The British author Clare Wigfall was born in London in 1976 but is
currently living in Berlin. Her book "The Loudest Sound And
Nothing", published in 2007 by Faber and Faber, is a
collection of short stories. She spent the last three days at the
Ulricianum for reading sessions and workshops for creative writing.
Yesterday she visited the EN72 course of Mr. Donath,
where she enchanted the entire room of students with her charming
openness and likeable presence right away.
Firstly she read out one of her short stories
"When the Wasps Drowned" with a pleasant British accent
and step by step she led us closer to the process of creative
writing.
She encouraged us to fill our blank papers with
our own imaginations and ideas. Moreover, she created a
friendly and comfortable atmosphere and along with that she made
the writing process very easy for us.
 Video:
Clare Wigfall reads "When the Wasps
Drowned" (Part 1)
Video:
Clare Wigfall reads "When the Wasps
Drowned" (Part 2)
 
Furthermore, she was really interested in
our ideas and concepts. Unfortunately we only had two periods, bur
Clare Wigfall seemed to enjoy those just as much as we did. On
balance we think it is important to have more of similar workshops
taking place in schools to foster students' phrasing and writing
skills.
 
And after the workshop Lela and Paula did an
interview with Clare Wigfall which was recorded and can be heard
here or downloaded and then heard - it's definitely worth
listening to what Clare Wigfall answers
Interview
with Clare Wigfall (9 MB)
[by Lela und Paula]
Looks like three days with pupils from the
Ulricianum are not too tiring - four ladies having a chilling time together?
It was a pleasure meeting her and she convinced us not to be
afraid of filling a blank sheet. We hope to get further
inspiration and motivation from writers like Clare Wigfall.
By Lady Mi and Marina
| Just an example of a creative product
It was the winter that Daniel was suddenly overcome by
feelings of anger, hate and deep agression. He hardly knew
how to compensate them and there was none he could scream
at or struggle with.
Where did those feelings intensely hovering in this inside
come from? He himself did not know it but the voice in his
head did not keep quiet:
"Do it! Do it!"
It was repeating these words again and again without any
interruption. Daniel's hands were dead-cold, he shivered,
he was not even able to move.
"Do it! Do it!"
The words kept running through his mind. He actually felt
possessed by it:
"Do it! Do it!"
Nobody was at home, the weather outside was snowy and
the sky covered by heavy clouds. As if Daniel had not
noticed it, he suddenly was outside.
One step forward,
"Do it!"
Two steps,
"Do it!"
Three steps,
"Do it!"
The white snow beneath his feet, covering the little
suburb with absolute harmony, slowly turned red.
One drop,
"Did it.", he said
Two drops,
"Did it!", he shouted
Three drops,
"What for?!!", he screamed…
by Anna
|
Thanks for the report to Lady Mi and Marina,
thanks for the interview to Lela and Paula, thanks for the photos
to Daniel and thanks for the video to Simon - and of course thanks
to Clare Wigfall for this excellent experience.
| ON
Artikel vom 14. März 2009 in lesefreundlicher Größe |
 And
this is what Clare Wigfalls emailed one day later:
What a lovely record of my trip. I really enjoyed
working with your group and I'm happy to hear they enjoyed
it too. I hope that they do feel brave enough to post some
of their writing online at some stage, that would be
interesting.
I was really impressed by all the students I met in
Aurich and I think the school should feel proud. They were
full of enthusiasm, energy, and a desire to work hard and
to have fun doing so - truly fantastic young people and a
credit to the school.
By the way, Mi noted there's no wikipedia page about me
yet, basically because nobody has ever bothered to write
one (and it would seem a bit egotistical to write my own!),
so if your students wanted to create one, they'd be
welcome. It might be a fun little project for them, to
feel they have made a contribution to the world's biggest
online encyclopedia!
Interview sounds good, too - although I hope I don't
talk too fast for the students to understand! Daniel did a
brilliant job with the photos!
Well, I think that's all for now. Have a good
weekend, and say hi to your students from me!
All best,
Clare
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