Introducing the Dare to Write? Academy Programme
The Dare to Write? Academy is for writers, writer-facilitators, educators, and researchers who want to develop their own creative practice and establish new projects that engage and inspire others to be involved in writing.
The workshops, events and courses within our programme respond to the perspectives and habits of The Writer’s Cycle. The 2021 Programme is produced in association with the Story Foundry, a new accelerator programme at Bath Spa University’s Research Centre for Transcultural Creativity and Education.
This programme of events has been made possible through support from Arts Council England and Bath Spa University, to whom we are very grateful.
Current Events
Programme of Spring Classes 2021 with Aminatta Forna
Professor Aminatta Forna
Aminatta Forna is a novelist, memoirist and essayist. Her novels are The Hired Man, The Memory of Love, Ancestor Stones and Happiness. In 2002 she published a memoir of her dissident father and Sierra Leone, The Devil that Danced on the Water. A forthcoming book of essays, The Window Seat, is published by Grove Press in 2021.
She is the winner of a Windham Campbell Award from Yale University and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and has been a finalist for the Neustadt Prize, the Orange Prize, the Samuel Johnson Prize and the IMPAC Award. Aminatta was made an OBE in the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours list.
Aminatta Forna is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and Director of the Lannan Center at Georgetown University.
Interested in a PhD? Aminatta supervises PhD students undertaking study in the following areas: transnational writing, essayist writing, creative nonfiction, and memoirist writing. If you have already produced a substantial body of work then you may be able to do a PhD by publication. Please contact Louise Chapman on l.chapman@bathspa.ac.uk to register your interest. Students from anywhere in the world are welcome to get in touch.
Advanced Fiction and Memoir Masterclass
‘A writer is like a pianist. Both need talent and practise, but a good teacher can make all the difference.' Aminatta Forna
Is your prose manuscript in need of some polishing? Are you ambitious with your writing and aiming to produce something of real quality? Then this two-week long masterclass with Aminatta Forna is for you.
The masterclass includes a one-to-one manuscript review (of up to 6k words of a work-in-progress) as well as an individual feedback session, offering personalised advice on your writing or achieving your goals in the industry. There are spaces for only eight writers, to ensure the workshop fully supports each participant.
Please see a full breakdown of the individual workshops in the masterclass below. The masterclass runs between 12th-23rd April. All sessions will be held via Zoom. Writers from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply.
Applying for a place
To apply for a place, send a 2,000 word extract of your work in progress by midday, Thursday 1st April for review by Aminatta Forna.
Please submit your writing either via this Google Form. For writers whose email addresses are incompatible with Google Forms, please complete this PDF application form and email it to writers@papernations.org.
All applicants will be contacted by Wednesday 7th April. Successful applicants will then receive joining instructions and payment details.
This opportunity is valued at £2,000 and is being offered at the reduced cost of £1,000.
A small number of scholarship places have been made available for this Masterclass and have been allocated to underrepresented writers in the South West of England.
Schedule
Monday 12th April 2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST: Introduction: Getting Started as a Writer
In this first session, you will meet your tutor, Aminatta Forna, and your writing cohort. You will set goals for what you will achieve during the Masterclass.
Wednesday 14th April 2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST: Refinements in Perspective
Perspective, or point of view, is one of the most technical aspects of writing and the trickiest. In this session, we will discuss how to be sure you have made the right decision from the outset.
Friday 16th April 2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST: Characters Development
In this session, we will talk about the ways to avoid one-dimensionality and how to layer complexity upon your characters.
Monday 19th April 2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST: Writing Convincing Dialogue
In this session, we will look at the mechanics of dialogue: how do you sustain tension? What constitutes ‘convincing’ dialogue? How can you characterise your characters through dialogue?
Wednesday 21st April 2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST: Write and Rewrite: Transforming the First Draft into the Finished Manuscript
In this session, we will discuss the elements you need to bear in mind when rewriting your manuscript. We will discuss whether readers help and how you know when you’ve done enough.
Friday 23rd April 2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST: Towards Publication
In this session, we will tackle the questions that writers are keen to find answers to; from finding an agent, to the second book and to building a career from writing.
Questions
If you have any questions, email: writers@papernations.org. Please include ‘Masterclass Query’ in the subject line.
Watch this space! More events will be added in the coming weeks.
Past Events and Events Closed to Applications from the Public
Programme of Summer Classes 2020 with Aminatta Forna
Please note that bookings for our summer programme have now closed.
Professor Aminatta Forna
Aminatta Forna is an award-winning author and memoirist, with published titles including, Happiness, The Hired Man, The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones, and a memoir The Devil that Danced on the Water. Her books have been translated into twenty two languages, with her essays appearing in Freeman’s, Granta, The Guardian, LitHub, The Nation, The New York Review of Books, The Observer and Vogue. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the Folio Academy. She has been a judge for the Giller Prize, the Samuel Johnson Prize (now Baillie Gifford), the Bailey Prize for Women’s Fiction, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, the Caine Prize and the International Man Booker Prize.
Advanced Fiction and Memoir Masterclass
Please note, bookings for this session are now closed.
We are offering experienced writers of fiction or memoir the rare opportunity to join Aminatta Forna for an exclusive Masterclass to take their writing to the next level. This opportunity is designed for writers with a significant piece of creative work in progress and includes a manuscript review and access to Aminatta’s first class industry knowledge and expertise. There are spaces for up to eight writers.
