Dr Michael Mohammed Ahmad offers a Sweatshop-style masterclass, which will give participants a first-hand experience of the kind of full-intensity creative writing model involved in being a 'good writer'.

In 2016, award-winning author and founding director of the nationally renowned literacy movement known as Sweatshop, Ahmad, wrote a highly controversial and widely acclaimed essay for the Sydney Review of Books called 'Bad Writer'. The essay examined some common unhealthy attitudes towards creative writing within the Australian literary industry, and also detailed some of the research practices and skills required to develop and improve as an emerging writer.

The masterclass will include a series of creative writing and reading exercises and live critical discussions.

Participants will:

• Develop literary techniques, strategies and practices that enhance the quality of your creative writing.
• Investigate themes of subjectivity, identity and cultural specificity as crucial components in the creation of new Australian literature.
• Develop an understanding of the personal, political and autobiographical aspects that exist within all forms of writing.
• Participate in critical and creative reading exercises, which analyse the use of irony, metaphor and intertextuality in literature.
• Engage in critical editing exercises, which provide a realistic portrait of the intense professional relationship between writers and editors.

The Writers' Studio is presented in association with Adelaide Writers Week.

About Dr Michael Mohammed Ahmad

Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and editor of the critically acclaimed anthology After Australia (Affirm Press, 2020). Mohammed's debut novel, The Tribe (Giramondo, 2014), won the 2015 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelists of the Year Award. His second novel, The Lebs (Hachette Australia, 2018), won the 2019 NSW Premier's Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Mohammed received his Doctorate of Creative Arts from Western Sydney University in 2017.

WSA Member $88 / Non-member $140

Venue: State Library of South Australia*

—All staff, speakers, and attendees of in-person events must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or hold a current medical exemption, in order to attend; and must comply with any precautionary measures Writers SA puts in place. We may request proof of your vaccination status or medical exemption upon entry. See our full policy here.

—Writers SA members must be logged in to receive the member discount. The Writers's Studio series is exempt from program credits (first draft and manuscript incubator). If you would like to use a cancellation credit to book in, please contact [email protected] at least five working days before the workshop commencement date. Our staff don’t work full time and we don’t want you to miss out!

*Venue is subject to change. This series may be taken online, participants will be contacted accordingly.