I have never been to this festival.
Not out of choice.
It just always coincides with other stuff.
I've heard loads of good things though.
2012 festival workshops will include several 4-day workshops, running
during the day from the 19- 22 September, from 9.30am - 12.30pm. All
workshops will run concurrently at
a number of venues
in Cork City centre, each no more than a ten minute walk from the main
festival venue: the Triskel Arts Centre in South Main Street. The exact
venue for each workshop will be determined by the number of
participants and mobility considerations.
Maximum number of participants in each workshop is 15.
Link here
There are still places on the flash fiction workshop.
Flash fiction: the shortest of short stories, the short story distilled
to its essence — but also in many ways its own form, one that has been
around for decades, with Borges, Kafka, Raymond Carver, Margaret
Atwood and Richard Brautigan as some of its many proponents.
Sometimes called microfiction, nanofiction, short shorts,
ultra-short stories and even prose poems, we will be taking an in-depth
look at the what, why, how and who of flash fiction, and embracing
brevity ourselves. You will have at least 4 complete flash stories by
the end of the week to submit to the many publications and contests
that want your flash!
And Contemporary fairytales
This workshop is suitable for any writer who likes fairy tales from
any tradition or time, and whether by Oscar Wilde, Angela Carter, the
Brothers Grimm or any number of other practitioners around the world.
In this workshop you will learn more about fairy-tale techniques. This
craft workshop is suitable for writers from published to emerging and
new, realist to fabulist, and mainstream to experimental — for fairy
tales lend themselves freely to all. Through reading, discussion, and
brief writing exercises, we will work with the basic techniques of
fairy tales. These include, but are not limited to: flatness, everyday
magic, intuitive logic, equivalency, and abstraction. Working from a
series of very short traditional tales, you will produce new prose
works. This workshop welcomes writers of all styles interested in going
under the influence of wonder. Participants will receive a daily
handout at each workshop. We will also have an opportunity to look at
and discuss the many international journals that publish work that can
be considered fairy-tale fiction; we will compare their different
editorial lenses with an eye toward making submissions. You will also
receive suggested reading lists for further investigation of this
brilliant art form.
and Short story for young children
This course may be of interest to writers who have experience of
writing for adults, but it is primarily designed for novice writers
interested in writing for young audiences. Each day’s work begins with
reading a poem together. The idea here is to help students to relax into
a writing frame of mind by enjoying a short but complete piece of
writing together and to allow them to exchange ideas about a piece of
writing for which they are not responsible.
and Story Onto Stage
This workshop is designed for anyone who is interested in looking to
prose fiction as a source of material for the stage. You may be a
theatre practitioner with a favourite story that you would like to
experience in a dramatic form or you may be a short story writer who
is interested in examining your own world of concerns from
the point of view of theatre. Either way, this workshop could be just
the thing for you. If you are a first time writer and are interested in
writing a play, the process of adapting a story for the stage is a good
introduction to the playwriting process. If you already have
experience in another literary
form, it provides a great way of giving a whole new take on the
literary experience.
And Story Into Song
At my song writing workshops we actually write songs. In the past I
have attended a few workshops where the participants play their songs
only to be criticised by experts who talk down to them. I was inspired
to invent a novel approach, where we all sit down and write a finished
song in one session. This teaches many lessons, including finishing
things, which is often a big problem for writers. I create a space
where all negativity, all criticism and judgement are locked outside.
We get down and dirty and write songs. First we write words. Then we
assemble them in a certain order, using the tricks of the trade, verse,
chorus, repetition, rhyme etc. Then we sing them and we have a song. I
try to come behind people and help them lose whatever inhibitions and
fears they may have about writing songs. Positivity is the key, and
this can be applied to other parts of life also. Anyone who signs up
for my song writing workshop should be prepared to sing, it doesn’t
matter at all how good or bad a singer you think you are!
