ACt-Belong-Commit Art for mindfulness project. April 2022.

Our artist in residence Yann Tousaint presented a series of writing workshops for kids called “World of Words” at the Esperance Public Library.

The themes were:

– Stories for many lands: “On an autumn night a traveller …”  Travellers’ tales make the world go round –  is there a traveller’s tale in your family? A story of a country near or far? An incredible journey? In this workshop the little ones tried their hand at writing flash fiction (very short stories!) as they became explorers of stories from many lands.

– Write like an animal: Everywhere (and everywhen!) people have wondered about how the world looks through animal eyes. What does your cat see when she looks right through you? What does your dog dream about? And what tales do the trees and wind and water whisper to those who learn to listen? In this workshop they explored animal stories and folk tales from around the world as they practiced looking through another’s eyes.

– The whale road: From far across the seas or reaching out from nearby shores people from all around the world have followed the whale roads, listening for the song in the water. Whales sing of a blue planet and in this workshop they explored the poetry of sea-peoples from many cultures as they wrote poems of their own.

– Here be dragons: In the unknown reaches of the globe (though always known to someone of course!) medieval map-makers would write “here be dragons”. In this workshop they explored how people from many lands have told tales of fantastical worlds and imagined encounters with unknown others as they made the familiar strange and the strange familiar.