Toni Morrison:Creative Writing Course

So you want to become a writer? Or maybe you are already a writer who just wants to hone your skills with fresh ideas and literary techniques? On this course we will analyse the works of the renowned Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winning African-American author, Toni Morrison, and learn to use innovative and culturally relevant literary techniques from the perspective of the black woman and her historical experiences.

After in-depth explorations of the seminal groundbreaking novels The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Song of Solomon and Paradise, we will apply creative writing techniques which emerge from the texts, to your own writing.

You will gain keen insights into critical thinking and apply culturally grounded analyses of the writing of one of the major authors of this century, Toni Morrison, as well as develop your own writing skills in an exciting yet comfortable and supportive atmosphere.

DESCRIPTION

The course is structured over four weeks, two hours per week. It will take place on Saturdays on the 25th of October and on the 1st, 8th and 15th of November, between the hours of 1 pm and 3 pm at the venue in Crystal Palace, SE19, to be announced.

Each session will therefore last two hours with one hour devoted to the analysis of Toni Morrison's novels and one hour to hands-on creative writing exercises drawing on the cultural literary techniques used in the novels. There will be many opportunities to develop your own writing style.

You will need to read the four novels, Beloved, Song of Solomon, Paradise and The Bluest Eye in advance of the course in order to get the best out of this creative writing course experience.

The course will be taught using multimedia. Music, video clips, recordings and visuals will be employed to broaden and heighten the learning experience.

YOU WILL LEARN TO:

• Discern the hidden literary techniques used by Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Song of Solomon and Paradise.
• Engage in innovative creative writing techniques that are culturally relevant to the black female experience.
• Apply them to your prose
• Write a piece of prose centred on the black female subject.
• Edit your work.
• Create compelling characters, plots, settings and dialogues.
• Engage in discussions with others in a nurturing atmosphere.
• Get feedback that is both constructive and helpful on the prose that you produce in class.

CERTIFICATION

You will be awarded a Certificate of Completion at the end of the 4 week course.

WHO THE COURSE IS FOR

Beginners and seasoned writers alike. The innovative techniques taught will ensure that even practised writers will uncover new ideas for their work.

There are limited tickets available.

REQUIREMENTS

Two different coloured pens and a writing pad (if using an electronic device please still bring two pens because we will be editing on paper)and a willingness to discuss, engage with, and enjoy an innovative creative writing course structured around Toni Morrison's greatest novels and the experiences of black women.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR

Brenda Bristol is a lecturer and short story writer who has taught literature at the Caribbean Studies Centre of Goldsmiths College. She has also lectured in Caribbean Studies and Literature at The University of London, Birkbeck College at City Lit. She holds a PhD in African Studies from The School of Oriental and African Studies. Her work of literary criticism, The Hidden Theory of the Carriacou Big Drum Ritual: Related African diasporic metaphysical Female Figures in the Works of Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Jean Rhys Paule Marshall and Jamaica Kincaid is due to be released later this year.