Silja Swaby, half Jamaican, half Finnish, is a marine biologist and author. Funded by Arts Council England, she has won competitions, and been placed in prizes and awards. She is working on a series of futuristic thrillers, featuring a female biologist whose quiet academic life takes a drastic turn. Silja has taken creative writing courses at Cambridge University and more recently Yale University, USA.

Silja tutors writers, gives workshops, and provides a critique service. She is happily unmarried and lives in deepest Somerset, UK.


Silja Swaby is pronounced Sil-yah Sway-bee.

January 08, 2014

Creative writing with Silja Swaby

Creative writing with Silja Swaby
Thursdays 10:00 – 12:30 from 19 September 2013
Digby Hall, Hound Street, Sherborne. £62/£45

Silja Swaby writes thrillers with a futuristic twist, short stories, technical, scientific and popular nonfiction. An Arts Council grant funded her transition from academic science to writing fiction which has won a variety of awards and competitions. She represented novelists on the council of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists and runs workshops on creative writing. Silja works with the media, teaches public speaking, and has founded two writers’ groups.

Course description:
The core aim of this five week course is to equip participants with practical skills in creative writing and thus gain the experience required to write or progress their own novels, short stories, poetry, life-writing or memoir.

The course is designed for both beginners, who may be unsure where to start, to more advanced writers who may need help in moving their work forward. Covering character and conflict, theme, point of view, description, plot and structure. Each week logically progresses through the elements needed to build a satisfying story. With writing exercises in class and work to complete at home this is an ideal opportunity for participants to increase their knowledge and develop their writing skills.

Through a combination of led discussions and practical exercises, participants will discover and apply basic strategies for writing creative fiction, move from initial ideas, or a semi-finished text, towards a completed piece of work and develop a personal and powerful writing style (finding your voice).

What to bring
 Pens and writing paper

Bringing the best of the arts to the community
The Manor House, Newland, Sherborne, DT9 3JL
t: 01935 815899 e: info@sherborneartslink.org.uk
www.sherborneartslink.org.uk
Sherborne ArtsLink Ltd. Co. no. 2471382. Registered charity reg. no. 1007680

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