Dates

 Time

Location

POETRY WRITING

(Facilitator: Greg German)

Wednesday

July 6^th, 13^th, 20^th
(an additional date
could be added)

6:30 – 8PM

Orion Academy

(Previously Teacher’s College)

Bath Estate

NON-FICTION
& MEMOIR WRITING

(Facilitator:  Polly Pattullo)

Includes a session with guest Terri Henry on Blogging/Social Networking

Thursday

July 7^th, 14^th, 21^st, 28th

4:30 – 6:30PM

  Orion Academy

(Previously Teacher’s College)

Bath Estate

FICTION WRITING

(Facilitator:  Jonathan Bellot)

*Access to Email/Internet Required

Saturday

July 9^th, 16^th, 23^rd, 30^th

10AM – 12PM

Orion Academy

(Previously Teacher’s College)

Bath Estate

About the Workshop 

About the Facilitator

POETRY

This workshop will specifically focus on writing “free verse” poetry and is appropriate for both novice and experienced writers. Participants will learn the basic fundamentals of writing free verse poems including the use of titles, images, metaphors, line breaks, internal rhyming, sounds and other important characteristics. Participants will also gain an understanding of “voice” and “speaker” as related to poems. Class participation will include analysis and discussion of poems provided by the instructor and poetry writing exercises.

What is Free Verse Poetry?
Free verse poetry is free from the normal rules of poetry… most notably, not following the rigid rules of traditional, metrical patterned, rhyming poetry. The main object of free verse is to use strong, colorful images and words and word placement specific to conveying meaning to the reader. Varying line lengths can be used as well as purposeful, internal rhyming words and unconventional placement of punctuation.
 

Greg German

Greg German has been writing poetry for over 25 years. His poems have been published in over 40 notable academic literary journals and publications throughout the United States. He has had the opportunity to work closely with one of America’s most notable poets and Kansas’ first state poet laureate, distinguished Professor Jonathan Holden, Kansas State University.  Greg has taught poetry classes and seminars at both the secondary and post-secondary levels and has coordinated regional writing workshops. He has been a guest editor for the Mid-west Poetry Review, judged several poetry contests, created and maintains www.kansaspoets.com, a unique poetry related website.  Last year, Greg had the privilege of leading workshops for Dominica’s Nature Island Literary Festival and working with several aspiring island poets. 

NON-FICTION/MEMOIR

Each week the four workshops will explore four different forms of non-fiction writing:
 

1. What is non-fiction and an introduction to profile writing
2. Memoir writing
3. Review writing
4. Writing for social media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Ezine etc.)

The emphasis of the class will be on giving participants an opportunity to develop their own writing skills. We will also discuss examples of good practice and critique the learners own writing. By the end of each session, participants should feel more confident in their ability to craft a piece of writing – in each particular form – from concept, through to planning, research and execution.
 

Polly Pattullo

Polly Pattullo will lead the first three workshops. She is a journalist, editor, author and publisher. She worked on national newspapers in the UK for many years as both a writer and an editor. She is the author of various books about the Caribbean including Last Resorts: the cost of tourism in the Caribbean. She now teaches writing skills to adults in the UK and is the publisher of Papillote Press, based in the UK and Dominica.

Terri Henry will lead the workshop on writing for social media. She is a writer for several international print publications and the creator of the blog (www.childofnatureblog.com) ‘Child of the Nature Isle’   She has been blogging and hosting websites on various platforms for the past four years and adept at using social media to support and expand the promotion of her material. 

FICTION

In this workshop, writers will have the option of submitting at least one short story or novel excerpt for both the instructor and class to critique together. The goal of the workshop is to allow writers to share their work in a space in which their work will be critiqued fairly and constructively. Aside from submitting stories for us to talk about, we will also talk about the elements of fiction (what makes up a story, crafting a story, places stories might be found, etc.) and different approaches to writing (exploring different writing styles, experimentation, getting out of writer's block, etc.). Writers will also receive lots of supplemental material--quotes about writing by writers, famous opening lines, tips from writers, etc.--that they are free to use as they like.
 

Jonathan Bellot

Jonathan Bellot is finishing up his MFA in Fiction at Florida State University, where he is also a teaching assistant. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but has lived most of his life in Dominica. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Transnational Literature and BIM: Arts for the 21st Century. Last year, he taught a fiction workshop prior to the Nature Island Literary Festival and presented readings during the Festival alongside Alick Lazare and Esther Phillips. He finds inspiration for his work in a bewildering array of things, from globe-trotting to theories of parallel universes to scuba diving to jazz to art-history scandals to anime and videogames. And, of course, good lit.