- Trainer*in: Katharina Maria Kalinowski
Writers' Space (Creative Writing)
This course offers a space for sharing and workshopping creative work-in-progress and developing an in-depth understanding of literary texts. It is addressed to students who already have some experience with creative writing and wish to enhance their creative and critical literary competencies, language and communication skills, analytical abilities, imaginative skills, and applied writing and editing skills. Classes will be mainly taught as workshops and are open to all genres. Students enrolling in this course are expected to share creative writing in class, comment on the work of their peers, and participate in class discussions. We will analyse the ”rules” of short story writing (and how to break them), discuss writing and narrative techniques, and investigate the drafting and editing process. We will work towards an understanding of form, structure, and content, a consistent, flexible, and detailed vocabulary of craft, and a language for discussing characterisation, dramatic arc, subtext, theme, signs and symbols, point of view, style, tone, setting, and imagery. For raw material, we will read and study a range of contemporary and modern short stories, novel extracts, poems, and personal essays.
- Trainer*in: Katharina Maria Kalinowski
Exploring Poetry (Creative Writing)
This course is dedicated to the exploration of poetry through creative writing and critical reading practice. It aims to introduce students to a range of different poetic material, broaden their perspective on poetry, and give them an understanding of the making of a poem and the pleasures to be gained through artistic challenge and breakthrough. From a transhistoric perspective, we will investigate different contexts, concepts, and artistic approaches to poetry, engage with free verse and strict form poetry, and experiment with voice, style, and technique. Students are expected to share creative writing in class and provide feedback on the work of their peers.
- Trainer*in: Sonja Frenzel
When Writers Read ... (Artistic Research)
A writer is anyone who writes. Yet, to write well, one needs to read extensively and, above all, from creative as well as critical vantage points.
If most successful writers are also avid readers, how do their readings of fellow writers' works articulate, develop, or even put to the test their own practice?
From these grounds, this interactive seminar invites students with a keen interest in creative writing and creative research practices to explore other writers' literary criticism. Further to this, students will be encouraged to take the stance of literary criticis themselves: each participant will be asked to bring in their own favourite literary work (prose, poetry, or drama) and will be guided to present a critical and creative reading. Special focus will be placed on how to gain insights into one's own writerly practices and how to develop writerly creativity from reading experiences.
Students will be required to:
- to analyse literary criticism by well-known authors and critically assess the authors' rflections on craft and creativity;
- to report on two literary works which have influenced their own perception of literature and their own writing practices - for better and for worse;
- to engage in writing exercises following the example of their own and other participants' "favourite" writers' along the lines of narrative technique, style, and writing practices;
- to share their own and comment on other participants' writing in plenary and small group workshops.
- Trainer*in: Sonja Frenzel
Writers' Space: Beginnings
In this workshop-style seminar, we will explore the "beginnings" of creative writing from a variety of angles:
- where to find that first spark of the imagination?
- how to begin writing?
- how to write an exciting beginning to your short story or novel?
- ...
Whether you have always wanted to tap into your creativity or want to gain a new perspective on "beginnings": Come join this writers' space!
Please note that you will be required to share your work with fellow members of this writers' space.
To facilitate a workshopping atmosphere, spots are limited to 15 participants. No prior experience required.
Selection will be based on a quota of "first come-first served" and registration for other creative writing classes.
BN requirements:
- active participation
- creative writing assignments
- sharing creative writing in workshop sessions
No APs obtainable!