Writing the Inner City

08 Jan - 16 Jan 2025

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This writing and rewriting workshop starts from the perspective of the self and identity to negotiate differences and the possibility of building commonality, in dialogue with notable works of contemporary literature. The workshop draws on collective readings as a starting point for a literary journey anchored in individual writing and rewriting work, aiming for a solid experience in producing one's own texts. In four two-hour sessions, use will be made of free and guided reading techniques, with open discussion and directed debate in a structured yet informal atmosphere. It will include an individual interaction exercise with each trainee regarding their own writing experience.

The aim is to make use of the innovative character and the audacious, fun, and extraordinary nature of contemporary literature to explore writing themes and techniques based on novels such as Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, among others. The workshop is organised around work on constructing situation, narrative, characters, and dialogue, with a view to discovering and maturing a narrative style. The sessions will be guided according to the following indicative structure:

• Introspective Style - Exploring introspective and subjective writing

• Body, Sexuality and Identity - Working on the narrative of the body and issues of identity and sexuality

• Identity and Family Heritage - Exploring the construction of the self from complexity

• Poetic Sensitivity, Memory and Reflection - Working with language using personal memory as nourishment for writing the self

• The Unusual and the Subconscious - Refining the use of fantasy and magical realism

• The City of the Other – Integrating difference through observation and the experience of the other

 

When
8, 9, 15 and 16 January - from 7 pm to 9 pm

Hybrid system
(In-person and online)

Price 
230 euros (in-person) and 170 euros (online)

Where
Rua de Santa Catarina, 9, third floor, Lisbon

Registration and further information
info@kefoundation.eu

LIMITED PLACES

 

José Gardeazabal was born in Lisbon, where he currently lives. He worked and studied in Luanda, Aveiro, Boston, and Los Angeles. His poetry book, História do século vinte, distinguished with the INCM/Vasco Graça Moura Prize, was published in 2016, the same year he also published Dicionário de Ideias Feitas em Literatura, a collection of short prose. In 2017, he released three plays, collected in the work Trilogia do olhar. In 2018, Companhia das Letras launched his first novel, Meio Homem Metade Baleia, a finalist for the Oceanos Prize, one of the most important in Portuguese-language literature, translated into Spanish in 2019. A Melhor Máquina Viva, his second novel and the first volume of the Trilogia dos Pares, was considered by the newspapers Expresso and Público as one of the best books of 2020, and a finalist for the Portuguese Society of Authors (SPA), Correntes d’Escritas, and Fernando Namora prizes. In 2021, he published his third novel, Quarentena Uma História de Amor, a finalist for the Oceanos Prize, and his second volume of poetry, Viver Feliz Lá Fora. In December of the same year, he published the novel Quarenta e Três, which received an honourable mention for the Ferreira de Castro Literary Prize. In May 2022, he published two poetry books, Penélope Está de Partida, winner of the SPA Prize for Best Poetry Book in 2023, and Da Luz Para Dentro. A Fábula do Elefante, aimed at children, won the Maria Rosa Colaço Children's Literature Prize. In September 2022, the second volume of the Trilogia dos Pares, the novel Quando Éramos Peixes, was published, a finalist for the Oceanos and Correntes d’Escritas prizes. In June 2023, the novel A Mãe e o Crocodilo was released, considered one of the best books of 2023 by DN. In September 2024, he published his latest novel, Origami.