Faber Academy with Petina Gappah and Christopher Hope: "Writing Other Lives"

Below is a Faber Academy announcement of a four-day course to be facilitated by Petina Gappah and Christopher Hope in Geneva. It looks like a course that would inspire participants to whip out that award-winning novel or collection of short stories they have been sitting on for years. The focus on our writing selves and the things we write about, the places, the contexts, most often as hyphenated beings in an increasingly hyphenated worldview, are some of the attractive features of the workshop. And who wouldn't want to attend a writing workshop facilitated by Petina Gappah and Christopher Hope, some of Africa's (by which I also mean the world's) important writers. Here are the details:

Writing Other Lives with Petina
Gappah and Christopher Hope
:
Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 March 2010, 10-5pm
Société de Lecture, 11, Grand'Rue 1204 Geneva
Course fees: £500 / 830 CHF

Writing Other Lives: This course is about finding inspiration in the other, it is about writing across languages, cultures, countries and borders, writing while living other lives.

Course director, Petina Gappah, is a multilingual Zimbabwean lawyer who has lived in Switzerland, England and Austria. Her debut collection, An Elegy for Easterly, won the 2009 Guardian First Book Prize. Teaching alongside her is the highly acclaimed and experienced writer Christopher Hope, whose prodigious output includes the award-winning Kruger’s Alp and his Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, Serenity House. As a South African who has lived in England and is currently living in France, he knows all about writing with a hyphen.

During the course, participants will address some of the following questions: How do we write in languages that we choose, or that choose us, but that are not the languages of our birth? Is writing across language a form of translation? How can we convey our world view in a language that is not originally ours? How do we convey another culture in an adopted language? How do we write in our adopted languages and still remain true to our own cultures? Is there such a thing as authenticity, and what is it? How do we write the experiences of those whose cultures and languages are not ours?

There will also be close readings of passages from renowned writers who have written across languages and cultures.

If they wish to do so, participants are encouraged to bring manuscripts for critiquing. Petina and Christopher will also offer practical help on agents and publishers.

The course will take place at the Société de Lecture, a beautiful building in the heart of the old city of Geneva. The Société de Lecture is home to over 400,000 works of literature and over the years has been frequented by well known figures from the worlds of literature, politics, art and science.

Maximum number of course places available: 15
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The course includes:

• 4 days of intensive tuition
• Complimentary Moleskine® Notebook
• Daily artisan lunch
• Regular coffee breaks
• Handy course pack including local hotel recommendations
• Special discount off Faber books purchased at www.faber.co.uk

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