Terrible Tales & Dreadful Decisions: Write Your Own Wicked Cautionary Tale

Join authors Lizzie Shannon-Little and Gerard Lewis for a playful, creative writing workshop inspired by classic cautionary tales – from Aesop’s Fables to Hilaire Belloc and their own darkly humorous poetry collection, The Tale of the Propeller Man and Other Stories.

Children will explore why warning stories are funny, frightening, and strangely irresistible, before inventing and writing their own wicked poems about dreadful decisions and disastrous consequences.

This interactive session encourages imagination, discussion, and creative confidence. It is best suited to confident readers and independent writers aged 8–12. Younger siblings are welcome to attend with adults and can take part through drawing, discussion, and imaginative play alongside the writing activities.

Expect laughter, mischief, and delightfully terrible ideas.

The session runs 10.30-12.30.

Please make sure to arrive on time. We allow a 10-minute grace period for late arrivals. After this point, we cannot guarantee admission to the activity.

This workshop is suitable for ages 8-12. Children must be supervised at all times.

Tickets cost £1.50 per child.

Each child ticket includes free entry for one accompanying adult. This event ticket includes access to the Galleries for one child and one adult.

We recommend booking in advance to secure your place. Sales from tickets help support our work to deliver fun and accessible family activities, community engagement projects, schools’ workshops, exhibitions and special events for Oxford’s people in our Museum spaces.

About the authors

Lizzie Shannon-Little and Gerard Lewis are Oxfordshire-based writers who met at a writing group in Oxford and have been collaborating creatively for well over a decade. Their darkly humorous poetry collection, The Tale of the Propeller Man and Other Stories, draws inspiration from classic cautionary tales and the wicked wit of writers such as Dr Heinrich Hoffmann and Hilaire Belloc.

Lizzie is an artist and writer with a fascination for myth, dark storytelling, and all things slightly strange, balancing her creative practice with a career in communications. Gerard is an author, playwright, and musician whose work spans novels, theatre, and song, and whose unused stories for this book were (apparently) too dark even for publication.

More info about the book: https://www.thepropellerman.com/ (opens in a new tab)

Further information

 Access

 There is step-free, level entry access to the Town Hall via the entrance closest to Carfax Tower (to the left of the main steps as you face the Town Hall). Inside the Museum, Museum Makers is accessible via a platform lift to the Galleries and then a lift to the basement.

Accessible toilets are available in the Museum (close to Museum Makers) and in the Town Hall on the ground floor, before entering the Museum. Please contact the Museum team if you’d like to talk to a member of staff about your access requirements. Further access information can be found on our page dedicated to access at the museum.

Photo consent

 Please be aware that photographs will be taken at this event for use in marketing. If you (or a member of your group) would prefer not to be photographed, please let a member of staff know during the event.