Writing Desire

The Irish Writers Centre are running an erotic writing course:

Writing Desire: Flesh Made Word
with Sean O'Reilly & Kimberly Campanello
25th September: Tues 6.30pm-8.30pm €280/260 members

“How can we write about sex? Irish writing seems to shy away from any attempt to represent the reality and complexity of our erotic lives. Sex is a secret. Desire is merely a plot-device. The story of a character's erotic life or the growth of a character's erotic taste seems to have no bearing on a convincing psychological portrait of a literary character. This 10-week course looks at the history of the genre of erotic writing, looking at some classic texts in both prose and poetry, and concentrating on student's writing in this field. Using both poetry and prose, participants will learn that the 'erotic' is more than the description of sexual acts but the context in which they take place, about power and fantasy, and in particular, about the representation of desire itself. Emphasis will be on participants own work and feedback in a group setting.”

Do the Irish really shy away from writing about sex? I can think of many that don't. . nevertheless it looks fascinating, maybe they'll set up an erotic outreach for us culchie writers? (hint, hint) 

4 comments:

valerie sirr said...

I can think of many who don't too! Love the 'erotic outreach for culchies' idea :)

Words A Day said...

Thanks Valerie! Maybe I'll start a petition:)

Niamh B said...

Reminds me of the erotic issue of the stinging fly that (I may be wrong) I think Sean was going to be editing, and it never came about... but maybe the entries are getting recycled into material for this?!

maryhealybooks said...

Maybe they might include it on the curriculum for the proposed masters?!!

Artist in Residence - Paris

I'm coming to the end of my time as Writer in Residence at Centre Culturel Irlandais here in Paris. It's been amazing to have a full...