Inverse Returns. April 2015.

Following on from its immensely successful pilot run in 2013, Inverse – the creative writing project for LGBT young people – will return in April.

Running for six weeks at the Big Smoke Writing Factory, Inverse will feature an innovative programme of creative writing workshops, performance activities, an LGBT walking tour, and talks by high-profile guest LGBT writers.

Over this six-week programme, a group of LGBT young people will create original pieces of creative writing in whatever form they like, which they will have the opportunity to present in a public spoken word event as part of Dublin Pride in June, 2015.

Inverse will be led by writers Nathan O’Donnell, Nicole Rourke and Claire Hennessy. It will also feature talks by a range of other high-profile LGBT writers, including novelists Denis Kehoe and Brian Finnegan, and playwright Sonya Kelly, author of The Wheelchair on My Face, and this year's runaway Fringe success, How to Keep an Alien. A tailored LGBT walking tour, led by the curator of the Irish Queer Archive, Tonie Walsh, will conclude the core six-week programme.

Writing is a singularly powerful way to process difficult or new emotions, to communicate our sense of ourselves to the world and in so doing to make sense of who we are. Inverse will provide a fun, welcoming space in which participants will be encouraged to use creative writing to explore, challenge and express themselves.

Inverse is an initiative which aims to provide young people, facing new and sometimes challenging realities, with the creative tools to negotiate them.  It aims to generate positive narratives for LGBT young people, and to empower and strengthen LGBT identities. 

Inverse is free for participants. This has been made possible by the kind support of Dublin City Council.

WHEN: Saturdays, 11 April – 16 May (6 weeks)
WHERE: Big Smoke Writing Factory, Dublin 2
FACILITATORS: Nathan O'Donnell, Nicole Rourke, Claire Hennessy 
ADMISSION: Free
AGE RANGE: 17 – 20

Participation is free, but places are limited. To book yours, or to ask any questions about the project, please contact Big Smoke Writing Factory

Inverse. LGBT Writing. Facilitated by Big Smoke Writing Factory, and supported by Dublin City Council.

*** NB *** CHANGE OF VENUE FOR THE INVERSE EVENT *** WED, 26TH JUNE

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Inverse will have to re-locate for its night of readings on Wednesday 26th June. We won't be at Monster Truck anymore. Our night of spoken word performance will now be happening at the quirky, exceptionally charming and very suitably idiosyncratic Molloy & Dowling's Opticians on Kildare Street instead. 

Doors at 7 pm. Poets, prose writers, dramatists - including performances from the Inverse participants themselves! I hope to see all of you there!

INVERSE EVENT // Wednesday 26th June // 7 pm // Free

As part of the Dublin Pride 2013 programme, Inverse will be hosting an event at the Monster Truck gallery in Dublin City Centre. A line-up of performance poets, prose writers, playwrights, will present their work as part of this event to mark the end of the first season of Inverse, the creative writing project for LGBT young people.  This event is free and open to all: join our event page on Facebook

Inverse has been running over the past few months: a group of LGBT young people has been meeting for creative writing workshops, readings, talks and theatre trips. To celebrate the project's conclusion, we'll be assembling a dynamic line-up of readers and performers, alongside readings by the project participants themselves.

Venue: Monster Truck
Date: Wednesday 26th June
Time: 7 pm
Admission: Free

Inverse. LGBT Writing. Supported by the Big Smoke Writing Factory. Part of Dublin Pride 2013.

Inverse Session 6 // Saturday 8th June // FINAL SESSION

This Saturday Inverse will host its sixth and final session.  

The group - a group of engaged and serious and talented young LGBT writers - will meet at the Big Smoke Writing Factory on Hatch Street for the last of a series of six 3-hour creative writing sessions.  

Together the group will work on the close-to-finished pieces of writing which they have spent the last few weeks producing.  There will be a feedback session, a development session, and we'll be talking about the future - about the writer's need for plans, discipline, and perseverance.  We'll also be doing some preparation for the end-of-project Inverse Event later this month, at which the group will perform their work alongside a line-up of established poets and writers in the Monster Truck gallery on Francis St, as part of the Pride line up, Wednesday 26th June.  

Inverse.  LGBT writing.   

Inverse Session 5 // Saturday 1st June // DETAIL // Featuring Guest Writer Una Mullally

Last Saturday Inverse held its fifth session, and we dedicated it to an examination of 'detail' in writing.

We practised some free-writing, we talked about the importance of the 'telling' detail, and the intersection of detail and perspective.  We workshopped some of the participants' own pieces, and began some preparations for the end-of-project event later this month, at which the group will perform their work alongside a line-up of established poets and writers in the Monster Truck gallery on Francis St.  And finally, we also had the very talented LGBT journalist Una Mullally in to talk to the group.  

Inverse.  LGBT writing.  Every Saturday til the 8th June.  

Inverse Session 4 // Saturday 25th May // VOICE // Featuring Guest Writer Sonya Kelly

This Saturday Inverse returns for its fourth session, and we'll be looking at 'Voice.' 

We'll look at writing dialogue, monologues, and at the development of the writer's voice: a writer's individual style.  There'll be more free-writing exercises, more activities, and we're very excited to have playwright Sonya Kelly, writer of the acclaimed 'The Wheelchair on My Face,' in to talk to the group.  

Inverse.  LGBT writing.  Every Saturday til the 8th June.  

Inverse Session 3 // Saturday 18th May // ATMOSPHERE // Featuring Guest Writer Denis Kehoe

This Saturday Inverse returns for its third session, and we'll be talking atmosphere. 

We'll look at creating effective scenes, we'll talk about detail, style and narrative perspective.  There'll be more free-writing exercises, more activities, and we're very excited to have novelist Denis Kehoe, author of Nights Beneath the Nation and Traces of the Flood, in to talk to the group.  

As well as Brian, we’ve got a great line-up of LGBT speakers appearing over the next four weeks, including Una Mullally and Sonya Kelly.

More news to follow soon – and if you’re interested, get in touch, sign up, and be part of this unique creative opportunity.  Every Saturday til the 8th June.