Five weekly Creative Writing workshops, titled It is, and it is not true are virtually presented by The Witham with the writer and creative practitioner David Napthine at 2pm from Tuesday 2nd June 2020.
The Witham are offering people the chance to participate in a unique creative writing course with an excellent teacher to create a multi-layered and innovative work full of delight and surprise.
David Naphine has written extensively for BBC Radio drama, touring and site-specific theatre, and librettos for opera and oratorio. His present work includes Writer in Residence for the Hearing the Voice research programme at Durham University and commissions for Headway Arts and Drama in the Dale.
No previous creative writing experience is required to participate.
Up to 10 participants will enjoy in five virtual workshops, each lasting 40 minutes, starting Tuesday 2nd June from 2 pm to 3 pm. Each session will build writing skills, provide inspiration and help the overall story evolve into an epic story of Teesdale and our people. Aimed at adults who are 55 + years and are residents in Teesdale, this project has been funded by Enriching Later Life and is free to participants.
As Sarah Gent of The Witham comments, “We are working hard to provide people with creative outlets whilst The Witham doors are closed. It’s excellent to be working with practitioners of David’s calibre and enable people to access these workshops from home. I can’t wait to read the results.
The sessions will be hosted by David on Zoom and we ask participants to sign up to participate by visiting the event page here and selecting It is, and it is not true. It will be listed on the home page so people can simply click to book from there.”
Ideally, participants will attend all the sessions if possible and will receive instructions and the invite links to the workshops after booking. No writing experience is required to participate.
With The Witham team working hard on plans to re-open, your collaborative story – It is, and it is not true – will then be presented to the public in the autumn. The date is yet to be confirmed.
In addition to the workshops, The Witham are also working with David to publish weekly creative prompts and writing challenges on the website and on The Witham’s Facebook page, aiming to inspire people to pick up their pen and enjoy some creative writing.
David will then work to then weave the responses into an epic story to be shared at a later date. You can share responses by emailing them to [email protected] or posting to The Witham, 3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle DL12 8LY. All writings will be treated in confidence and returned to the writer at the end. Each piece of writing will be kept intact for later public presentation (with writer’s permission). Please visit www.thewitham.org.uk for more information about these sessions. You can also see the first of the writing prompts and to book your place on the virtual workshops. These sessions are funded by County Durham Community Foundation’s Enriching Later Life project and also by Durham County Council