Portraits of Time and Place
Learn the Art of Cultural Journalism, publish in the "Vienna Review"
In this workshop we will uncover the character of Vienna and the Viennese by exploring its culture in the broadest sense. What has shaped the attitudes and ways of life that we encounter today? It’s the present seen against the backdrop of the past, like a flash back, dissolving the barriers of time to reveal the sources the city we know.
The course will break the process of writing creative non-fiction down into manageable steps and skill building exercises, including conducting interviews, techniques of description and portraiture, selection of detail, journal keeping, vignette, narrative and structure.
Participants will create multi-layered mini-portraits of Vienna (and Austria) at the beginning of the 21st century, learning how to combine observation, interviews and research with the narrative tools of fiction in the service of fact to create “Scenes of Vienna” and longer cultural features for potential publication in The Vienna Review.
Prerequisites:
Curiosity and a sense of adventure; good English writing skills; intermediate German desirable for research and interviews
Language of Presentation: English and German
Learning Outcomes:
- sharpen your skills of observation, expand your descriptive vocabulary and continue the development of your own, independent writing voice
- gain some skill and security with the elements of the genre of creative non-fiction
- learn what is expected of professional writers in the industry
Instructor:
Dardis McNamee (USA/Austria)
Research Professor of Media Communications at Webster University Vienna, and Editor in Chief of the English-language monthly, The Vienna Review. In her long career in journalism she has been a correspondent for, among others, The New York Times and Conde Nast Traveler in New York, and for the Wall Street Journal Europe and Die Zeit in Vienna, as well as a speechwriter to two US ambassadors to Austria. She has lived in Vienna for 16 years.
Group: 4 to 10 participants
Duration: 5 evenings or 2 weekends
Course Dates:
Summer 2012: June 22nd & 23rd, July 6th & 7th , Friday 4- 7 PM & Saturday 9-12 AM
Fees: 2 monthly instalments of € 299,- (including taxes)
Early registration fee if you sign up before June 3rd, 2012:
2 x € 249,- (including taxes)
Free info-evening: Wednesday May 23rd, 2012 at 7 PM. Please send an E mail juhu@writersstudio.at, if you come. Thank you.