Workshop with Alice Nelson: Voicing the Void, Writing about Difficult Experiences. Friday 11th August 1-3.00pm at the Fremantle Arts Centre.
The theme around Alice's workshop is writing about difficult
subjects (obviously not necessarily writing about trauma, but about
topics, experiences and issues people may find it challenging to find a
way to narrate). There will be some great texts to look at, a couple of exercises and encouragement to share your work.
Venue: FAC, Upstairs Room 2, No Booking Required
Time:
1-3pm. What to bring: Notepad, pen, laptop
or iPad
Cost: OOTA $25
- NON-OOTA $30 (ask for membership form to save).
Please note:
For information on joining OOTA and what we do, please visit our website http://ootawriters.com
Alice Nelson's first novel, The Last Sky,
was shortlisted for The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, won the
T.A.G. Hungerford Award and was shortlisted for the Australian Society
of Authors’ Barbara Jefferis Award. She was named Best Young Australian
Novelist of 2009 in the Sydney Morning Herald’s national awards program.
Alice works as a freelance journalist and teaches creative writing.
Writing about Nature with Helen Hagemann @ the Fremantle Arts Centre, Friday, 28th July, 1pm-3pm. Readings of Peter Cowan's "The Red-backed Spiders". This
workshop will introduce ideas on how we can write about nature in our short stories. The "feel good" or "prissy" approach to nature is often boring for the reader. Therefore, we will look at Peter Cowan's short story that includes the perverse and a "threatening nature" that aids tension, plot and suspense.
Venue:
Fremantle Arts Centre, inquire about room at front desk.
Time:
1-3pm. What to bring: Notepad, pen, laptop
or iPad
Cost: OOTA $25
- NON-OOTA $30 (ask for membership form to save).
Please note:
For information on joining OOTA and what we do, please visit our website http://ootawriters.com
Peter Cowan is a quietly introspective writer, and consequently his
intensity of vision and his scrupulous craftsmanship can easily be
underrated. He has shown a particular talent for the short story or
novella, in which he can focus on a single relationship and explore a
single line of feeling. His stories, written in a spare, taut style,
have as a recurring theme the relationship of a man and a woman seeking
relief from their loneliness in sexual love. Cowan is intent upon an
inner reality: his characters are seldom individualized very far; they
seem almost anonymous, and the sensuous reality of the external world is
only faintly felt. His imagination is compelled by a painful awareness
of the feelings of loneliness and alienation that lie beneath the
surface of commonplace lives; and in exploring this territory he has
become, more than is generally recognized, a significant interpreter of Australian realities.
In his second collection, The Unploughed Land, he reprinted seven of his stories from Drift,
along with six new stories, which represent a distinct advance in
technique. These new stories include the much-anthologized "The
Redbacked Spiders," a powerful story of a boy whose resentment at his
brutal father leads to the man's death. The title story is an extended
treatment of the pre-war country life about which he writes in his first
volume. In its evocation of that life it is one of his finest pieces,
and it marks the end of the first phase of his development.
Writing at Hubbles Yard Cafe with Helen Hagemann Friday, 14th July, 1pm-3pm. This
workshop will introduce the critiquing group and how we go about helping one another with our writing. Writers can participate with constructive criticism and also bring along a piece of writing. The last hour of the class will be creative writing exercises. Payment is optional as this is a school holiday class with no room availability at the FAC.
Venue: Hubbles Yard Cafe, 50 George Street, East Fremantle.
Please note: Some of us are meeting at 12pm for lunch. However, the class will be held in a separate room to the main cafe, so you can still order a coffee/ cake, etc.
July 30, 2017