The Masterclass will be held between July 20th and July 31st 2020 and will include a series of six, one hour, small-group masterclass sessions. These will cover writing craft, publication, technical application and time to ask questions. It will also include a manuscript review by Aminatta of 5,000-6,000 words of a work-in-progress and personalised feedback totalling two hours. All sessions will be held online via Zoom, and writers from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply.
This is a unique opportunity for personalised engagement with a highly experienced and award-winning writer, which has the potential to fast-track your professional practice and revolutionise the way you approach your writing career.
This opportunity is highly competitive and spaces are limited. A small number of scholarship places for this Masterclass have been allocated to underrepresented writers in the South West of England. These writers have already been selected.
Applying for a place*
To apply for a place, send a 2,000 word extract of your work in progress by midday, Monday 13th July for review by Aminatta Forna. Please submit your writing either via this Google Form. For writers whose email addresses are incompatible with Google Forms, please complete and return this Word Document application form.
All applicants will be contacted by Friday 17th July. Successful applicants will then receive joining instructions and payment details.
This opportunity is valued at £2,000 and is being offered at the reduced cost of £1,000.
*Please note that applications closed at midday on Monday 13th July. If you would like to register your interest for future masterclasses, please contact us on writers@papernations.org.
Schedule
July 20th (2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST): Introduction
In this first session, you will meet your tutor, Aminatta Forna, and your writing cohort. You will set goals for what you will achieve during the Masterclass.
July 22nd (2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST): Refinements in Perspective
Perspective, or point of view, is one of the most technical aspects of writing and the trickiest. In this session, we will discuss how to be sure you have made the right decision from the outset.
July 24th (2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST): Characters Development
In this session, we will talk about the ways to avoid one-dimensionality and how to layer complexity upon your characters.
July 27th (2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST): Structure: Strategies of Organisation and Structure
In this session, we will look at the organisational principles at a writer’s disposal and examine the narrative devices that best suit the story you wish to tell.
July 29th (2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST): Write and Rewrite: Transforming the First Draft into the Finished Manuscript
In this session, we will discuss the elements you need to bear in mind when rewriting your manuscript. We will discuss whether readers help and how you know when you’ve done enough.
July 31st (2pm - 3pm EST/ 7pm-8pm BST): Towards Publication
In this session, we will tackle the questions that writers are keen to find answers to; from finding an agent, to the second book and to building a career from writing.
Questions
If you have any questions, email: writers@papernations.org. Please include ‘Masterclass Query’ in the subject line.
Dare to Write? Academy Summer Craft Workshops
Please note, bookings for these sessions have now closed.
As part of the Dare to Write? Academy Summer Classes, Paper Nations are offering emerging and experienced writers the opportunity to join Aminatta Forna for two exclusive two-hour writing craft workshops. This session will be hosted via Crowdcast.
The workshop will include writing exercises and Q&A access to Aminatta’s first class industry knowledge and expertise. It will be suitable for both emerging and experienced writers, providing insight on writing practice and craft as well as writing and publishing as a professional author.
Spaces will be limited to 30 writers.
Due to the anticipated popularity of this workshop, it will run twice (please see the booking slots below). Please note that the content of each workshop will be the same so there is no need to book twice.
Tickets: £40
Book for Tuesday 28th 2020 9am - 11am (EST)/ 2-4pm (BST)
Book for Thursday 30th 2020 2pm - 4pm (EST)/ 7-9pm (BST)
Once you have successfully booked your place, joining instructions will be sent to you shortly before the workshop. The session will be hosted on Crowdcast, which can be accessed from a phone or computer, although many find a computer a more user-friendly experience.
Questions
If you have any questions, email: writers@papernations.org. Please include ‘Craft Workshop Query’ in the subject line.
In Conversation with Aminatta Forna
Please note, bookings for this session are now closed.
Aspiring and experienced writers and readers - join Paper Nations and Aminatta Forna for a one-off 75 minute event, In Conversation With Aminatta Forna. This will be a Q&A session hosted with Crowdcast and all are welcome.
This will be a Q&A session, hosted by Paper Nations, and all are welcome.
Tickets: £10
Book Tuesday 28th July 2020 3pm - 3.15pm (EST)/ 7-8.15pm (BST)
Once you have successfully booked your place, joining instructions will be sent to you shortly before the session. The session will be hosted on Crowdcast, which can be accessed from a phone or computer, although many find a computer a more user-friendly experience.
Questions
If you have any questions, email: writers@papernations.org. Please include ‘In Conversation with Aminatta Forna Query’ in the subject line.
Dare to Write? Academy Writing Groups
Starting in June 2020, the applicants to our Time to Write initiative were offered scholarships to attend our writing groups, led by local writing facilitators in South West England. We are delighted to have some immensely talented facilitators and students on board, including Costa Prize winner, Jasbinder Bilan, and painter and novelist, Ronnie McGrath.
‘Let ‘em hear you, let ‘em see you!’ with BBC Upload
This online workshop, run by BBC Upload presenter Adam Crowther, will help you turn written pieces into video and audio using just a mobile phone. You might want your writing to reach a larger audience using audio or video on social media, or perhaps you want to write specifically for those media? Whatever your motivation, this workshop will introduce you to the skills you’ll need to turn your mobile phone into an audio-visual content creation studio.
This free session took place on Friday 12th June 2020 but is available to watch back on Crowdcast.
Link: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/891wffr8
Event password (case sensitive): Papernations