write
2025 Writers' Workshop
Rachel Cusk
amanda michalopoulou
Alba Arikha
30 May - 4 June 2025
Teaching process
My teaching is instinctive and evolves in response to the work in front of me. My belief in literature as a technical and moral system is also a belief in its deeper communicative capacities: I believe that in a writing workshop, the creative principles of writing and its complex relationship to living can be demonstrated through the close study of a text. While adhering loosely to the traditional workshop model, I try to steer away from subjective opinion in favour of creating illumination and agreement. My classes focus intensely on each student’s work in turn, not in order to rate or judge the work but to find in its flaws and its achievements the universal fundaments of writing as a discipline. The aim is to increase students’ power over their own writing, to make it intentional rather than haphazard, to bring objectivity to this very personal process.
Rachel Cusk is the author of 16 books, including the Outline trilogy and the memoirs A life’s work and Aftermath and is published in 33 languages. She won the Somerset Maugham prize and the Whitbread Award. She is a Guggenheim fellow, a Foreign Honorary member of the American Academy and a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. Her novel Second Place was awarded the French Prix Femina in 2022, and her new novel, Parade, was published in 2024. She taught creative writing for many years at Kingston University.
Amanda Michalopoulou is the author of eight novels, three short story collections, a theater play and a novella. She won the Academy of Athens Prize for her short story collection “Bright Day” (2013) and was short-listed for the ALTA National Translation Award in the US for her novels Why I killed my best friend and God’s Wife. The American translation of her book I’d Like won the International Literature Prize by NEA in the US (2008) and the Liberis Liber Prize of the Independent Catalan Publishers (2012). Her short stories have been translated into 20 languages. She lives in Athens, Greece where she teaches creative writing.
Teaching process
To read literature like a writer is equivalent to making sketches in front of museum masterpieces.
It is called practice. One should cultivate their quality of attention to understand how stories work and unlock useful advice on how to write something that sounds both natural and inevitable. This is why my courses include a mixture of literary texts and corresponding writing exercises. It is not only about emulating style or ideas but also about patiently compartmentalizing the immense task ahead. I use small excerpts of classic and contemporary literature (letters, lists, descriptions, dialogues, journals, beginnings or ends of chapters) as prompts for various assignments, exploring how to create atmosphere, memorable characters, the fundamentals of plot and a better draft.
Alba Arikha has published six books. Her new novel, Two Hours, was published by Eris Press in Spring 2024. Her memoir, Major/Minor, was shortlisted for the 2012 Spear’s awards. An opera adaptation was performed in 2020 at the Playground Theatre, in London. Her novel Where to Find Me was longlisted for the 2020 Wingate Prize. Her books have been translated into eight languages, and her essays and poems have appeared in the TLS, London Magazine, and Tortoise Media among others. She has taught creative writing masterclasses for the Guardian, the Royal Academy of Art, the University of Hertfordshire, and Columbia University. Alba is also a pianist/songwriter. She has performed in Paris and London, and has recorded two CDs of her songs.
Teaching process
Writing is the overlapping of two worlds: our imagination and the other. Capturing that world requires inspiration, discipline, reading, and most importantly, the tools to hone one’s voice. My classes will include the discussion of writing in general, as well as delve into the mechanics that will help that voice come alive: character development, dialogue, structure, the space between fiction and truth, how and why we write. We will do practical exercises and study texts, old and new. You will also have the opportunity to receive constructive feedback on your work, including class discussion. Our aim is to give you the confidence to continue your literary journey.