John Yorke for Trip to the Moon
Wednesday 11th February 2026
Pilrig St. Paul's / LARCH, Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 5AH
6.30pm
7pm
In this invaluable book, John Yorke uncovers the narratives that help us make sense of the world - and offers an antidote to paint-by-numbers screenwriting manuals. You'll learn something new on every page ~~ Helen Lewis
Since the release of Into the Woods in 2013, John Yorke has been an ever-present on every creative writing syllabus in the country. For writers just starting out to experts honing their craft, Trip to the Moon offers incisive insight into the power and mechanics of story. It is a privilege to welcome him to Edinburgh this February.
To command narrative is to control a sometimes frightening power. What is it that turbocharges some tales, and how is it possible to harness that potency?
John Yorke has revolutionised our understanding of story structure. In this new book he delves deeper - into how to put that structure to work in the world. Trip to the Moon takes us on a journey not just through drama and fiction but through politics, religion and non-western narrative, to seek out the role of story in all our lives, examining how to utilise its lessons to create life-changing tales - and, in a world aflame with conspiracy theories, to guard ourselves against their darker purpose too.
Revealing the artful symmetry and underlying principles that connect Summer beach reads to Classical Chinese poetry, superhero flicks to Russian arthouse, and classical rhetoric to state propaganda, Yorke makes dazzling connections that show how stories have the power to transfigure the chaos of our existence into a new equilibrium, and make the world anew.
John Yorke is a drama producer, consultant and lecturer on all forms of narrative - from speech writing and advertising to drama - and the author of Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world's most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama, from EastEnders to Shameless, Life on Mars and Wolf Hall.