Open Book Workshop Week 2025

Join Kerry Hammerton and generate your own flash fiction or creative non-fiction through interactive exercises. We will read interesting examples of flash and use these to springboard your own writing. Understand the basics of flash fiction and creative non-fiction, experiment with new ideas and leave with pieces of writing that you can edit and submit to an anthology to be published in 2025. You will leave with tools to help you in your creative writing journey. Bring a notebook and pen. Suitable for all levels of writers.

Many personal stories burn inside us, longing to be told. But not all of them can be easily explored through life writing. Sometimes they find their way into fiction. Join writer and publisher Karina M. Szczurek for a two-part workshop examining the tensions between fiction and non-fiction, and learn how to navigate the precarious terrain of telling a deeply personal story with integrity. As part of the workshop, participants will be asked to write a short piece – fiction or non-fiction – which will be published in a limited-edition pamphlet. Each contributor will receive a free copy.

Please note you must be available on both days to participate in the workshop.
2 June & 7 June 2025

Loss is a part of life; but we don’t always handle it well - partly because we are not taught how to, especially when taboos come into play. Join Giles Griffin of the Life Righting Collective for a two-day workshop that encourages writing on loss of all kinds.

Please note that you need to be available for both sessions of this workshop (3rd and 4th June)

This short workshop facilitated by Mandy J Watson and Danielle Albertyne includes a quick history on zines, what they can include, and the basics of structuiring a narrative. Participants will also be taught some practical techniques that allow them to create their own zines.

Join the award-winning Siphokazi Jonas to explore how to recognise the fertility of your histories as places of undoing and reimagining in your writing. What happens when you own and bring the fragments of where you come from into the room? What lies on the other side of sitting in the discomfort?

In this three hour workshop, Karen Vermeulen guides you in the creation of a mini graphic memoir! She`ll teach you how to draw cartoons with a range of expressions and how to turn your bad days, thoughts, opinions, and experiences into a hilarious mini-memoir.
This workshop is beginner-friendly; no writing, illustration, or other skills are needed.

Join pen maker and founder of Kapaadie Co. Calligraphy Pens, Adil Jacobs for a workshop that includes a demonstration of pen making techniques, following which you will make your own pen and learn some basic calligraphy techniques.

Join industry specialists to get a clear understanding of what the publishing journey looks like and where your book fits best. Mbali Sikakana, Stevlyn Vermeulen and Karina Szczurek take the audience through the roles they play in the journey following which questions from the audience will be welcomed. There will be a brief break during this session.

So you`ve published your book, but what comes next? Join industry specialists to get a clear understanding of how to get your book out. This session features Aoife Lennon-Ritchie, Jean-Marie Korff and Mervyn Sloman. They will present a brief outline of their role following which questions from the audience will be welcomed. There will be a brief break during this session.

Join facilitator, Qarnita Loxton for a session that hones in on the craft of writing. From the development of plot, to the work that goes into creating believable characters and dialogues, this is a not to be missed opportunity. Beginners are welcome.