Mind Workshops | Creative Writing
Fougaro Artcenter welcomes poet and columnist Krystalli Glyniadaki to the Mind Workshops series with a practical Creative Writing workshop!
—What does “creative” writing mean? Where do writers find their material? How can a simple memory, an everyday image or a random incident be transformed into a poem or a short story? And how does an initial idea develop, through continuous editing, into a complete text?
These are some of the questions that will be explored in the 10-week Creative Writing workshop, a programme designed for those who wish to gain practical experience in creating and editing texts.
The workshop draws primarily (but not exclusively) on David Morley's The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing and combines theoretical discussion with writing exercises, close reading and constructive feedback on participants' work.
No previous experience in creative writing is required (although it is certainly welcome). The programme is also open to people who have not yet found the time or confidence to overcome their creative fear and start writing. What is required is commitment and attendance at all ten sessions!
Session Programme
Saturday 5.30–7.30 pm | Starting 17 October 2026
Ten weeks, ten different ways of looking at writing
Each session explores a different aspect of creative writing, with the main aim of encouraging participants to write and experiment with different forms and techniques.
1. What is Creative Writing?
The foundations: what distinguishes creative writing from other forms of writing, and what is the role of imagination, observation and technique? Is creative writing a matter of “talent” or a skill that can be cultivated? Participants start writing from the very first session.
2. The Writer in the World
The world around us becomes a source of writing material. We observe people, places, objects and everyday incidents and look for the stories that may lie behind them. We combine personal experience, memory and imagination with observation.
3. The Challenges of Creative Writing
What prevents us from writing? Fear of failure, self-censorship, doubt, procrastination and “I have nothing to write about” are some of the obstacles writers face. This session explores ways of recognising and overcoming them through practice.
4. How is a Text “Built”?
From idea to composition. How is a text organised? How do the beginning, development and ending work? How is coherence created and how do the writer's choices influence the reader's experience? Participants experiment with different ways of organising their material.
5. The Writing Process: From the First Draft to Revision
The first draft is never the final one. This session focuses on the process of “rewriting”: what do we keep, what do we change, what do we remove and what do we add? Revision is approached as an essential part of the creative process.
6. Fiction: Character, Conflict and Story
How do we create a character who feels alive? What do they want, what are they afraid of and what stands in their way? How does conflict emerge and how does a story develop? Participants will try out techniques for creating characters and developing a story.
7. Creative Non-fiction: Life Writing
Real life can become literary material. This session explores ways in which personal experience, memory and observation can be transformed into creative non-fiction, with particular emphasis on the relationship between personal experience and literary shaping.
8. Poetry: Observation, Expression, Compression
Poetry as the art of precision and compression. Images, metaphors, rhythm, sound, repetition and silence become tools for creating poetic language. Participants will experiment with different forms and approaches to poetry.
9. Writing as Performance
What happens when a text leaves the page and meets the writer's voice and body? This session explores the relationship between writing and oral presentation and gives participants the opportunity to experiment with how their texts are delivered and performed.
10. Writers in the Community
The final session broadens the discussion beyond the individual writer's desk: readers, writing groups, workshops, communities and the academic environment. The first Creative Writing cycle concludes with the presentation and discussion of the work produced during the ten weeks.
Upon completion of the workshop, participants who have attended all ten sessions will receive a Certificate of Attendance.
A Writing Workshop (and Reading, and Criticism...)
The central principle of the workshop is that creative writing is learned by writing.
Each two-hour session combines very short theoretical presentations, discussion and examples with individual writing exercises, close reading and constructive feedback on participants' work.
The exercises start simply (describing an object, a place, a memory, a character, or an everyday incident) and gradually lead to more complex forms of creative writing. Equal emphasis is placed on prose and poetry, with attention to the distinctive approaches and techniques of each.
The aim is not to find one “correct” recipe for how to write (spoiler alert: there isn't one!), but for participants to try different ways of writing, discover what works for them and begin to shape their own writing voice.
From the First Exercise to a Personal Portfolio
During the ten weeks, participants will create a collection of short and longer pieces, experiment with different genres and have the opportunity to rework and further develop their previous texts.
The workshop is aimed at beginners and amateur writers, as well as to those who already have some experience and wish to develop their practice, try new forms and write in a creative and supportive environment.
As clichéd as it may sound, it remains true: getting started is half the battle.
Information & Registration:
Krystalli Glyniadaki
Krystalli Glyniadaki is a Greek poet, translator and columnist. She was awarded the 2018 National Book Award for Poetry for her collection The Return of the Dead (Polis Publishers, 2017). In 2025, her translation of Jo Nesbø’s The Kingdom won the Public Book Award in the Translated Novel category.
She studied Philosophy (BSc) at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Philosophy of Religion (MA) at King’s College London, Political Theory (MSc) at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Creative Writing: Poetry (MA) at the University of East Anglia. She graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2009.
She holds a PhD in Media and Communications from Bournemouth University, which she completed in 2021. Her doctoral research focused on interactive historical documentary filmmaking and was shortlisted for the New Media Writing Prize.
Glyniadaki has been working as a literary translator since 2007, translating fiction, non-fiction, poetry and essays from Norwegian and English into Greek. Her translations include works by Jo Nesbø, Roy Jacobsen, Vigdis Hjorth, Ketil Bjørnstad and others.
She has worked in publishing as a rights manager, editor and public relations executive, and has also worked as a freelance journalist and columnist. Since 2023, she has been a columnist for To Vima.
She coordinated the Book Club at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) from 2021 to 2022, in cooperation with the National Library of Greece. She currently runs a Norwegian Literature Book Club in Athens.
She has participated in and represented Greece at international literary events and festivals, including the Istanbul Book Fair, the Izmir Literature Festival and literary events in Norway, Turkey and the UK. In 2016, she received the Nazım Hikmet Greco-Turkish Friendship Award at the Intercontinental Young Poet Festival in Istanbul.
Her poetry has appeared in international literary journals and anthologies, including Poetry Review, Poetry International and Austerity Measures: The New Greek Poetry. Her work has been translated into several languages.
