Writing Poetry: There's a Workshop for That!

Workshops on Friday 9, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June

Anyone who has ever been in love, slightly chaotic in her head or an adolescent suffering from weltschmerz knows how great the healing power of writing poetry can be. But can it also offer solutions to problems writers are struggling with in 2023? During the workshop series There's a Workshop for That! we will explore!

Especially for the Poetry International Festival, we are organizing three different writing workshops in collaboration with The Writer's guide (to the Galaxy) from Rotterdam. In two and a half hours you will learn the tricks of writing poetry from an experienced poet.
The workshops are given by:
- Rachel Rumai (Friday 9 June, 2.30 pm - 5 pm)
- Babeth Fonchie Fotchind (Saturday 10 June, 2.30 pm - 5 pm)
- Iduna Paalman (Sunday 11 June, 2.30 pm - 5 pm)

Register no later than May 19 using this registration form. From all registrations we select a maximum of 15 participants per workshop.

The workshops are Dutch spoken. You can find more information on the dutch page of this site. 

There's a Workshop for That: Where Did My Story Go? by Rachel Rumai

In recent years we have seen it in bookstores more and more often: autofiction, a genre where the line between fiction and nonfiction is blurred and the writer delves into their own life, that of their family or that of their ancestors. To do so, the writer uses their own imagination as well as historical sources to shape the story or poem. But how do you write about your family or ancestors when that history is not accessible? When it is undocumented or erased by our colonial past? In this workshop you will learn how to put a story from your family history on paper and how to fill in the missing puzzle pieces with critical fabulation and poetry. 

Rachel Rumai Diaz is an all-around word artist whose work seeks the connection between art and activism. Both on stage and behind the scenes, she is committed to creating awareness and making more space for unheard voices. Among other things, she works for Voice for a Woman and is founder of the feminist literary festival Zus en Zo, a platform that focuses on intersectionality and modern sisterhood.

Apply no later than May 19 using this application form. We will select a maximum of 15 participants per workshop from all applications. 

Date: Friday, June 9, 2023
Time: 2:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Location: Story house Belvédère, Rotterdam
Price: € 25.00 / € 12.50 (Rotterdampas, CJP pass, Student card)
Registration: no later than May 19 via the application form. We will select a maximum of 15 participants from all applications.

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There's a Workshop for That!: Don't Quit your Day Job? by Babeth Fonchie Fotchind

In Don't Quit Your Day Job, under the guidance of Babeth Fonchie Fotchind, you will bend over one of the greatest balancing acts of budding writers: that between work and writing. Of course you'd like to spend as much time as possible in the poetic universe inside your head, but the rent has to be paid too. How do you make sure that both get enough space (and that you can also occasionally stare ahead without doing anything at all)? During this writing workshop, we will read poems, reflect and, of course, write poetry ourselves. (That doesn't mean your work-writing problem will be solved after this, but at least you'll get a poem out of it!).

Babeth Fonchie Fotchind is a poet, writer and lawyer. She regularly reads on stages and festivals and has published in several literary magazines. She was voted Next Talent To Watch by VOGUE and was nominated for the Harpers Bazaar Women of the Year Award. Her first book of poetry, Plooi, was published last year by Uitgeverij De Geus and received rave reviews. With her debut collection, she is nominated for the 2023 C. Buddingh' Prize, which will be awarded on Sunday, June 11, during the Poetry International Festival. Apply no later than May 19 via the application form. We will select a maximum of 15 participants from all applications.

Date: Saturday 10 June 2023
Time: 14.30 - 17.00 hours
Location: Story house Belvédère, Rotterdam
Price: € 25.00 / € 12.50 (Rotterdampas, CJP pass, Student card)
Registration: no later than May 19 via the application form. We will select a maximum of 15 participants from all applications.

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SOLD OUT There's a Workshop for That!: Variations on the Word Love? by Iduna Paalman

Poetry for your friends, family, lovers and crushes ... or poetry about your friends, family, lovers and crushes - how do you write it? How can you actually be a good friend, lover, neighbor, brother, sister, colleague and/or (grand)child, if you want to be a writer besides everything else? During this writing workshop by Iduna Paalman we uncover friendship and love. Using poems by Ronelda S. Kamfer, Astrid Haerens, Joost Oomen, Pim Lammers and others, we will explore the meaning of relationships for poetry: how can you be yourself amidst all the people and all the words?

Iduna Paalman debuted with the collection of poetry De grom uit de hond halen, with which she won the Poetry Debut Prize 2020. The collection was also nominated for the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize and the C. Buddingh' Prize, and received an honorable mention from The Great Poetry Prize. De Volkskrant proclaimed her the literary talent of 2020. In 2022, her second collection Bewijs van bewaring came out, with which she won the J.C. Bloem Prize and which was nominated for the Herman de Coninck Prize. She read at the Night of Poetry, Lowlands, Crossing Border and Read My World.

Sign up by May 19 using the application form. We will select a maximum of 15 participants from all applications.

Date: Sunday, June 11, 2023
Time: 2:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Location: Story house Belvédère, Rotterdam
Price: € 25.00 / € 12.50 (Rotterdampas, CJP pass, Student card)
Registration: no later than May 19 via the application form. We will select a maximum of 15 participants from all applications.