“Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old school girl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing.” – Anne Frank, 1942.
Everyone has stories, some large and some very small. Sometimes our seemingly small stories can have the power to become the most powerful.
In November 2020, Country Arts SA and Carclew brought together 10 young writers aged 16-26 living in the Riverland to document and explore their stories through a series of exploratory workshops.
I Feel Like Writing was a mini-project to engage with and inspire local young creative writers to share their words and perspectives about the world around them. The project parallels the Chaffey Theatre screening and exhibition of Anne Frank: Parallel Stories as a launching point to explore what is meaningful to the lives of young people in the Riverland here and now.
Participants began their writing journey with the screening and exhibition of Anne Frank: Parallel Stories at the Chaffey Theatre. They then participated in a series of weekly workshops, followed by a period of independent writing, mentor feedback from local writers Kirste Vandergiessen (she/her) and Stuart Watkinson (he/him), and with guest writer Roz Bellamy (they/them). The outcome of the project was shared with an invited audience in April 2021.
Banner image: a hand holding a pen writing in a journal – Photo taken by Eloise Holoubeck