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Renowned Cuban writer Leonardo Padura gives literary workshop for young writers from the Caribbean
With a master class entitled ‘How to Write a Novel’, Cuban writer Leonardo Padura inaugurated on 24 April 2023 in Havana two capacity-building courses on ‘Creative Writing’ and ‘Literary Editing’, as part of the training component of the UNESCO programme Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity, funded by the European Union.
The opening session was attended by the European Union Ambassador to Cuba, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, in line with the EU’s support to the Transcultura programme, the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, Anne Lemaistre, and the Ambassador of Switzerland in Cuba, Mauro Reina, on behalf of the institutions organizing and financing the workshops.
Today’s event reflects what is at the heart of the Transcultura project; it is about connecting young creative minds from all over the Caribbean and sharing experiences, methods, knowledge, and hopefully also inspiration.
For two weeks, twelve writers and thirteen editors between 18 and 35 from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Belize, will attend these courses, which include lectures as well as exchange and feedback within the groups. The ‘Creative Writing’ course will address the main literary genres and how to produce these texts, while the ‘Literary Editing’ course will cover all topics related to book production and its distribution, including copyright, design, self-publishing, audiobooks or NFT (non-fungible tokens).
In the creative sector, “market” is a word that has been demonized. However, it is through it that a book can reach an audience. These workshops familiarize future writers and editors with the tools enabling them to disseminate their works, even in contexts where the publishing industry is not so strong.
The trainings will result in the production of a publication that compiles the stories written and edited during the workshops. Both courses are part of a programme called 'A Book is a Show', designed and coordinated by the Cuban cultural group 'ven-tú', founded by the multi-award-winning writer Leonardo Padura, the editor Claudia Acevedo and the photographer Carlos Torres Cairo.
Through this initiative, the Transcultura programme strengthens the capacities of Caribbean youth to develop their careers in the cultural and creative industries.
