Background to Spirit of Place - Project Description
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What's your Robertson story?
Everyone has a story to tell about their life in the Robertson district - whether you have been here for generations or more recently arrived. How did you end up here? Who do you remember or what event sticks in your memory?
Let's write the story of the beautiful Yarrawa Brush area together and through this nurture and develop your inner writer.
People from Robertson and surrounding districts are invited to sign up to this series of workshops called Spirit of Place where you will learn how to craft and write your story. You will be supported by workshop leader Atul Joshi and guest speakers including Kylie Needham and other published writers from our region.
The six 2 hour workshops start on Sunday 22 October and continue on 29 October, 5 November, 12 November and 19 November with a longer final session on 3 December. The fee for the whole series of workshops is $25/$20.
You will be developing and writing a story yourself through this program and also discuss readings from other writers. So please be aware that you will need to set aside a couple of very pleasurable hours a week of your own time in addition to the scheduled workshop time.
Image: Detail from Rocks, Rain, Roots by Peter Campbell
More Information about Spirit of Place Writing Workshops
Unleash your inner writer!
What's your Robertson story? Is there an inner writer in you eager and waiting to tell it but you just haven’t known how or had the time? Everyone has a story to tell about their life in the district - whether you have been here for generations or more recently arrived. How did you end up here? Who do you remember or what sticks in your memory? Are there things you have seen or experienced that need to be captured in words to share with others? Is there something funny, tragic, memorable about your life or your work that you’ve been waiting to write down before it gets forgotten?
You are invited to Spirit of Place, a series of writing workshops at the CTC Robertson where you will learn skills on how to craft and write your story and meet others interested in doing the same.
Over the course of 6 weekly sessions commencing Sunday 22 October 2-4pm, we will brainstorm and develop ideas for your story and how to apply writing techniques to create a work that can be read and enjoyed by others. Through talks, readings and discussion, we will look at things like setting, character, tone to turn your idea into the best piece of writing that it can be.
You will be taught and led by Robertson writer and UTS research student Atul Joshi within a non-judgmental and supportive workshop environment that enables you to share your work with fellow participants and learn from each other.
Along the way, we’ll have guests joining us, such as local writer Kylie Needham, Goulburn writer Nigel Featherstone and Wollongong writer Jackie Bailey. They will all use their own published work to show you how they have used common writing techniques.
The program of six two-hour sessions costs $25 ($20 Concession) and you will be supplied with a full reading kit, course notes and outline. If you don’t have a computer, access to the CTC’s computers is possible or you can use a notebook and pen. You will need to commit to a program of readings and writing assignments that should take up 2-3 hours of your own time a week. The program is suited to participants 18 years old plus — places will be limited so everyone can receive individual time and attention.
Atul will be available outside of the weekly sessions to provide ongoing advice and mentorship. The course will culminate in a final showcase where you will have the opportunity to read your work to fellow students and invited family and friends. With your agreement, your work will then be published on the CTC Robertson website as a living archive.
Join us, and let’s write the story of the beautiful Yarrawa Brush area together and through this nurture and develop your inner writer.
Spirit of Place: Stories from the Yarrawa Brush is made possible through a 21st Birthday Arts & Culture grant from the Southern Highlands Community Foundation. The CTC Robertson is grateful for this support.