Short courses and seminars
During 2008 the Centre for New Writing will be offering a range of courses to enable participants to enhance their creative writing and professional skills.
The Centre in partnership with the NSW Writers' Centre will run a series of UTS accredited courses. These courses are designed by the Centre using UTS lecturers and content, but are run onsite at the NSW Writers' Centre in Rozelle.
Postal Address
PO Box 1056
Rozelle NSW 2039
Location
Rozelle Hospital Grounds, Balmain Road, Rozelle NSW 2039
Website
www.nswwriterscentre.org.au
If you are interested in attending one of our short courses please email newwriting@uts.edu.au or nswwc@nswwriterscentre.org.au for all course and enrolment details.
Short Courses 2008
All of these courses are provided in an encouraging and supportive writing environment. They are writing-oriented and practice based. Some are conducted as one day courses on the weekend while others are a series of evening classes over 4-6 weeks.
Experimenting with Narrative and Photographs with Zoe Sadokierski
Writing About Food with John Newton
Masterclass for Fiction Writers with Jean Bedford
Memoir and Place with Barbara Brooks
Book Publishing - The Business, The Processes, The Pitfalls
Teaching Creative Writing with Camilla Nelson and Brenda Glover
Experimenting with Narrative and Photographs with Zoe Sadokierski
Over the past few years, graphic novels have risen in popularity like no other genre - as well as demanding new sections in bookstores and review pages of newspapers and journals, graphic novelists like Chris Ware and Shaun Tan are winning literary awards for their innovative narrative work. Also attracting critical interest are an emerging collection of conventional novels incorporating graphic elements - photographs, drawings, unconventional typography - into the fabric of the narrative. This growing trend can be seen in the work of new writers like Jonathan Safran Foer and Dave Eggers, to more established authors such as Umberto Eco and Douglas Coupland. These verbal-visual texts differ from illustrated literature of the past because rather than simply illustrating the written text, graphic elements are used as literary devices within the text.
This workshop:
- Examines some innovative examples of graphic novels and novels using graphic elements as literary devices.
- Engages participants in a structured series of writing exercises
exploring the potential for writers to use existing photographs as:
- Triggers for creative writing (inspiration) and;
- Visual narrative devices within their written texts (illustration).
All photographs will be supplied on the day. Participants will not be taking photographs, but using existing photographs to create characters, inspire setting, generate tensions or to inspire events or plot.
Date: Sunday, 24th August 2008
Time: 10:00am - 4.00pm
Location: NSW Writers' Centre, Rozelle Hospital Grounds, Balmain Road, Rozelle
Cost: $185
Writing About Food with John Newton
Food writing is a rapidly growing branch of creative writing, a discipline that combines the senses and the intellect. This course introduces students to a range of food writing, and explores with them their own abilities to differentiate between subtleties of flavour and to communicate those subtleties. Students also learn about the other branches of food writing which go beyond taste and flavour to politics and the environment.
Content
Analysis and discussion of a range of Australian and international
texts - history, journalism, recipes and writing by chefs on all
aspects of food in society (taste, social implications of food and food
policy and agriculture in society) and a component of critical writing
especially as it relates to restaurant criticism.
Objectives
To introduce students to a range of food writing, and to explore with
them their own abilities to differentiate between subtleties of flavour
and to communicate those subtleties. And to introduce them to the
other branches of food writing which go beyond taste and flavour to
politics and the environment.
Date: Saturdays 22nd, 29th November and 6th December 2008
Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm
Location: NSW Writers' Centre, Rozelle Hospital Grounds, Balmain Road, Rozelle
Cost: $360
Masterclass for Fiction Writers with Jean Bedford
For experienced fiction writers who want to take their manuscript to a professional level. This course is taught by one of the most experienced creative writing teachers in Australia.
Content
Analysis and discussion of the writing of workshop participants and
of the set readings, with the coordinator introducing at each session
elements and issues relevant for the fiction writer. Some writing
assignments will be suggested.
Objectives
In a workshop setting, participants will focus on their own writing
and the writing of others, developing critical abilities and skills to
bring the work to completion.
Date: Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October 2008
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: NSW Writers' Centre, Rozelle Hospital Grounds, Balmain Road, Rozelle
Cost: $360
Memoir and Place with Barbara Brooks
Content
Geography makes us what we are, Patrick White said. Every story is a journey from one place to another place, a journey through a place. Countries, cities, streets, houses and rooms: places have an atmosphere that charges a story; places have a history and a context which help shape our lives. This creative non-fiction writing course uses lecture, discussion, analysis of readings, and writing exercises, to help you develop your skills and imagination. You will be
introduced to strategies for writing about place and some of the problems. With the exercises we do in class on the first day as a basis, you'll write a short piece for the following meeting, and have the opportunity to receive feedback from the group and the coordinator.
Objectives
Students will have been introduced to the skills needed to research and write a short memoir of a place, to create an engaging narrative, using the techniques of fiction texts as appropriate, creating a multilayered portrait using historical and contemporary information, interviews, and anecdotes.
Date: Saturdays, 1st and 15th November 2008
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: NSW Writers' Centre, Rozelle Hospital Grounds, Balmain Road, Rozelle
Cost: $360
Book Publishing - The Business, The Processes, The Pitfalls
A one-day course which explores all aspects of the publishing process, including non-traditional alternatives, for writers. During the day we will follow the path of a book from go to whoa. That is, from when a writer decides to send out their initial proposal, to choosing an agent or lawyer, approaching a publisher, through to all the stages in a book's production, to the publication day. Then we will follow the post-publication stages, explaining what to expect along the way.
Content
The aim of this course is to demystify the publishing process,
explain who is involved in it, and how and why decisions are made
at every major step in the process. Our focus is not necessarily to
impart a blueprint on how to get published but to explain how the
system works. As such we hope to give those interested in this
process an insight into the life of a book. The outcome of the course
should be a greater understanding of trade book publishing in
Australia. It should be of interest to writers, booksellers and
readers.
Objectives
To provide information about a range of publication and distribution
options for a writer's work.
Date: Sunday, 10th August 2008
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: NSW Writers' Centre, Rozelle Hospital Grounds, Balmain Road, Rozelle
Cost: $185
Teaching Creative Writing with Camilla Nelson and Brenda Glover
This full day course examines the key pedagogical strategies employed in teaching creativity in the high school and University context. It offers current English and creative writing teachers, as well as writers who wish to teach their skills, the opportunity to examine ways in which creativity can be taught in the classroom.
Content
This workshop provides an introduction to the principles of teaching
creative writing. It focuses on a range of areas in teaching creative
writing including workshop techniques, activities to develop
creativity and craft, strategies for the classroom and assessing
student work. Participants in the workshop will develop practical
teaching skills and the ability to reflect on and improve their
understanding of how students write creatively. All of these
approaches have been used in the classroom and the workshop is
suitable for anyone with teaching students ranging from high school
to university.
Objectives
This workshop aims for participants to:
- Identify the main problems they and their students face with creative writing
- Examine strategic options and specific teaching methods for addressing these problems
- Identify the most promising method for their own context
- Have the opportunity to redesign the methods of teaching creative writing for one course for which they are responsible
Date: Sunday, 5th October 2008
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: NSW Writers' Centre, Rozelle Hospital Grounds, Balmain Road, Rozelle
Cost: $185
Further information
For further information on any of the above courses, please contact: newwriting@uts.edu.au.