Creative Workshops 2007
June Writing Newsletter
A man (woman) is
a bundle of relations, a knot of roots,
whose flower and fruitage is the world.(Ralph W. Emerson)
Dear writer
An
Ecology of Belonging
I am thinking of a text as an ecosystem. In the same way as a tree or the human body. The roots of
the text lie in the earth of our experience
(and in the etymology of the language) and tap underground into the unconscious
- our dreams and memories and forgotten moments. Not only the personal unconscious
of an individual journey. But the ground that we share with all
living creatures – with our ancestors, with other writers who have
gone before.
The roots ferret in the soil, binding (in the sense of belonging) us to certain traditions and ways of thinking about craft. Searching for the water that will supply our work. We reach
into the underground kingdom of the archetypes where myths and spirits dwell.
The trunk, the body of the text, shapes itself on a page, spreads out, stands
in the forest of other writing. Our own copse and
those groves of other writers. And there is movement inside as
sap rises and falls. So the rings in the trunk become layers of meaning. The
way a text ages as we grow
and live with it. The leaves cluster as words on the stem of a
sentence offering us their seasonal shades.
And perhaps each paragraph branch bears its fruits and
offers them to the sky, to the air of
ideas, giving off oxygen. Feeding the bird intellect. Dropping the text ripe in the reader’s hands. Attracting moisture in the
rain cycle. So the moisture at the tip of the leaf is reabsorbed into
the roots in the way the end and the beginning of a text speak to each other,
are in conversation with other parts. As a Malay proverb asserts:
“Though a tree
grows so high, the falling leaves return to the root.”
So that the text is about
belonging. It is alive and interactive as the tree in
conversation with a great mythical trees that bind heaven and earth. And we
are part of an eco system, part of an ecology of writers. The poet Stanley Kunitz reminds us, "Solitary as you are in writing the
poem, you are in touch with the whole chain of being."
When you are alone you can lean against the bark of the text that
you or another writer has grown. Communicate as one living form to another. Draw in your time of dryness, from the moisture and rhythm that was poured into the words at the
time of its writing and that is available to you in a crisis.
Offering shelter from the sun, fruits to sustain, rope from bark
and roots to bind what needs to be bound and medicinal roots. The fibre from the inner bark strings our musical
instrument. We shelter inside a hollow trunk of a text in the same way as we
can in a baobab.
Winter
Workshops
Egoli Learning to Dance: Crafting your Writing R450
Sun 10 June 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 Shakti Khaya
71 Kallenbach Drive Linksfield Ridge
Place,
People and Personal Stories: A West
Coast Writing Workshop R290
new date - Sat
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.
Leaning
towards Spring …..
Want come to Wakkerstroom
over the 21- 24 Sept. long weekend? (2,5 hrs drive SE ex Egoli.
Two events at the Wakkerstroom
Country Inn (already 25%
booked)
Why not stay over
at the
A 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. To book for the workshop contact me (contact numbers at end of
letter)
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 details for Bosman evening:
Account name: Wakkerstroom Country Inn
Bank: ABSA Account number:
4059567695
Branch: Volksrust Please use ‘Bosman’ and your name as reference.
Proof of payment fax: 017
7300621 email: stay@countryinn.co.za
NB this Bosman and Boerekos
evening will be presented at Klein Libertas in Stellenbosch on Tues 12 June. Contact
Henry or Julie from Verbatim books 021 8872655.
R130
Poem Poem Poem (PPP) Making Poetry
The 12 poets-in-the-making on this first course are into their
final round of poems. Initially
participants read and responded to poems that stirred them. Now they are
creating works that attend to the specific and echo in the altogether.
One of Kirsty Macfie’s poem ends;
She didn’t know
she would never
again
feel the sweet
life-soaked
pain of a
stubbed toe
Next course
August –Nov. Bob Commin and I create this together. Bookings open. Flyer on request.
Write Write Write: Writers’ Development: Email Course (WWW)
WWW with its eight writers, moves towards
its close. Fern Price writes that the course has taught her “ to remain in the moment, to ditch extra words…I know that I have a
group of people around me who I can always contact and ask for constructive
criticism.”
Next WWW runs Aug- Nov 07. A few folk have expressed interest in an Afrikaans course with Elma
Pollard. She also offers life coaching
and will be starting a weekly writing group in the Helderberg. She writes a weekly
earth column in the Bolander. (Elma’s email starlight@wol.co.za. 084 868 2908)
Mentoring
I enjoy this one on- one work with folk rich in their own story and
the telling of it. This
his how Catharina Helena survives in Yeoville in the mid 80’s:
I have no money. But I am truly happy - ‘Jah’
provides. I know which streets have houses with fig and pomegranate trees near
the fence… I lean over garden walls to pick the fat hips of rose bushes…. if I
find an empty cooldrink bottle, I trade it in, buy a
potato or gem squash, cook it at home - feast for a queen.
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
The Art of Writing Workshop on
Saturday 23 June
writing as the activity of soul…be inspired in your creativity
for those who think about writing and never do it
… have lived through a trauma and would like to write about it
… are going through great changes in their lives
… have heard that writing can heal you
… want to learn about the great magic of writing
… would like to meet and learn from others about writing
we
share our wisdom and writing (if we wish) with each other
Bring your own lunch
Tredicis in the Strand (Italian for
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).
May your
writing be a knot of roots and fruitage in the word.
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