals.
Unmasking Your Monster (Meg):
When we are forced to mask out in the world, how can we feel safe enough to unmask in our art? In this session we will harness the power of becoming unpalatable through unearthing, caring for, and tending to our most monstrous selves.
Creating in Spiral Time (Marta):
Neurodivergent people are often plagued by a sense that we have “wasted time” and “fallen behind” our peers in terms of productivity and creative accomplishment. If there is any hope for finding a more enjoyable and generative relationship with time, we need new metaphors that defy the contemporary Western ones that have colonized the world. We will explore alternative metaphors and values of slowness, spirals, cyclicality, and design. This session will offer opportunities for guided free writing exercises, art-making practices, and discussion.
"Meander, Spiral, Explode”: Neuroqueering Narrative Structure (KR):
Marginalised people are rarely afforded the right to tell their own story. And when they are, they are expected to tell it in ways that maintain the status quo and reinforce dominant cultural narratives. Are all stories really three-act arcs, or the predictable hero’s journey? Or are some stories spirals and explosions? Do some journeys meander? We’ll experiment with using alternative patterns and structures to create counternarratives, and deconstruct dominant concepts of memory, time, and perspective in storytelling.
Mise en Place (Marta):
Many of us struggle with getting started, maintaining momentum, and following through with our creative projects and lives, as well as caring for our spaces and supplies. We are often shamed for these struggles, but seldom examine the reasons these issues plague us in the first place. Mise en Place, a concept from the culinary world, offers a practice of slowness and pleasure in our creative projects and lives, and we will spend time in the session doing the mise en place for a project we are having difficulty starting, or that has stalled out in the middle.
A Field Guide to Neuroqueering Your Creative Practice (Meg):
How do you put into practice what you've learned here? This session will offer a quick overview to help you digest the course material, suggest ways you might go about applying what you've learned, and offer practical frameworks to help you sustainably neuroqueer your creative practice.
Connection, Collaboration & Community (KR, Marta, Meg):
As the course winds down, the facilitators will take some time to share their own experiences of collaboration and community-building, as well as create space for attendees to explore and create connections, collaboration and community amongst themselves.
Show & Share (KR, Marta, Meg):
This final session will function as an ‘open mic’ and ‘show and tell’ where attendees can share and discuss any art they have created (or are creating) throughout the course, as well as a chance to celebrate the time and energy we have spent together.
“It has helped me re-frame ways of being, knowing and functioning that I previously viewed with shame. It has helped to know there are so many other people like me, struggling with similar difficulties. It has helped me realise some 'choices' I made and some ways of approaching creative work were actually quite radical - I had made these choices more intuitively, and the course helped me see how some of them were challenging existing normative structures.”
Early Bird Tickets on Sale Soon!
To be the first to know when Early Bird Tickets go on sale, and to get updates on course info, make sure you Register Your Interest
Meg Max is a queer, neurodivergent, mentally ill writer, artist and mother. She’s way more fun than that first sentence makes her sound. Her fiction has been published online and in print throughout North America, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has a certificate in therapeutic arts from the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy, and alongside founding Writers in Bloom, has facilitated with various schools, organizations and artists through Canada, the UK and the US. For a good time, Meg takes long walks where she gathers treasures to make art out of found or recycled materials. Meg lives on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people, with her husband, kiddo, two dogs and three vacuums.
KR Moorhead (they/them) is an AuDHD, gender non-compliant educator, and author of The First Law of Motion (2009). From 2009-2023 they taught creative writing at the University of East Anglia where they earned an MA in Creative Writing: Prose Fiction in 2007. KR also has a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education Practice and Research, both from UEA.
Since choosing to pursue freelance mentoring and facilitating, KR has launched FLUX: Trans* Writers Circle, as well as a Crash Course in Writing While Neurodivergent. They have facilitated for Writers in Bloom, Beyond Form Creative Writing, Devotion Workshop, Norwich School of Creative Writing, and Oxbridge Academic Courses. They currently teach a number of courses for City Lit, and on the Creative Writing MA at The University of Hull.
Originally from Philadelphia, KR now lives in Norwich, UK with their partner and three cats.
Marta Rose is a queer AuDHD writer and artist. Her work offers critical insights and healing metaphors for reframing the ways we understand neurodivergence. She founded and directs Divergent Design Studios, an online community offering body doubling, workshops, and peer support for neurodivergent creatives. She writes a weekly(ish) substack newsletter called The Spiral Lab, and has published several ebooks, including Neuroemergent Time: Making Time Make Sense for ADHD and Autistic People and Getting Started is the Hardest Part. Her work has been cited by Dr. Devon Price in Unmasking Autism, by Rebecca Schiller in A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention, and Ellie Middleton in How to Be You, among others. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College. She has two grown neurodivergent children and lives in Philadelphia, on the land of the Lenni Lenape people, with her partner and a bunch of pets.