Creative
Workshops 2007 July Writing Newsletter
STOP PRESS: Bosman
in
Dear writer
I can
remember the novels and stories that seemed to me revelations: wells of beauty and pleasure that were also
textbooks, private lessons in the art of fiction (Francine Prose)
Reading like a Writer
This is the title of a recent read – a book by Francine Prose
(indeed her name). I feel that osmosis is the best teacher - we absorb books
through our skin. In copying out passages of a favourite writer, says Francine
Prose, “my own work becomes… just a little bit more fluent.”
In a memoir Hope against
Hope, Nadezhda Mandelstam describes how her
husband Osip, the poet, and a fellow poet, Anna Akhmatova, bridged time and space when they read the work
of dead poets. “It meant entering into personal relations with the poets in
question. It was a kind of conversation with someone long since departed.”
I’m away in Oz
25 June till 11 July so this is a shorter letter.
Winter Workshops
Place, People and
Personal Stories: A West Coast Writing
Workshop R290
Sat
4 Aug 2007 10.00
–16.30
Come, and celebrate living along the West Coast. Write your stories
of nature, characters and memories. Write of the rich fossil past. Find the
writer inside you. Explore your creativity and imagination and learn how to be
at home with words. Participants can write in English or Afrikaans. Beginner
writers are welcome. Bring a light lunch to share.
Crossing the River: Writing, Being
and Transformation
10 Aug - 12 Aug 2007 (Dorian Haarhoff & Peter Fox)
Fri eve to Sun after lunch in the
hills of Ixopo…
KZN Ixopo Buddhist Retreat Centre 039 834 1863 brcixopo@futurenet.co.za
The seasons of the year, like the seasons of our lives, prepare us
for changes. These changes confront us with loss as we make the transition to a
new stage. We explore, discover and reflect these realities as we write and
meditate on the transformations in our journey. We consider how writing helps
us dip the oars into dark water so we may cross the river safely.
Sun 26 August 09.30 –16.15 (registration
09.15)
True ease in writing comes from art not chance
As those move easiest who have learnt to dance.
(Alexander Pope)
Writing involves creating a text then crafting it. Peter Elbow (Writing with Power) compares creating to sailing from the harbour
into the blue beyond. He likens crafting to plotting our way home to the
harbour.
In this workshop we sail out and we sail home. We
create our first drafts. We craft shape and structure them. We balance what is
said with what is implied. We ask the questions “How can I encourage the
creativity of the reader?” “How can I be present in the text and find my
voice?” “How can I let the text sing?”
Beginners are welcome. Come and learn to ‘dance.’
Venue to be announced
Leaning towards Spring …..
Two events at the Wakkerstroom Country Inn (already 75% booked)
Want come to Wakkerstroom
over the 21- 24 Sept. long weekend? (2,5 hrs drive SE
ex Egoli) Why not stay over at the
A Wakkerstroom
Creative Writing Workshop R190
Sat 22 Sept 09.30 – 12.45 (registration 09.15)
The good news? Everybody has a story to tell and anybody
can write. Writing is not a talent. It is a learnt skill. This workshop
gets you started so you can glide across the page. Connect to your creativity
and imagination and be at home with words. The workshop shows you how to reach
your readers.
Beginners are welcome. Dorian has shown many people how to find the
writer hiding inside them. Come and learn to ‘dance.’ Bring writing materials.
Wakkerstroom Bosman & Boerekos
Evening R150.00
Saturday 22nd Sept 19.00
It is not the story that counts. It's the way you tell it (Oom Schalk Lourens)
You are invited to join us for an evening of fun, laughter and
great food & wine, with Herman Charles Bosman
stories. Listen to Oom Schalk
narrate stories of love, leopards, peach brandy, concertinas and psalm
singing as you savour traditional South African cuisine. And sip a farmer’s thumb of mampoer.
Payment for Bosman
evening:
Wakkerstroom Country Inn ABSA Account no: 4059567695
Branch: Volksrust (Please use ‘Bosman’
and your name as reference)
Proof of payment fax: 017
7300621 email: stay@countryinn.co.za
Poem Poem Poem (PPP) Making Poetry
The first course ends 30 June.
There have been rich exchanges.
Bob Commin who runs the course with me is investigating a publication of
the 11 poets involved. Next course Aug. A poem by Bridgid Hess begins:
I am not
my usual self.
I have become someone quite other
My mother’s dream
My father’s founded fear
My grandmother’s madness.
New New
New: The Poet’s Voice: Advanced Poetry Writing Course
Bob Commin and I will be offering an email continuation of the PPP
course - The Poet’s Voice . This apprenticeship aims
to take you further up the writing mountain and offer you a deeper engagement
with your craft and your calling. Our chief concern is not the academic
approach to a poem, but a holistic one in which a meeting of reader and poet
takes place in and through the text.
This four month course in which participants work through
assignments, is
structured in the nature of an ongoing conversation. You engage with us and you
engage with the group as well. You are committed to keeping a poetry journal to
record your four month’s reflections. The journal is a vital part of the
process. Flyer
on request. Begins in Aug.
Write Write
Write: Writers’ Development: Email Course (WWW)
Elma
Pollard, who writes a weekly earth
column in the Bolander, and
facilitates most of this course, writes:
There
have been many requests for follow-up courses. So now I have created
wwwfollow1. It will stretch over 3 months. You can start whenever you want. Three assignments, R900 in total. We will link by
means of facebook, a stunning tool for internet
communities. So head over to www.facebook.com and create your own page. The
sooner we do this, the sooner we can all chat together with visuals. (Elma’s email starlight@wol.co.za.
084 868 2908)
NGO Work
In Aug. I’ll be facilitating a 2 day workshop for Groundwork, a Pmb-based NGO who supports grassroots community
campaigns for environmental justice.
Workshops/Literary Events with other Folk
Bob Commin poet, writer, storyteller and pastor, runs poetry courses/events in the Southern Suburbs (Obs to Fish Hoek) (h) 021 447 9550 082
2025303 bcommin@netactive.co.za
www.making-poetry.com Shed some old skins
“I have told
so many love stories that I have become fiction” (Rumi). Bob is arranging a Rumi evening 26 July at Erin Hall Rondebosch.
Bring your favourite Rumi poem. Join the circle. R30 -
soup and bread
Tredicis
in the
If you are wanting to write, seek the
company of writers. Paul and Fadelah host Hugh Hodge’s Off the Wall Poetry readings fortnightly on Weds.
(hahodge@gmail.com).
Like
the monks of old, copy out a page from a loved writer. May your copy be an illumination.
Dorian
PS Thank you to all those
who circulate this letter. Sign off if
you need to.
Dr Dorian Haarhoff
021 855 3937 / 082 873 6802/ fax 086 511 4751
http://dorianhaarhoffwriter.homestead.com