Between the lines: stories of migration | creative writing workshop
About the event
How can we tell a story about migration without losing the person behind it? How do we find a subject and a protagonist, build a story and then edit it? During a six-day creative writing workshop with Marcin Żyła, we will go all the way – from the initial idea and working with source material to a finished text.
Where do we come from? Where is home? How do we make new places feel like our own? What do we gain, and what do we risk, when we travel?
The subject of the workshop will be migration – a term that encompasses almost the entire world. But during the workshop, we will focus on what is hardest to capture: emotions, the experience of loss and the dream of putting down new roots. The “words” in the workshop title are also people – immigrants and emigrants whose experiences and stories have always helped shape the spaces we live in. We will bring them into our collective work.
What is elusive lies between the words. So we will read, talk and write. Each of the three sessions will explore a different thread: “there”, “here” and “in between”. In other words: a lost home, a new home and the journey – often an endless state of being in between. We will look at the language used to describe migration and stereotypes (not only anti-refugee ones), consider what it means for migration to be both a global and a local phenomenon, and ask why journalism (and even literature) can sometimes prove powerless when it comes to describing migrants’ lives.
We will read, talk and above all work on our own texts. We will focus on choosing a subject and protagonist, working with source material, style, editing and cutting down the text. We will also discuss the ethics of working with protagonists and the responsible portrayal of migrants’ experiences. We will examine the language we use to talk about migration, stereotypes, and the ways in which literature and journalism try to tell stories about the experience of migration.
Each session will mark another stage in working on the material. You will write, receive feedback and revise your text under the guidance of the workshop leader. The workshop will culminate in a finished text.
You do not need to work with texts professionally. This workshop is for people who want to develop their writing skills and try their hand at telling stories.
About the workshop leader
The workshop will be led by Marcin Żyła, a journalist associated with “Raport o stanie świata”, and the author of correspondence and reportage on refugees and migrants. The sessions will draw on excerpts from novels published as part of the “Skądinąd” series – stories from different eras and countries connected by the experience of migration.
Marcin Żyła will lead the final December workshop together with journalist and reporter Anna Goc.
Details
When: the full workshop program takes place over three weekends
November 14-15, 2026, 9:00-14:00
November 28-29, 2026, 9:00-14:00
December 12-13, 2026, 9:00-14:00
Where: Workshops of Culture, Grodzka 5a, performance hall – 2nd floor
For: adults who want to learn creative writing
Registration: via the online form
Admission free, places are limited
Accessibility
- The event takes place in a venue that is not architecturally accessible (1st floor with no elevator)
- Check how to get there – watch the video.
- Read the basic information about the accessibility of Workshops of Culture.
The workshop is organized by Kolegium Europy Wschodniej and Workshops of Culture in Lublin.
The project is funded by the European Union as part of the “Podróże między wersami: społeczne i literackie działania wokół migracji” project.