Wordcraft: “Filling a much-needed niche in Brussels for an English language literary community”

The popular Brussels-based creative writing Wordcraft Collective kicks off its autumn/winter season on 26 September with a third Open Day at the Pianofabriek in Saint-Gilles.

This is an excellent opportunity to experience some of the literary collective’s taster workshops, meet the team and even take part in an Open Mic.

Established in 2023, the Wordcraft Collective is run by a group of dedicated writers of fiction, poetry, children’s stories and people who just love reading and words.

You don’t have to be a member to take part in our activities, but it does mean that you get a reduced price for our workshops and events. Filled with people from many different walks of life and interests in different aspects of wordcrafting, the Wordcraft Collective membership is what makes it a truly special and community-focused organisation.

For example, every first Saturday of the month at the Sisters’ Café in central Brussels, a group of avid readers get together for a phone-free few hours of reading followed by conversation hosted by the WCC team.

Likewise, every third Saturday of the month, the WCC team hosts a Write Together in the Pianofabriek for a few hours of writing together in silence which always feels like a magical event followed by a drink in its cosy bar.

Filling a much-needed niche in Brussels for an English language literary community, the upcoming season offers a great selection of courses and workshops. All of these activities take place at the Pianofabriek unless otherwise indicated.

October is filled with three events. The first aims to ready children of six to eight years old for Halloween with a three-hour workshop perfectly timed on a Saturday afternoon (17 October). Leave your child or children in the capable hands of Carol Vallet and return three hours later to read the stories that Carol expertly draws from their creative minds.

Turning our minds to more intellectual matters and the importance of diversity and representation in literature, Colette Victor chairs an author-audience conversation with panellists from across the globe about writing beyond the lived experience on 19 October. 

The Wordcraft Collective is proud to bring you the first ever partnership with a host country of the European Presidency with a performance of The Dead House on 28 October, a one man show in collaboration with Culture Ireland and EFACIS ‘Performing Ireland’ Project.

In November, we promise to make you laugh with the return of the ever popular Comedy Workshop featuring Brussels’ very own funny woman, Heli Pärna. And finally, for the poets, pen 21 November into your diaries for a Festival of Form celebrating the many different kinds of shapes and sizes of poetry with international poets Julia Rose, Laura Davis and Emma Woodford.

All of these workshops and information about the Collective’s regular Read and Write togethers, and longer running fiction courses can be found on our website: www.wordcraft-collective.eu.

Happy writing!