Between words, or stories about migration | creative writing workshops

How to tell about migration, so as not to lose a man in the text? How to find a theme and a hero, build a story, and then edit it? During the six-day creative writing workshop with Marcin Żyła we will go all the way — from the idea and work with the material to the finished text.

Where are we from? Where's our house? How do we tame new places? What do we gain and what do we risk on our journey?

The theme of the workshop will be migration — almost the whole world is hidden under this slogan, but during the workshop we will deal with what is most difficult to capture: emotions, the experience of loss or the dream of taking root again. After all, the “words” from the title of the workshop are also people — immigrants and emigrants, whose experiences and stories have always contributed to our space. We will include them in the work together.

The elusive is between the words. So we will read, talk and write. Each of the three meetings is a different theme: “there”, “here” and “between”. That is, in turn: a lost house, a new home, and a journey — often the endless things in between. We will look at language describing migration, stereotypes (not just anti-refugee), consider what it means that migration is both a global and a local phenomenon — and why journalism (and even literature) can sometimes be helpless when it comes to describing the lives of migrants.

We will read, talk and, above all, work on our own texts. We will deal with the choice of theme and hero, work with material, style, editing and shortening the text. We will also talk about the ethics of working with the hero and responsibly describing the experiences of migrants. We will look at the language we speak about migration, stereotypes, and how literature and journalism try to tell about the experience of migration.

Each subsequent reunion will be the next stage of work on the material. You will write, receive feedback and correct the text under the guidance of the instructor. The final of the workshop will be the finished text.

You do not need to work professionally with the text. This is a workshop for people who want to develop their writing skills and try their hand at storytelling.

The classes will be led by Marcin Żyła, a journalist associated with the “State of the World Report”, author of correspondence and reports on refugees and migrants. The meetings will be inspired by fragments of novels published as part of the series “Elsewhere” — stories from different eras and countries that are united by the migrant experience.

Marcin Żyła will lead the last December workshops together with journalist and reporter Anna Goc.

When: the entire workshop program lasts three weekends

November 14-15, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

November 28-29, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

December 12-13, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Where: Culture Workshops, Grodzka 5a, performance hall — 2nd floor

For whom: for adults who want to learn how to write creatively

Registration: by online form

Free admission, limited number of places