#WeAreOCA
The Open College of the Arts' blog
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Creative Writing
Inventing the truth and bargaining with the light
Posted: 18/06/20 09:06 |
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I don’t know how may of you managed to get to the Hay Festival via zoom but the three trips I took were well worth those (imagined) miles from Bristol to Hay on Wye across the Severn and then north; and am I in Herefordshire or Wales when I get there? It all depends. Makes me think of Philippe Sands’ East West Street where he writes about Lvov, Lviv and Lemburg – all the same town. At least Hay is still called Hay whichever country it’s in. But it’s a good example of how slippery the truth of history and story-telling is.
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OCA wellbeing: Running
Posted: 11/06/20 09:23 |
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I realise I am very fortunate to be in my running group. It has opened my eyes to all the virtual experiences that people can now engage with. Lockdown has resulted in the creation of so many activities to connect people – virtual running competitions, online courses, online counselling – the list goes on. Being removed from family and friends is difficult, but having a great group of people online has kept me going. I can’t wait until we can run together again.
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Who is Acting? Tightening Up Agency in Storytelling.
Posted: 09/06/20 09:18 |
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The heart of any story is somebody (or a group of somebodies), and the things that they do, their actions, in response to their desires and aversions. If you keep the focus on this, you will be able to tell much more powerful stories.
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OCA wellbeing: Gardening for mental health
Posted: 05/06/20 09:10 |
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Lockdown in mid-March prompted two responses. First was a recognition that getting outside for parts of the day without bumping into other humans would become a very valuable thing. Second, I had some new time, that used to be spent travelling and trolling the train companies about their poor service, and I could put this to good use by sorting out my embarrassing back garden.
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Lockdown reading
Posted: 02/06/20 09:18 |
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Writers need to be readers. How else do we increase our vocabularies, our knowledge of what’s been tried, our understanding of how something as banal as layout affects the way we read? And now is the time when splendid isolation means that some of us can really immerse ourselves in a book, without the interruptions of normal life.
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Reading Like a Writer – Poetry
Posted: 26/05/20 09:13 |
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When looking at how to close read prose in my previous blog, I suggested a list of questions that you could ask yourself as a way of analysing the text in detail. Those questions will also be relevant for thinking about poetry, although there are some further questions you can consider when reading poetry, related to poetic form.
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Vocab: Issue 2
Posted: 14/05/20 02:12 |
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Being part of OCASA’s creative writing magazine, Vocab, is a wonderful, collaborative experience, and gives a dedicated space to recognise the writing talent we have at OCA.
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Reading like a writer – Reading prose
Posted: 14/05/20 09:43 |
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Recently I ran a couple of workshops on the art of close reading, so for those of you who were unable to attend (and for those who did attend but would like a refresher) I’ve put together a two-part blog, looking first at an extract from a novel and then at a poem.
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2020/21 Fees communication
Posted: 11/05/20 09:56 |
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We are announcing today the fees which will apply in the next academic year (from 01 August 2020 to 31 July 2021).
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Victory in Europe Day – 8 May 1945 – 75th Anniversary 2020
Posted: 08/05/20 09:00 |
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This Friday Bank Holiday, 8 May 2020, marks the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), the end of fighting in Europe in 1945. Fighting in the Far East against Japan would continue for a further three months, costing the lives of many more servicemen and women, and civilian deaths in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki before the final surrender on August 15 1945.
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