ONLINE Of Ambulation and Writing - the creative practice of taking a walk
Thursdays | 6 Weeks | 7-9pm | Begins July 13
Instructor: Thea Bowering
MEMBER PRICE $225.00 (with member coupon AWCSM25)
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $300.00
In this online course, participants will go off the literal and figurative beaten path to explore the art of the urban walk (and/or other modes of pedestrian ambulation--such as wheelchair and scooter use.) They will generate writing by immersing themselves in their immediate surroundings, and, through discussion and suggested readings, consider walking as a meditation, a political act, and a creative practice connected to the artist's process. Sometimes referred to as flânerie or dérive this artful praxis is thought to help the writer find new methods of seeing and sensing their surroundings, find new forms and subjects, and explore new concepts of identity. From class to class, we will touch on writings that make up this long and evolving tradition. Suggested readings could include excerpts from William Wordsworth, Charles Baudelaire, Walter Benjamin, Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf, Ray Bradbury, Gail Scott, Rebecca Solnit, Wayde Compton, Dionne Brand, Ryan Knighton, and Lisa Robertson. The goal: that these readings, walking experiments, and writing prompts, inspire an abundance of working material sourced from the writer attuned to their immediate environment, no matter where that is! Participants will be encouraged to write in the genre of their choice: poetry, fiction, and modes of creative non-fiction. They will also be encouraged to try hybrid-genres, and bring in song, photography, film, and soundscapes, if they desire.
This is an interactive online class using the Zoom web platform.
Thea Bowering has been published in The Capilano Review, Matrix, Dandelion, The Vancouver Sun and Scandinavian Canadian Studies. A native of Vancouver, she now makes her home in Edmonton, Alberta. Her first book, Love at Last Sight, was released by NeWest Press in Fall 2013.