Workshops

English language Writing Workshops offer seasoned as well as first-time writers with a chance to share their experiments in fiction and nonfiction, poetry and drama, within a trusted group.  They also provide us with an opportunity to read, to analyze and model our writing in light of the narrative techniques of great works in English.

Interested participants can attend one “free” first session to begin with before deciding on joining a group; they are also welcome to participate in more than one workshop if they wish and can make up for the hours they have paid for in either group.

Creative Fiction

These workshops, conducting on a monthly basis, are for those who agree with George Eliot and the critic James Wood, that fiction might indeed be the “nearest thing to life.” They provide a space for us to listen to each other’s stories, learn from our own efforts, and improve our narrative skills. They offer a chance for participants to develop a critical distance from their writing in order to acquire the strategies necessary for the construction of character, the use of time, the control over pacing and point of view, and the creation of a credible world. All texts and discussion will be in English.

Creative Non-fiction

Also conducted in English on a monthly basis, this workshop focuses on what David Foster Wallace famously defined as “a broad category.” Spanning fact and fiction, creative nonfiction combines actuality of content with artifice of expression so participants are encourages to write family histories and memoirs, nature and travel journals, political and lyrical essays, criticism, poetry, reviews and op eds. Since the aim is to instruct, entertain, edify and even to amuse without necessarily having to invent reality, this workshop encourages the development of a distinctive, personal style.

For more information regarding the workshops contact: amicale (at) coe (dot) int

For existing Amicale workshops, please click here

For Bahiyyih’s CV please click here

For testimonials, click here