Local author and poet Gerry Boland has announced details of his autumn online writing workshops. Gerry, who ran a popular weekly writing workshop in The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon prior to Covid, has moved his workshops online.
“Although I miss the weekly meet-ups, I have become familiar with the various online platforms and find that the workshops work just as well onscreen as they did when we were meeting face-to-face in a room”, says Gerry.
“They are different, there’s no way around that, and they don’t suit everyone, but my sense is that most people have adapted and are now reasonably familiar with onscreen meet-ups. One huge positive is that someone living and working in Dublin, Cork, London, or even Berlin can attend one of my courses. I actually just got a booking from an Irish writer currently living in Germany!”
Gerry’s course allows people to meet up with other writers in a friendly and creative online environment. Participants will be able to satisfy their writing impulse with a weekly writing fix (during each session there’ll be an uninterrupted half-hour of quiet, off-screen time to write), and will also be introduced to a new poem every week to read, analyse, and discuss.
In addition to the above, each week, a different participant will share ‘A Book That I Keep Revisiting’. This is a 15-20 minute slot in which you’ll get to hear about a work you may or may not be familiar with, that a participant admires greatly. The chosen work can be in any genre. Please note that there is no obligation to participate in this section, so don’t be put off booking the course because of it.
Additionally, there will be a short writing exercise each week. These exercises are primarily to fire up the imagination, but can often act as a launching pad for a longer piece.
The course, starting in September and ending in November, will consist of ten creative writing workshops, each two hours long. Workshops run from 10 am-12 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (September 18th/19th – November 20th/21st), and 6.30-8.30 pm on Monday evenings (September 20th – November 22nd). The course fee is €80.
Gerry Boland is an author and a poet, who has had nine books published. The latest is his collection of short stories, ‘The Far Side of Happiness’, which was published in 2018 by Arlen House. He has many years’ experience leading writing workshops, and until the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, he was running a popular writing group out of The Dock Arts Centre in Carrick-on-Shannon.
Book your place by phoning Gerry on 087-6397557 or by emailing gerry.boland@gmail.com.
