Poet Joost Baars gave a special master class for us on Sunday, 26 August at Boekhandel van Rossum in Amsterdam. You can listen to a recording of the talk below or it is also available as a podcast from various services and from our own feed.

Baars’s debut collection Binnenplaats (translated “Enclosure”) was awarded the 2018 VSB Poetry Prize, the world’s largest Dutch-language poetry prize. The jury praised his depth, mastery and unique sound. It was only the second time in the Prize’s 24-year history that a debut collection won. Baars was also a finalist for this year’s C. Buddingh’ Prize and the Herman de Coninck Prize.

His poetry has been described as hallucinatory and mystical. We looked at a number of poems from his award-winning collection that have been beautifully translated into English by Astrid Albens (available on the Poetry International website). We also discussed the art of the line-break, poetry in translation, how you know when a poem has promise, why thinking about your reader isn’t always helpful, getting unstuck and more.

Copyright © 2018 Joost Baars & International Writers’ Collective

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American author Karen Kao gave a special Master Class for members of the International Writers’ Collective on 22 July 2018 at Boekhandel van Rossum in Amsterdam. You can listen to a recording of the talk below or it is also available as a podcast from various services and from our own feed.

Kao is the author of The Dancing Girl and the Turtle and will be joining our faculty from the autumn 2018 term.

The class covered craft in the novel as well as Kao’s process and advice for writers. We looked at specific techniques in Kao’s shocking opening scene, research and the challenges of writing historical fiction, how to tackle violent material, deciding who gets a voice in your story and juggling multiple points of view, creating a multi-book arc, revision, finding a publisher, what it’s like to quit your job to write full-time, and more

In her own blog Kao homes in on two aspects of that class: the use of violence and historical fact in fiction. Read up on it there.

Copyright © 2018 Karen Kao & International Writers’ Collective

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