January 17, 2023

Last year Centre for Stories was pleased to partner with Edmund Rice Centre on providing three creative writing and storytelling workshops for their students in Butler, Lynwood and Ellenbrook, who are mostly of refugee, migrant and Indigenous Australian backgrounds.

This project was created in part with funding from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, and is the latest anthology from our youth storytelling program, Word Up.

Through the oral storytelling workshop, students gained a deeper understanding of how to share engaging and meaningful stories, and a greater sense of confidence to share their experiences with others.

The creative writing workshops taught participants narrative writing skills, including character, setting, and voice. Through structured exercises, peer editing, and facilitator feedback, participants were supported to complete a piece of writing to contribute to a final anthology, titled Life is Beautiful & Other Stories.

Life is Beautiful is a collection of writing from the young people who participated in the project, featuring Nomiee, Diego, Edward, Trai, Hayley, Joel, Mart, Toomas, D’Artagnan, Addison, Kirti, Krish, Jaeson, Khrish, Vihaan, Viyaan, Rohan and Alisandra. It was edited by Marise Phillips.

One of the workshop facilitators, Brooke Dunnel, believes that creative writing is for everyone:

‘It’s a way to express yourself, explore ideas, and engage in improvisation and play. There are difficult things going on in the world right now, and students aren’t immune to this; in fact, they’re highly sensitive. Creative writing can be a way to engage with or escape from things that feel outside of our control.’