Fairway English Creative Writing Workshop: ‘You could feel the energy in the room!’

Fairway Holdings recently concluded its inaugural Fairway English Creative Writing Workshop at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies. The two-day workshop, intended primarily for young people aged 16 to 35 with a passion for creative writing, was held over the course of the third weekend in October and attracted over 125 participants. 

Fairway Holdings is a dynamic, fast growing conglomerate with a primary interest in property development. In recent times it has emerged as the animating force behind the internationally acclaimed Fairway Galle Literary Festival held in January each year, as well as the annual Fairway National Literary Awards for creative writing in the novel format. 

Even though the workshop was organised to address the scarcity of learning opportunities for emerging creative writers, Fairway Holdings was still surprised by the overwhelming response to its call for applications. “We did not anticipate these numbers and it certainly augurs well for the future of English creative writing in Sri Lanka,” said Fairway Group Deputy Chairman Kavinda Dias-Abeyesinghe. Applications arrived from all parts of the island including Jaffna, Kandy, Galle, Negombo and Nuwara Eliya from a diverse range of applicants including journalists, teachers, advertising executives, lawyers, undergraduates and school students.

The workshop was conducted by a stellar resource panel of creative writers, academics and publishers who amply fulfilled the given brief of providing competent instruction and informed guidance to the aspiring young creative writers. The basic format of the workshop comprised seven interactive one and a half hour sessions, each one led by a panellist and including a presentation by the panellist and questions from the participants.

Senior Professor of English at the Colombo University and literary critic Neloufer de Mel gave an overview of critical perspectives on good writing, while writer and publisher Ameena Hussein, writer Lal Madawattegedara, poet Vivimarie Vanderpoorten and actor and playwright Arun Welandawe-Prematillake sought to unbundle the creative process of writing short stories, novels, poems and plays respectively. The well-known educationist Jill Macdonald underscored the importance of proper editing prior to publication and the celebrated journalist, editor, bookseller and publisher VijithaYapa provided insights into getting published and other commercial aspects of creative writing.

There was lively interaction between the panellists and the participants who displayed such a high level of interest and enthusiasm that one panellist went so far as to say, “You could feel the energy in the room!” The feedback from the participants was almost universally positive. “I learned a lot. I gained knowledge worth a lifetime,” said one participant echoing the sentiments of most on the excellence of the resource panel, while another stated that the workshop was, “Superbly organised and very well executed. Thanks Fairway for this timely and well structured workshop.”

Fairway Holdings, as a socially responsible corporate, is committed to supporting culture and the arts in Sri Lanka and hopes that the Fairway English Creative Writing Workshop would have inspired and encouraged the participants to excel in their literary careers.