WriteSpace Jerusalem’s aim is to “provide quality writing workshops in a flexible framework, enabling writers to customize a program to their individual needs and interests.”
By NATALIE CHETBOUNA hub for exploring creativity: WriteSpace Jerusalem co-founder Nadia Jacobson (left) and instructor Rachel Creeger(photo credit: NADIA JACOBSON)
In 2008, Nadia Jacobson graduated from Bar-Ilan University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She’s since kept busy, currently serving as fiction editor of The Ilanot Review and co-organizes the Israeli branch’s National Novel Writing Month.She also has nearly completed two novel manuscripts (with a third non-fiction idea already in place), steadily publishes shorter works in international anthologies, and is the mother of two children under the age of five.Until recently, however, she wasn’t satisfied: “Writing is rather lonely. I wanted to feel more community.”Enter Batnadiv HaKarmi, founder of Night Writers Jerusalem and creative writing instructor at Emuna Ve’Omanut. The friends agreed that writing in a language other than the local tongue can be isolating, and launched WriteSpace Jerusalem, a hub for English-language writers to explore their creativity and meet others with similar interests.As Jacobson notes, there are “lots of pockets of people here who don’t know that others exist.”Since that initial conversation, Jacobson has gathered an impressive arsenal of instructors, all published writers and proven educators, built a website and learned new marketing skills.WriteSpace Jerusalem’s aim is to “provide quality writing workshops in a flexible framework, enabling writers to customize a program to their individual needs and interests.” The center offers classes, informational seminars and meet-ups focusing on a variety of literary genres.The workshops range from three to eight weeks each. They include “Story Foundations” for those interested in fiction and creative non-fiction and “Manuscript in Focus,” which helps more seasoned writers perfect their almost-completed manuscripts. Jacobson and HaKarmi, who now serves as WriteSpace Jerusalem’s pedagogical adviser, lead these workshops together.WriteSpace Jerusalem has also joined forces with Anna Levine, an award-winning author who teaches the essentials of young-adult novel writing in “Angst of the Young Adult.” In “Escape into the Unexpected,” poet Jane Medved helps writers use poetry to free themselves from their inner critics and access the unconscious mind.This month, WriteSpace Jerusalem is also presenting several seminars, which are filling up quickly. In “How We Came to Be Ourselves: Writing Autobiography,” National Jewish Book Award finalist Ilana Blumberg leads assignments designed to evoke the past while honoring “our current knowledge of ourselves and the world we live in.”More casual writers may be interested in WriteSpace Jerusalem’s “write dates.” Held monthly in Ein Kerem, writers seeking less commitment can gather for a few hours of free-flowing creative exploration.WriteSpace Jerusalem also operates out of two other locations.One is Pico, a renovated studio space in Talpiot dedicated to “the network between creativity and entrepreneurship.” Other events take place in a house on Balfour Street, which Jacobson fondly describes as “convenient and shabby chic.”Event sizes are intimate, ranging from five to 30 participants, allowing for total immersion and personal attention from instructors.Prices range from NIS 40 for a three-hour “write date” to NIS 400 for a four-week workshop or full-day seminar.While most events are geared toward adults, Jacobson is considering a summer camp for teens that will offer a taste of multiple genres, including science fiction and scriptwriting.Basically, she is open to anything, as long as the community is interested.“I see my friends in England who are reading at events and involved in the arts scene, whereas here I feel there is a lot less going on,” she says. “I want to try to generate some of that vibe.” For more information: www.writespacejerusalem.com
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