Scribing our desires

We carry stories, ideas, passion and desire in our heads and hearts. We can set them down on paper, or we can be more dynamic and get our words out onto the street; we can be immediate, interactive, provocative. Our creativity becomes greater as we engage and share with others.

The second event I hosted on behalf of write4word for young writers At The Fringe was an opportunity to scribe our desires in the street. We began by listing and quietly sharing our passions. We read and discussed two pieces as prompts; Khalil Gibran’s poem “Let these be your desires” and a short prose paragraph by Mary Oliver. I encouraged the group to write in response to any word, phrase or idea from the pieces.

It was a pleasure to include Ifor ap Glyn, National Poet of Wales in our group. He shared his passion for the Welsh language and its future with us, and was generous in his feedback to our scribes.

After some quiet, contemplative time spent writing we grabbed our chalk. We erupted, hot like Tranås sunshine with our desires, into the busy street. We chalked, we chatted, we clarified and felt ready to take on the whole town.

Saturday’s rain may have washed away our graffiti from the grey pavement. For those of us who scribed we carry the conversations we had about those chalked cravings in our “deep hearts core”.

International exchanges

Cafe Töwerland on Storgatan was an ideal venue for writers and At The Fringe- International Arts Festival, Tranås to connect with each other for Young Writers Brunch. Enjoying fika together we had the opportunity to find out more from Ullias Berglund and Joanna Hellström about their sources of inspiration and writing for their poetry and fiction, as well hear about their writing processes. An exciting moment in the brunch was when Ullias and Joanna took a call from Geoff Haden, curator of Dylan Thomas’ birthplace in Swansea, Wales. Geoff was able to offer his congratulations and warm encouragement to our two award winning young Swedish writers, and share ideas for future connections.

As writers we often draw ideas from other poets, novelists and storytellers; we need to share our skills and perspectives with each other to grow and develop our voice and craft. One of the greatest gifts we can offer each other is to share back a piece inspired by another writer. We listened to Joanna and Ullias read some of their work and I asked the audience to write in response to any line they were drawn to. Carl Sjögren is a new member of YWL from Vetlanda, working with Swedish writer Elisabeth Westlund. Carl was drawn to a phrase from Joanna’s piece of fiction: “Leaving already”.

His response, written within a few minutes, was:

“Leaving already, yes he did.

He continued along the path, not looking back. There was a feeling of loneliness in the air.

A cold wind stroke her cheek, right as she started to miss him already”

Following one their many radio interviews Joanna and Ullias were delighted to hear how their own work had inspired some brief work written by audience members. It was a joy to connect through our wide range of creative impulses and to show our respect for the work of Ullias Berglund and Joanna Hellström.

Flourishing futures from residency

July was an exciting month for Swedish young writers in general as well as Young Writers Lab in particular with a series of events At The Fringe- International Arts Festival in Tranås.

A strong thread for the development of youth writing has been sewn with the support of Peter Nyberg, Regional Literary Development Officer for Jönköping. Two local young writers were selected through the Tranås Writers Award to be “writers of the place” at Piraten Huset, the former Storgatan home of Fritiof Nilsson Piraten. The idea came from a residency that Welsh poet Natalie Holborow participated in at 5, Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea; the house in Wales that is celebrated as the birthplace and childhood home of Dylan Thomas. Natalie was also a Coracle Europe Literary Resident with Kultivera in 2014.

Ullias Berglund and Joanna Hellström relished the opportunity to respond to Nilsson’s writing and to draw inspiration from the same place in which he had set down his stories 70 years ago. During the residency Ullias and Joanna were mentored by Welsh poet and Director of write4word, Dominic Williams, and Swedish poet, Freke Räihä.

Ullias said of the Piraten Huset residency that: “it meant a lot to my motivation and inspiration. It was great to discuss writing and creativity with such talented people as Joanna, Dominic and Freke, and to have feedback to improve. I worked on a collection of poems about things like summer, anxiety and relationships. I also wrote a story in the same style of Huckleberry Finn, but with two girls as the main characters. I’ll always keep writing, especially spoken word poems, and I already have some gigs booked”

With mentoring from international writers, the inspiration of place, and the knowledge that this kind of impetus helped Natalie Holborow, I am confident that Ullias and Joanna will continue to flourish as writers.