CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS
Venue: Theatr Gwaun
Date: Sunday September 22nd
Time: 10:00am
Richard Gwyn: In this workshop, conducted in English, we will consider some of the ways in which a writer might engage with myth, memory and the stories absorbed in childhood. We will use the story of Orpheus and Eurydice to explore ideas about the underworld, and what that myth might represent for a contemporary readership. By considering responses from writers such as Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel, we will discuss our own ideas about intentionality, loss, and new beginnings, and the ways in which the study of myth can nourish our own writing.
Richard Gwyn grew up in Powys, and after living in London spent a decade travelling around the Mediterranean, chronicled in his memoir The Vagabond’s Breakfast (Wales Book of the Year for nonfiction, 2012). His novels include The Colour of a Dog Running Away, Deep Hanging Out and The Blue Tent. He is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Stowaway: A Levantine Adventure (2019). Richard spent several years travelling in Latin America, preparing a major anthology, The Other Tiger: Recent Poetry from Latin America (2016). His latest book, Ambassador of Nowhere: A Latin American Pilgrimage, is an account of those journeys. Richard has led writing workshops for many years and until January 2024 was Professor of Creative and Critical Writing at Cardiff University. He blogs about literary and everyday matters at www.richardgwyn.com.
Jon Gower: Writing about place: what’s your favourite place, your ‘square mile’ and how might one express what’s special about it? In a creative writing session conducted in Welsh, author Jon Gower will present and discuss creating pictures from words, employing the senses, gathering information from maps and in the field and how to do research in the open air, in books and online.
Jon Gower is a former BBC Wales arts and media correspondent who has over 40 books to his name. These include The Story of Wales, which accompanied a landmark TV series, the travelogue An Island Called Smith and Y Storïwr which won the Wales Book of the Year. His latest book is The Turning Tide: A Biography of the Irish Sea. Forthcoming are Raider: The Raymond Chester Story and I’w Ddiwedd Oer, a Welsh language historical novel about polar explorer Edgar Evans. Find out more at https://www.jongower.cymru/
| Venue | Date | Time |
| Theatr Gwaun | 22nd September 2024 | 10:00am |