‘What’s My Grangetown?’ Beginners’ Writing Workshop
26 May 2020
Love and live in Grangetown? Stuck at home? Always wanted to write?
What's my Grangetown is an exciting project offering residents the opportunity to join the author Sophie Buchaillard for a six-week online class to learn about writing, practice skills, and create a piece of writing that best defines Grangetown from a personal perspective.
The aim is to collate residents' naratives, poems and short stories about Grangetown that will then be displayed in Grangetown Pavilion.
This is a beginners' class and no prior knowledge or experience is required. The class is designed to introduce different ways of writing and to provide the opportunity for participants to try them out in a friendly and supportive environment, using prompts.
The purpose of the class is to grow people’s confidence as writers through a series of exercise prompts centred around what Grangetown means to them. Each class will explore a different aspect of writing, to help participants find their voice and build towards a final piece to be proud of.
How to take part:
Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis*. Register your interest by emailing your name, address and phone number to ThomasL90@cardiff.ac.uk.
This is an online course, participants need to have access to a phone/tablet/computer with a microphone and webcam, and access to the internet. Participants will also need pen and paper on which to write, during the class.
All classes will be 2pm to 3pm on the following days:
| 4 June | (Introduction (you, me, why this class?) What does 'writing' mean to you? Writing genres – poetry, short story, novel, non-fiction and more… Warm up exercise.) |
| 11 June | (What do you see? picture prompt and automatic writing. Writing is about observing the world around you.) |
| 18 June | (Where is 'your Grangetown'? Place and description in writing.) |
| 25 June | (Who is 'your Grangetown'? Character writing – think about someone you know who represents Grangetown.) |
| 2 July | (When? Your Grangetown. The use of memory in writing. Fiction, non-fiction and whether it matters.) |
| 9 July | Project piece – review and feedback on the piece to be exhibited in the Pavilion. |
*Note: Please don’t be too disappointed if you miss out this time; we hope to bring a series of writing workshops to the Grange Pavilion later this year and your place will be automatically registered.
Sophie Buchaillard is a literary short story writer and essayist, currently working on two debut novels, Victoria and Little White Lies, whilst completing an MA in Creative Writing. She is a member of the Welsh Writers' Group A Zoom of Our Own and Associate Member of the Society of Authors. She writes as a contributor in the Wales Arts Review.
Sophie is one of the Founding members of Community Gateway with her husband, and she is delighted to be back working in Grangetown. You can find out more about Sophie and her work by going to www.sophiebuchaillard.com and follow her on Twitter @growriter.