Workshop 2012
The Zurich Writers Workshop will be held May 18-20, 2012, in Zurich, Switzerland. It is divided into two sections: Travel Writing/Non-Fiction and Fiction.
Travel Writing/Non-Fiction
Instructor: Diccon Bewes
Where is your writing going? What puts the ‘travel’ into writing? How do you achieve a sense of place? Maybe you want to discover a new dimension to your creative writing or simply turn your travels into more than memories. This intensive but fun two-day workshop helps you discover how to bring locations to life by exploring all your senses, as well as how to find your voice, use detail and enjoy yourself — and what not to do. It will be a lively mix of writing assignments, group discussions, interactive exercises and real examples. As a successful travel writer, Diccon will look at practical aspects including creating a non-fiction book proposal, finding an agent, self-marketing, and the pitfalls of the dream job. He’ll also explain how to make the most of blogging and social media.
Diccon Bewes is the author of Swiss Watching and co-author of What Happened Where. Before moving to Switzerland, he worked for ten years at Lonely Planet and Holiday Which? magazine. Until recently he managed the Stauffacher English Bookshop in Bern and regularly contributed to the book slot on WRS, an English-language Swiss radio station.
Fiction
Instructor: Sam North
Prose fiction is written word by word, sentence by sentence, and each one counts. Part of writing well is to develop the music of your particular voice, its integrity and authority. But it’s not enough to add one paragraph of good writing to another, and hope for the best. To try and do so is to write yourself to a standstill, or into a dead end, or into a maze where there are so many choices that no choice can be made, and the story atrophies. Sam North will introduce you to a set of overarching principles that will help you develop your own way of working with the internal combustion engine of fiction — that is to say, plot. Short writing exercises will be performed during the sessions, and participants who wish to have their work critiqued are invited to submit a short sample of their work beforehand. By the end of the weekend, you will have new insight into the way fiction works, and how you can make it work for you.
Sam North is the author of eight novels, including The Automatic Man (1990), which won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction, and The Unnumbered (2004), which was long-listed for the Man Booker prize. He brings years of experience writing for the big screen and television and was director of the drama department at the AP Watt literary agency. He now concentrates on writing and has held the post of lecturer in the English department of the University of Exeter since 2007.
Who Can Participate
The Zurich Writers Workshop invites writers interested in fiction or non-fiction to attend the spring workshop. The workshop is conducted in English. Each section is limited to 15 participants.
Publication is not a prerequisite, but the workshop will be most beneficial to writers who are in the process of writing a short story, novel, non-fiction book, or travel article.
Location
The workshop will be held at the Kulturhaus Helferei, Kirchgasse 13, 8001 Zurich.
Schedule
Friday, May 18
8:15pm: Readings by instructors and informal reception at Orell Füssli The Bookshop
Saturday, May 19
9:15am – 9:30am: Coffee
9:30am – 12:30pm: Morning session
12:30pm – 2:00pm: Lunch
2:00pm – 5:00pm: Afternoon session
7:00pm – 9:00pm: Workshop dinner at Haus Hiltl
Sunday, May 20
9:30am – 12:30pm: Morning session