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.