Man Booker Prize Workshop at LEAP
In March 2014, for the first time in its history, the judging of the prestigious International Man Booker Prize for literature was held in Africa, in the City of Cape Town.
LEAP, in collaboration with the UCT English Literature Department, seized the opportunity to further our students’ creative writing talents by engaging the judges in a short story writing workshop at the LEAP School in Cape Town.
The esteemed literary judges worked with students from grades 9 – 11 to develop works of flash fiction, a story writing technique in which a fictional piece begins right at the high point of the action, is less than three-pages long, and contains few characters and no character development. This was based on a series of topical images and quotes displayed around the room which the students could use for inspiration.
The students and their team’s ‘Man Booker Prize Judge’ worked under pressure to produce creative and inspiring stories and were then given the opportunity to review and critique the work of the other groups.
“We had fun” said one LEAP student. “I like writing stories and it was good to work on a new style and get help from a published author”.
One of the judges, Fiammetta Rocco, Books and Arts Editor for The Economist in London remarked: “The workshop was fantastic, definitely one of the high points of our trip”.
Wen-Chin Ouyang, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at SOAS, University of London said “I thought the experience was exhilarating….your students are wonderful. Creative, socially aware and articulate. They work so well as a team. I was very moved watching them work together”.
Fore more information on the Man Booker International Prize click here
More photos from the workshop are available on our LEAP’s Facebook page
