Creative
Workshops 2007 Octember Writing Newsletter
Please
Try to Remember the First of Octember
(Dr Seuss)
Dear writer
If you want a
green kangaroo, a skateboard TV or a jeep-a-fly kite, just wait until the 1st
of Octember. I love the rhythms, the imagination and
long for that extra day. Yet writing offers us this gift as it expands and
contracts time.
A teacher asks a student to fetch a glass of water. He goes to a
nearby farmhouse and knocks. The farmer opens the door. Behind the farmer
stands the farmer’s daughter. The man thinks, “I will work for this farmer.”
He works for several years, courting the daughter. They marry and have
children –one, two, three. The man works the rice fields for his father-in-law.
One
day he is out in the field and is caught in cloud burst. He finds himself waist
deep in water, holding a glass of water. Suddenly he remembers.
The
man hurries back to the teacher and pants, “I am sorry I took so long”
The teacher looks at him and replies, “You were
only gone a moment.”
Spring Workshops (the
spring is sprung the grass is ris)
a mini-workshop for Book
Club Members and anyone who loves reading
2 Oct 19.00 - 21.00
I draw ideas from Francine
Prose’s
contact Donve
Lee donvelee@iafrica.com 021 7853738
Egoli
: Learning to Dance: Crafting
your Writing R450 (note
change in date)
Sat 6 Oct
09.30 – 16.00
Writing
combines improvisation and structure. Just like a dance. In this workshop we
move to 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.’ Sybbie
Barnett’s home near
13 -14 Oct. Sat 09.30 –17.15 Sun 09.30 – 15.15 (Dorian/Peter Fox)
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. (repeat of Ixopo workshop)
The Achilles Heal: Metaphor and Therapy
(a workshop for Therapists)
Fri 19(eve) and Sat 20 Oct (morning)
When it’s over, I want to say: all my
life I was a bride married to amazement
I was the bridegroom
, taking the world into my arms….(Mary Oliver)
I’ll be looking at how metaphors connect us
to ourselves, to others and to our healing.
and how poetry, rich in metaphor, leads us to the source.
Gillian Smale is kindly organizing this. smale@wol.co.za (therapist friends elsewhere…set one
up?)
Sunday 28 October 09h00-13h00
We discover meaning by creating a work or
doing a deed, by experiencing… goodness, truth and beauty … nature and culture
or by encountering someone and lastly, by the attitude we take toward
unavoidable suffering. (Viktor Frankl)
We explore the meaning that is unique to you, through the art of
creative writing. You will be guided to seek your creativity and
imagination and find words to tell your story… to infuse that story with
meaning and make it more alive. The
workshop also focuses on how to be present in our writing and engage readers
and ourselves as part of a great conversation that opens into mystery.
Coral Wilder coralw@telkomsa.net 011 622-8793 083 450-9148
and November…
Hogsback Poetry Retreat… R1950
Wed eve 21-Sun lunch 25 Nov (accommo,
meals and travel own expense)
Join East Cape poets Cathal Lagan and
Brain Walter and
Poem Poem Poem (PPP) Making Poetry (Dorian/ Bob Commin )
The
poets write away. Here is a verse from Marion Marchand,
one of the participants from her poem Choreography in pink (from a hide
at Mkuze)
Then, like a fan unfurling from the shore,
Flamingos, swirling cyclamen and white,
Circled and swung and closed to earth once more
In silent choreography of flight.
Next course Feb. 08.
The Poet’s Voice: Advanced Writing Course (Dorian and
Bob Commin)
the
apprentices master the trade…a few lines
from Graham Ellis - The Circle of My
Arm
Beneath
the circle of my arm
My
hand rests upon your shoulder…..
It
is the sudden prominence of bone
That
makes me grasp
At
your shadow cast by a shortening day,
At your firm frailty.
For
now you wear your final skin
All
others you gave away.
Flyer
on request. Next course Feb. 08
Write Write Write: Writers’ Development: Email Course (WWW)
Elma Pollard, whose weekly earth column in the Bolander, is getting much acclaim, facilitates
most of this course. There have been requests for follow-up courses so Elma has
created wwwfollow1. Want to craft stories? New intake every
month. Elma combines life and
writing coaching - an enabling process. (starlight@wol.co.za. 084 868 2908) see her new site www.greencoach.co.za courtesy of my son Dominic.
I will be working in stories with Morten Nygard whom I mentor. Morten explores body types and natural strengths in the
context of leadership and development.
Workshops/Literary
Events with other Folk
Bob Commin (poet, creativity coach , 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
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 once a month on Weds. (hahodge@gmail.com).
…and every Mon in
May a green kangaroo with words in its pouch hop your way.
Dorian
PS Thank you to all those
who circulate this letter. Sign off if
you need to. (I need your name please to deregister you)
Dr Dorian Haarhoff
021 855 3937 / 082 873 6802/ fax 086 511 4751
http://dorianhaarhoffwriter.homestead.com