Casa de Portugal em Macau is launching a series of written word workshops for people of all ages, aiming to offer some much-needed support and encouragement to Macao’s up-and-coming writers in the Portuguese language, Ponto Final reports.
One of the three teachers facilitating the workshops, Pedro d’Alte, said that he was concerned by the lack of Portuguese literature in Macao. He noted that Casa de Portugal’s courses were about “instilling a taste and pleasure in writing and reading.”
The free sessions of the Creative Writing Workshops in Portuguese begin this Saturday and will be broken into three groups: 7-10-year-olds, 11-15-year-olds, and adults. Each will have a different focus.
The (already full) youngest group will emphasise the joys of the written word, while the middle group will engage in playful activities that will “grab participants’ attention, motivate them to write, and try to expand their vocabulary a little,” said d’Alte.
As for the adult group, its teacher, Paula Pinto, said she would be “helping each person to let the wings of their imagination fly within them.”
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All the classes will be more about sparking creative thought and mind plasticity, than churning out stories, d’Alte explained. Participants are not required to attend every session.
The third teacher, Lia d’Alte, said she hopes Casa de Portugal’s initiative will increase the amount of writing coming out of Macao. She lamented the lack of creative outlets for children, in particular, in the city – noting that this prompted the trio of teachers to offer this opportunity.
“Literary writing is often not related to academic competence,” she added. “It’s related to taste, the desire to write, and the fact of having something to tell. It’s such a personal thing.”
The Creative Writing Workshops in Portuguese are being sponsored by the Macau Foundation and take place at the Casa de Portugal headquarters. Registration can be made via email ([email protected]) by calling 2872 6828.
