Unifying Threads: Exploring Saints and Sinners with the Young Writers

Unifying Threads: Exploring Saints and Sinners with the Young Writers

The first Young Writers workshop of the new term gave us the opportunity to explore new territory using familiar forms. We had been asked to support the participants in preparing new work on the theme of saints and sinners to tie in with one element of the Lowender Festival at the end of this month.

Whilst planning the workshop, we found a thread that linked the way the lives of the saints were recounted with the legend of King Arthur. The knights of the Round Table were not saints, but their stories often blurred the line between saint and sinner.

After some quick-fire writing prompts, the first exercise introduced the writers to Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’ and invited them to take inspiration from the poem. The resulting writing began with the phrase ‘She left…’

We then introduced John William Waterhouse’s painting of the lady depicting the moment she leaves the loom for the first time, and asked the participants to invent an alternative story of what might be happening in the picture.

They then had to retell this story in the form of a poem, using just 10 lines.

The exercise that followed invited the writers to explore a different point of view – that of King Arthur’s sister, Morgana le Fay. In the early stories, she is a source of support and strength for her brother but experiences a change of heart after being forced to marry somebody for whom she feels no affection.

Subsequent exercises introduced the narrative of the Holy Grail and the journeys that inspired.

The final exercise of the session introduced the story of Tristan and Iseult, and the hermit Orgrin who brought about peace between King Marc, his nephew Tristan and the runaway queen Iseult.

For the final writing task, we invited the participants to write a letter that one of these characters might have sent back home, in just 100 words.

Although we didn’t have the chance to hear the writing that was produced, it was a gift to be able to support the writers in exploring new territory.

Our next Young Writers workshop will take place on Saturday 4^th November from 10:00am to 12:00pm on Zoom. Booking info can be found here

Unifying Threads: Exploring Saints and Sinners with the Young Writers

The first Young Writers workshop of the new term gave us the opportunity to explore new territory using familiar forms. We had been asked to support the participants in preparing new work on the theme of saints and sinners to tie in with one element of the Lowender Festival at the end of this month.

Whilst planning the workshop, we found a thread that linked the way the lives of the saints were recounted with the legend of King Arthur. The knights of the Round Table were not saints, but their stories often blurred the line between saint and sinner.

After some quick-fire writing prompts, the first exercise introduced the writers to Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’ and invited them to take inspiration from the poem. The resulting writing began with the phrase ‘She left…’

We then introduced John William Waterhouse’s painting of the lady depicting the moment she leaves the loom for the first time, and asked the participants to invent an alternative story of what might be happening in the picture.

They then had to retell this story in the form of a poem, using just 10 lines.

The exercise that followed invited the writers to explore a different point of view – that of King Arthur’s sister, Morgana le Fay. In the early stories, she is a source of support and strength for her brother but experiences a change of heart after being forced to marry somebody for whom she feels no affection.

Subsequent exercises introduced the narrative of the Holy Grail and the journeys that inspired.

The final exercise of the session introduced the story of Tristan and Iseult, and the hermit Orgrin who brought about peace between King Marc, his nephew Tristan and the runaway queen Iseult.

For the final writing task, we invited the participants to write a letter that one of these characters might have sent back home, in just 100 words.

Although we didn’t have the chance to hear the writing that was produced, it was a gift to be able to support the writers in exploring new territory.

Our next Young Writers workshop will take place on Saturday 4^th November from 10:00am to 12:00pm on Zoom. Booking info can be found here