Becoming Monsters – An Online Writing Workshop
Horror movie monsters often articulate the cultural anxieties of their time. They have the power to reflect, reinforce, and sometimes resist, prevailing notions of gender, morality, justice and beauty. Asking what makes a monster scary often tells us a lot about what society fears.
In this generative workshop, Tania De Rozario shares her love of horror films and feminine monstrosity and will show how, as a queer woman, empathising with female monsters has helped her discover new ways to tell her stories.
This single-session course will focus on helping participants use horror, myth, and monsters to discover news ways to tell their own stories. It will comprise a short warm-up exercise, a 20-minute presentation, 50 minutes of guided writing focusing on persona, and an opportunity to share the writing that was generated during the session. The workshop aims to help participants to generate new ideas, encourage them to discover new ways to tell their own stories and provide them with a fun/meaningful experience.
This class is open to writers of all experience levels, 18 and above. Please note that this session will include mentions of violence, assault and trauma in the context of some of the films that are mentioned. It will also contain still images from horror films that may be distressing for some participants.
Participant Preparation - Participants should be prepared to participate in generative writing exercises during class-time. There is no formal feedback given but participants will have the opportunity to share work generated in class, out loud or in the chat, if there is time and if they desire.
Instructor Bio
Tania De Rozario is an essayist, poet, visual artist and the author of four books. Her work engages with issues of gender, monstrosity, queer identity, home, and notions of belonging. Her latest collection, Dinner on Monster Island, (Harper Perennial, 2024), has been described as “sharp and searing” (Ms. Magazine), “unique” (Publishers Weekly), “a book with resonance” (Kirkus Reviews), "taut and riveting" (LA Times), “a gem of queer literature” (Audiofile), “a book to savor” (Bay Area Reporter), "elegant", "droll" and "magnetic" (British Columbia Review). Tania’s writing has won the New Ohio Review Nonfiction Contest (2020) and the Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Contest (2021), has been a finalist at the Lambda Literary Awards (2021) and has been published in journals/anthologies across four continents.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
