On Saturday, March 29, I had the honor of leading two walk & write workshops at the annual Schrijfdag of Belgian organization Creatief Schrijven, a rich day full of workshops, readings, and encounters.
Pictures by Jo Cuenen
The surroundings of C-Mine proved to be the ideal location for these workshops. We started at the former buildings of the coal mine, headed into the ‘garden city’, and then to the Vennestraat with all its flavors and colors.
Along the way, we made five stops, where the participants developed a main character: a miner from 1925 who traveled through time via a subterranean portal to find themselves in 2025. At the first two stops, they were inspired by info about and historical photos from the coal mines and the people who worked there. I also asked questions about their character that could help them get to know him or her better.
Then we went to the garden district, where they looked for “their” house. Again, I gave them some input about daily life in the garden city, where the miners lived with their families, and the way the mines took care of ‘their’ workers, which also gave them a lot of control over these people.
Finally, we stopped at two locations on the Vennestaat. Here, they worked in pairs to put their senses to work. One of them was blindfolded and for several minutes named all the sensory impressions that came to mind. Thus they were “forced” to “see” beyond just visual perceptions. Their buddy wrote everything down. After a few minutes, the roles were reversed.
They took these notes to the final stop, where they wrote a dialogue. To do so, they were given a list of typical jargon of the miners and a quick course in cité language, a special language that originated in miners’ circles, but found its way into the modern street language in Genk.
I have to admit I was a bit nervous since it was my first experience as a “writing teacher”. But it was a nice experience to be able to work with these two cool groups, and in such an inspiring environment.
Leen writes 
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