All Things Urban

Enhance your writing craft in the 3rd edition of our 3-day workshop ‘Writing (on) the Urban Question’ in Brussels from 15-17 September 2021. This immersive writing workshop is led by the renowned creative writer and urban activist Sarah Butler (Manchester), focussing on writing process, creative technique and urban exploration.

‘Writing (on) the urban question’ is a unique interactive writing workshop to learn novel writing techniques and enhance your written work. It is specifically tailored for doctoral students and early-career academics, working on urban issues. The workshop is led by the creative writer, literature consultant, project manager and urban activist, Sarah Butler, based in Manchester, the UK.

About the trainer

Sarah is a novelist with accompanying practice in socially-engaged, place-specific writing. She is fascinated by the relationships between stories, places and communities. Her work explores identity, belonging, landscape and home. Sarah has a particular interest in urban spaces and urban change.

More information about Sarah Butler’s work: http://www.urbanwords.org.uk | http://www.sarahbutler.org.uk

Workshop content

Participants will explore their own writing styles and consider how creative writing techniques can help enliven and embolden their academic writing. The programme consists of indoor desk-based writing exercises and discussions, as well as writing activities out and about in Brussels, using the city as a rich context to practice a different form of writing. The workshop focusses on three different themes.

Day 1 (September 15th): Writing and Place

Day 2 (September 16th): Writing Processes and Techniques

Day 3 (September 17th): Writing and the City

A detailed programme of the workshop will be available by the beginning September 2021.

Organiser

Writing (on) the Urban Question is organised by the Brussels Centre for Urban Studies and sponsored by the VUB Doctoral School (NSE).

Date and venue

The workshop will take place from Wednesday, September 15th to Friday, September 17th 2021 at the VUB Etterbeek campus, U-Residence.

The 3-day workshop is an interdisciplinary and interuniversity event that aims to bring together promising junior researchers from across Belgium and Europe, and from a variety of disciplines – including human geography, urban studies, sociology, spatial planning, and politics – at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel to work on urban issues. The workshop is suitable for (young) scholars who want to improve their writing and explore their creativity.

Participation and application process [LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE!]

If you are interested in participating in this exciting workshop, please send your CV and a one-page motivation letter (both in pdf format) to the Centre’s coordinator (Lena.Imeraj@vub.be) with the subject email: ‘Writing Workshop’ by Wednesday, June 30th 2021. In the motivation letter you should briefly explain your interest in the workshop and the focus of your current writing.

You will be notified of the outcome of your application by July 16th 2021. The main criteria for acceptance is the stage of your research and the focus of your writing.

For quality purposes we can accommodate up to 15 people.

The Brussels Centre for Urban Studies is an interdisciplinary research centre at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) that brings together researchers from various disciplines.

The Centre aims to increase the visibility of VUB urban research and develops and supports transdisciplinary research projects in the domain of urban studies. The Centre also stimulates networking between the various VUB research groups and of VUB researchers in international and local networks. The research orientation is global, but particular attention is paid to the urban dynamics of Brussels.