Crea Summer Courses
CREA Summer courses
Every summer CREA organises summer courses: one week courses in which you do nothing but work in your favourite discipline. This year we have a couple of courses which are in English – Blogging and Short stories, read about them below – but there are many courses which you could do even if you do not speak Dutch. Send an email to Miriam at zomer@crea.uva.nl to find out what the possibilities are.
Blogging
Dates: 19/07 - 23/07
Time: 10.30 – 17.00 hr
Student price: € 120,-
The course - what's it about? Blogging, one of the fastest growing forms of writing, is a wonderful new frontier with very few set rules or guidelines. Unlike other forms of writing, blogging is an immediate dialogue, where readers and bloggers alike can instantly respond to an entry, shaping, arguing against, or agreeing with the author. There are no editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders, just the writer and his or her audience, making blogging an exciting exchange of ideas. In this summer course we will explore blogging, specifically what makes one blog more effective than another blog. We will examine several of our favorite blogs each day, discuss how that particular blog can be improved, review the comments, write our own comments, and analyze whether all the comments combined reflect what the writer of the blog has tried to say. We'll be composing everyday on a computer. We will also create our own blog and regularly respond to one another's work. By the end of the course, we will have created a basic set of governing rules about what makes a strong blog and how your blog can be as effective as possible.
The focus of this course will be on creating and developing a personal story. The idea is to help beginning writers overcome any prohibitive distance between their self and their narrator. When we read a diary entry, a page from an autobiography or a piece of fiction written in the first person, we can usually tell the difference, but what are the characteristics of the various genres? How does a beginning writer take his written thoughts to the next step, which is communicating with a larger audience? In this course we will develop a sketch of a personal experience, i.e. a poem, a scribble on the back of a napkin, a diary entry or simply a thought and transform it into an autobiographical piece of writing or fiction that reflects the author's own distinct voice. Every day we?ll be reading a well-known short story or essay and dissecting the author's technique. Then we will write our own pieces and either work as a class or in groups to polish the finer points. The goal is self-editing and critical analysis of your own work.
Admission level The course will be taught in English, however Dutch students are more than welcome. A love of writing and a willingness to put your ideas on the table are the only requirements for this course.
Presentation At the end of every summer course week there is a joint presentation in which all the actors, musicians, writers and artists show their work. So make sure you can be there on Friday night!
The teacher Erik Raschke studied writing and literature in New York City. He is the author of the novel, The Book of Samuel (www.thebookofsamuel.com), which debuted in 2009. He has also published dozens of short stories, two which can be found on his website www.erikraschke.com.
Short stories
Dates: 02/08 - 06/08
Time: 10.30 – 17.00 hr
Student price: € 120,-