DIWAN Creative Writing Course

Please see www.diwanegypt.com and read on for details of my 4 week (12 hour) Creative Writing course beginning Monday 7pm May 10th at Diwan, Maadi.

Registration is through Diwan and must be done before the course start date with payment in advance at any of Diwan's branches (Zamalek, Heliopolis, Maadi.

Diwan's website calander of events: http://www.diwanegypt.com/en/node/88004.

There is maximum student space of 15 people. Cost 420 LE for entire course.

Creative Writing Course at Diwan Bookstore, Maadi.

One 3 hr session a week for 4 weeks (12 hr course). Maximum 15 people per class.

The 4 week Creative Writing course will act as an extended masterclass looking at various techniques and exercises to open up and improve writing skills, work with metaphor and imagery, create texts and narratives to given themes and word counts as well as free writing.

There is no criteria other than a willingness to open up one's writing; the course is designed that people of varying writing experience can participate and each draw their individual benefits.

On completion of the first course other short courses available in:

Writing a Short Story

We work with further expansion techniques, read published short stories for discussion and understanding format; focusing on the necessary elements to produce a final draft of a 1000 word narrative.

Monologue and short plays in various formats

We look at the format of writing monologue and plays for stage, screen and radio and how to capture a character's authentic voice, find the central message of the text and prepare it for presentation.

Presentation of written word

For bringing developed pieces of text to peformance level; working on voice, rhythm, projection, stance and movement, character, direction, subsequent re-writes and edits from further developing the pieces.

Work on review and critique

Looking at the process of reading work for review and critique; getting past our own opinions to be able to appreciate what is valuable. We read several published texts for discussion and written comment and explore the steps to be able to review and critique work. Participants can also apply this to their own work.

Poetry

Reading the work of known poets; from a plethora of ages and movements. We discuss content and form and work on writing poetry that emulates certain styles as well as looking at one's own poetic expression and the form, rhythm and imagery that it takes.

Linda Cleary – Artist Biography
Linda Cleary is a poet - writer – performer, originally from Manchester and now living in Cairo. Seen as being in the vanguard of young female performance poets and emerging as a radical nouvelle vague Romantic Poet. Her former drama training lends her performance a certain theatricality and she has performed in a variety of bands, theatre & performance groups.

Linda works across disciplines; creating non traditional, diverse work of spoken & written word at times fusing performance, music and image. Her work often carries an urban and contemporary thrust ; some themes may be timeless, universal, but carry a modern twist and juxtaposition in delivering the tale whilst carrying a definite honouring to classic influences.

Her performance poetry and style has been seen as unique, strong, raw and challenging; 'Powerful, uncompromising, rhythmic verse. Tough, lyrical beauty. Packs poetic punches with aching sensitivity. A unique new voice. If you need a comparison, think; a young Joolz Denby, laced with Patti Smith overtones.' (Apples&Snakes)

Education Biography
Linda has experience of working with children, young adults and adults with differing needs and delivers workshops in creative writing & poetry for schools, colleges and community groups; those from isolated or rural areas as well as regeneration or urban.

Having left school and becoming immediately involved with theatre her community work began with a placement with NACRO in '89 where she assisted with facilitating a creative writing and psycho-drama course. She then went on to train in '91 at Manchester Polytechnic in Recreational Arts in the Community. This enabled her to successfully set up and run a variety of community courses in creative writing and also theatre; working in Holland, Czech and Australia as well as the UK. Between 93 – 94 she was invited to Czech Republic to work at the prestigious JAMU Academy of Performing Arts & Music in Brno where she delivered theatre workshops to two adult actor groups; one an audibly impaired group. She runs creative writing courses and a script development for presentation course and teaches general literacy as well as her poetry, writing and performance work and has just set up an artists' residency in Cairo.