Words from the Coast - A Fife Writes Creative Writing Project

‘Words from the Coast’ 

A creative writing project inspired by coastal themes & experiences.  

Words from the Coast is a creative writing project designed to immerse participants in the evocative environment of the coast. Through guided workshops and individual explorations, writers will engage all their senses - sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste - to craft vivid, sensory-driven work exploring different genres of coast-inspired writing, such as poetry, prose, and personal narratives. This project seeks to inspire creativity by encouraging participants to connect with experiences of the coastal landscape and stories of the sea then be invited to channel that inspiration into their writing.

This project is open to writers of all levels, from beginners to seasoned authors, who are interested in exploring coastal themes in their work. Participants should have a willingness to engage their senses and experiment with new creative techniques. Please note that sign up is for the complete project with its finale ending in a showcase event where participants will share their words in front of an audience, (support & encouragement will be given for people new to performing).

This pay what you can project will run over five fortnightly sessions leading to a final afternoon showcasing the work produced at a Spoken Word / Performance event.

Unfortunately due to the nature of this project you are not able to sign up for individual sessions only.

Dates: 

(all writing sessions are from 10:30 - 12:30)

• Week 1- Thursday 24th July - Introduction, impressions of the coast and soundscapes of the sea.
• Week 2 - Thursday 7th August - Exploring different genres of coast-inspired writing.
• Week 3 - Thursday 21st August - Visiting Artist - Cally Nurse - Seaweed and capturing sensory observations.
• Week 4 - Thursday 4th September - Visiting Poet - Beth McDonough - Celebrating the coast through poetry.
• Week 5 - Thursday 18^th September - Selection of favourite pieces, editing, performance practice & tips.
• Showcase Event - 14:00 – 16:00pm - Saturday the 27th of September - Readings and performance of written work. Family, friends and public from the local community will be invited to attend. Refreshments will be provided. 

Location: 

Dreel Halls, High St, Anstruther KY10 3DJ

Parking: There is a small car park near the halls towards the Esplanade, or you can park at the Station Road Car Park and walk down (10-15 minute walk).

Accessibility: There are stairs, with banisters up to the upper hall where the writing sessions will take place. The showcase event will be downstairs which is fully accessible. There are toilets both up and downstairs. 

The Facilitators:

Marianne L. Berghuis 

Marianne is a Fife based writer, poet and ex nurse. She completed an MLitt in Creative Writing at Stirling University in 2022 and is the current chairperson of Fife Writes. She enjoys leading writing workshops, running support groups and encouraging others to write their stories in creative ways. As well as co-ordinating projects and reading as an invited poet at events she has had her work published in various anthologies and online. As a previous emerging programmer for the Scottish Book Trust she has developed workshops & author events for Book Week Scotland and delivered the writing hours at StAnza’s Scottish International Poetry Festival. You can often find her roaming the countryside, coastal paths or beach with her bouncy Sprocker Spaniel, hoping the solace of nature will nurture and inspire her imaginative spark.

Billy Horsburgh

Billy is a forty-three-year-old self-published author from Anstruther. He lost his eyesight in his teenage years and was unable to write until assistive technology became available. He self-published his first autobiography, Ring of Fire in 2013, which covers the first twenty-six years of his life growing up with Cerebral Palsy and Glaucoma. Since then, he has gained a BA honours degree in Arts and Humanities and more recently, a master’s degree in Creative Writing, both of which he studied through the Open University. Billy has continued to develop his creative-non-fiction craft by writing a further three memoirs which each focus on different topics. His most recent memoir is about raising Dobby, his Jack Russell terrier, despite doubters saying it wouldn’t be possible for someone in his situation. Billy is an active member of Fife Writes and joined the committee last year.

Visiting Creatives:

Beth McDonough - Beth is a Dundee-based poet who co-hosts regular Platform Poetry Sessions in Fife. Beth studied Silversmithing at Glasgow School of Art and went on to complete an MLitt in Writing Study and Practice at Dundee University. She was Writer in Residence at Dundee Contemporary Arts 2014-16 and the Makar of the Federation of Writers (Scotland) in 2022. Her work is widely anthologised and often features a strong sense of place, reflecting her proximity to the Tay where she swims. She is currently working on a hybrid project on outdoor swimming, and a collaborative collection with Nikki Robson. Beth has been described as a forager, avid in pursuit of the wild jewels of shoreline, so she is the perfect poet to support this project. 

Pamphlets: Handfast (with Ruth Aylett, Mother’s Milk Books, 2016),  Lamping for Pickled Fish (4Word, 2019)

Cally Nurse - Cally is a Newburgh based artist, researcher and activist. She graduated in the mid 1980s with a degree in History of Art and after a career in journalism, public relations and charities, she returned to art embarking on a Masters in Fine Art and Humanities at Dundee University in 2020. Her research led her to experiment with seaweed, taking it out of context and presenting it in original ways to help us re-evaluate our relationship with the non-human, especially things we usually overlook or avoid. She is one very few artists using seaweed for paper-making and loves to share her knowledge and inspire others to explore their own creativity.

ttps://www.arty-cal.com/

Any questions? Please contact Fife Writes by email at fife.writes@gmail.com

This project is part of the The Village Creative, a community-led initiative developed in collaboration with Heids and Herts Scotland.

The Village Creative is funded by the Fife Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, administered by Fife Voluntary Action with support from the Scottish Government.

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