Are you a budding writer? Or perhaps you are an experienced writer looking for inspiration to get you back into the swing of things! Either way, you’ll be interested in the event we are going to tell you about, the SPARK Writing Festival, which takes place on August 5th to the 9th at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Organised by the English Faculty, it promises to be an innovative and exciting initiative for all involved.
What can you expect? The Festival has been set up to encourage writers of all levels of experience and interest, and there are three categories in which you can register. You can choose to take part in the Fiction class, the Memoir/Essay class, or to try your hand at poetry, and each workshop will be hosted by an experienced writer who will guide you through the basics.
The SPARK Writing Festival is also a great opportunity for you to meet like-minded people, and talk to other writers, so that you can network, make new friends, and share ideas. Inspiration is the overall idea, and the days have been structured to give you a full range of experiences.
Networking and Learning
The day starts with breakfast and coffee, before the workshop begins with your tutor at 9 AM. This is a hands-on workshop where you will be given tips and ideas, and be able to talk among the group – there will be up to 14 people in each workshop – and gather ideas. Lunch follows, and you are encouraged to spend time with other participants at a local café or take the time out to work on material, and then the afternoon session begins at 1 PM.
The afternoon session will involve your group leader giving readings, followed by a session in which you are led in cross-genre writing; if you register for poetry, for example, you may be invited to write in essay form for this session. This is an excellent opportunity to gain experience that you may not be inspired to partake of on your own.
The end of the day comes with a lecture, these will be delivered by professionals in the writing and publishing worlds, and this format is followed on each of the five days.
Support Network
The overall aim of the SPARK Writing Festival is to give writers, both experienced and otherwise, a network of support from other writers, and from the tutors and group leaders involved. Once you have enjoyed this five-day fully inclusive course, you may decide you want to pursue your writing further, in which case you should talk to the group leaders at UAB about how to move forward.
Whether you are looking for inspiration, want to start writing, or simply fancy trying something new, the SPARK Writing Festival is a great opportunity to have a go at writing, to meet new people, and to enjoy a relaxed yet education and informative environment that may inspire you to move forward and put pen to paper!
Creative Content Writing Agency – Birmingham
As a leading content marketing agency in Birmingham, we’re excited to see this event coming to the Magic City. We hope you’ll attend and make SPARK a success so that it becomes a perennial event at UAB.
