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Background
This four-day writing workshop with award-winning poet and
playwright, Kobus Moolman, is an introduction to some of
the basic principles and processes of imaginative writing.
Venue
Philippolis
The workshop will take place in the Van der post House.
The house, in which Sir Laurens van der Post was born in 1906,
was built in the 1870's and is one of the few instances of
"Middle Republican" architecture to have survived the Anglo-Boer
war. This gracious homestead, redolent of a turbulent
past, and cocooned in the timeless tranquillity of Philippolis,
is the ideal retreat for this workshop.
What to expect
The workshop will explore and extend participant’s skills in
creative expression. The medium will be English. It will focus on the positioning of the
first person in different forms of writing, from basic prose to
poetry and scriptwriting. This will enable participants to
recognize the intensely personal nature of much writing and to
understand the conventions through which this individual self is
expressed.
The workshop will also address some of the common misconceptions
surrounding the art of writing (such as inspiration and
unbridled self-expression), as well as examine the issue of
publishing. The workshop will include both group discussion and
individual practical work. It is important to emphasize that the
workshop is non-competitive.
Facilitator’s Profile
Kobus Moolman teaches creative writing at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. He has published three collections
of poetry: Time like Stone (which received the Ingrid Jonker
Prize for 2001), Feet of the Sky, and Separating the Seas. He
has twice won the PANSA award for best script, first in 2004 for
his play, Full Circle, and then in 2007 for Stone Angel. He has
also published a collection of radio plays, Blind Voices.
Who to attend
Participants do not need to have pre-existing skills in creative
writing. An inquisitive mind and an open heart are more than
sufficient. My specific approach will be to help each
participant discover what they would like to say, and then to
help them express this in an imaginative but structured manner.
One cannot turn out full writers in four days. Not even a year.
It is a lifetime’s commitment. But one can start somewhere. Why
not now?
Special assignments
All participants must submit a piece of original creative
writing (in any genre) to the workshop administrator, Anita
Harmse, at least 10 days before commencement of the
workshop. The minimum length of this is one page, or two short
poems.
Upon registration participants will receive a pack with notes
and a selection of reading material.
Participants must however bring their own writing material as
well as a journal or notebook to work in.
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All participants must submit a piece
of original creative writing (in any genre) to the workshop
administrator, Anita Harmse, at least 10 days before
commencement of the workshop. The minimum length of this is one
page, or two short poems.
Contact Anita
anita@webgrafika.co.za
Cell:072 992
5099
Fax: 086 613 1244
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Thursday, 2 October 2008:
15h00-16h30
Registration
Followed by Welcome
Introduction and What to Expect
The rules of workshop participation.
Welcome dinner in the evening
Day ONE: Friday, 3 October 2008:
9h00-10h30
Write what you know
Trust what you already have and know
How to imagine what you do not know
The need for research
10h30-11h00
Tea
11h00-13h00
Word as Image
Writing re-presents the world to the reader
13h00-14h00
Lunch
14h00- 16h00
Concrete vs Abstract writing
Things not Ideas
Individual work
Poetry recital by Kobus Moolman after dinner
Day TWO: Saturday, 5 October 2008 :
9h00-10h30
The writer’s Voice
How to develop your own personal Voice
Style and form
10h30-11h00
Tea
11h00-13h00
What is a Character?
Character as Want / Desire
Character as Dialogue
What is effective Dialogue?
13h00-14h00
Lunch
14h00- 15h00
How to project yourself into an Other?
Individual work
Village tour of Philippolis
Star-gazing after dinner
Day THREE: Sunday, 6 October 2008 :
8h30-10h30
Editing and re-vision
“Writing is re-writing what you have already re-written”
10h30-11h30
Brunch
11h30-13h00
Writing in the marketplace
The world of publishing
How to prepare a manuscript
Overview
Conclusion and Way forward
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