Fall Writing Workshop

October 2-6, 2023, at Palacky University in the center of Olomouc, Czech Republic, in cooperation with Comenius University, Bratislava, and the University of Graz.

UPOL students can sign up for a non-credited spot here. You will be notified if you are accepted via email.

You can also follow along on the workshop Padlet.

 Last year’s Padlet can be seen here 🙂

About:

Come start or polish up your writing skills with comics, creative writing (poetry or prose) and academic writing! You’ll meet fellow writers from our three universities, make connections  face to face, get immediate feedback on your writing, and level up your skills.  You’ll spend 5 days in the historic city of Olomouc (just a short train ride away!), work with several different experts, and have time to fully focus on your writing projects, away from the distractions of your every-day life. It is possible to visit workshop sessions in different categories, or stay within one track. Did we mention that your participation is funded by Erasmus +? There are only spots for 20 lucky students (only 10 at Graz and 10 at Bratislava), so sign up while there is still space! This workshop is aimed at Masters and PhD level students, but very eager Bachelors students could also be considered. 

Comics: Intro to making comics, non-fiction and essayistic comics, fictional composition in comics, comics as memoir.

Creative writing: Poetry, slam poetry, fiction writing (sci fi and fantasy), short stories

Academic writing: Tips for the thesis or dissertation, different types of science communication, article writing

Schedule:

Monday 2.10 

12-13:30 Academic writing instruction 

13:30-15 Comics writing instruction 

15-16:30 Creative writing instruction  

16:30-18 Guided writing 

18-19:30 Critique circle 

Evening (optional): Cinema Metropol ArtClub: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde https://www.kinometropol.cz/klient-323/kino-96/stranka-4374/film-645523 

 

Tuesday 3.10 

9-10:30 Free writing 

10:30-12 Creative writing instruction 

12-13:30 Guided writing

15-16:30 How to publish academic writing presentation

16:30-18 Academic writing instruction

18-19:30 Comics writing instruction 

 

Wednesday 4.10 

9-10:30  Comics writing instruction

10:30-12 Academic writing instruction 

12-13:30 Guided writing 

13:30-15  Free writing / free time

15-16:30  Free writing / free time

16:30-18  Free writing / free time

18-19:30 Critique circle 

 

Thursday 5.10 

9-10:30  Comics writing instruction 

10:30-12 Academic writing instruction 

12-13:30 Guided writing

13:30-16:30 How to publish creative writing presentation and activities 

16:30-18 Creative writing instruction 

18-19:30 Critique circle 

 

Friday 6.10 

10:30-12 Creative writing instruction

12-13:30 Guided writing 

13:30-15 Comics writing instruction 

15-16:30 Academic writing instruction 

16:30-18 Last critique circle 

Evening: Czech Researchers’ Night booth on “Writers’ secrets”

 

Friday 13.10 6pm CET

Online check in: This is just a short meeting to check in with students after the workshop to hear how they have been using their new skills. The online check in is required for students to get credit for the workshop, and is encouraged for all participants. 

Each day of the workshop gives you a chance to sign up for multiple instructional sessions, a critique circle to get feedback on your work, and plenty of free time to rest your brain, reflect on your work, and make progress on your project. Thanks to the small number of students invited, you will have many opportunities for face-to-face help from the instructors. 

FAQs

“How do I sign up?!”

You can sign up for a spot here.

If you are studying at the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University, contact Dr. Lacko at ivan.lacko (at) uniba.sk

If you are studying at the University of Graz, contact Prof. Maierhofer at roberta.maierhofer (at) uni-graz.at

If you are studying at the Faculty of Arts at Palacky University, contact Dr. Woock at elizabethallyn.woock (at) upol.cz

If you are studying at a different university, unfortunately this program is only offered to students from the host or partner universities. Please contact Dr. Woock if you have further questions.

“Is it ok if I miss a week of school at my home university?”

Students and doctoral candidates can receive 3 ECTS credits, but you will have to check with your study program coordinator to see if these can be used within your program. The workshop is run by the universities and is an Erasmus + Blended Intensive Program, so it should be a reasonable excuse to miss one week of class for an international exchange. Since you will know already in June, you can plan ahead with your professors to compensate for the time, or excuse yourself from class. 

“When will the next workshop be?”

If you are not sure if you want to come to this workshop, and you would like to wait for the next one, I have bad news for you. This is currently the only workshop of this type planned, so it is a one-time opportunity. 

“What can I do if the sign up is already full?”

If you missed your chance to grab a spot, we can put you on the waiting list, in case someone else drops out. 

“How can I get to Olomouc and where can I stay?”

Registered students from Graz and Bratislava have spots reserved in the dormitory-style rooms at Hotel Maria. They do not need to make any further reservations, they pay upon check-in and do not need to pay in advance. They will be sorted into rooms as they arrive. Information about transportation possibilities can be found by scrolling down on this page. 

“I’ve never worked on comics before – can I still come to the workshop?”

Sure! The workshop can help you if you are a first-timer, or if you’ve already worked on creating comics formatted projects in the past. This is also true for the creative writing, and the academic writing, though students are more likely to have previous experience with those formats. 

 

Discover Olomouc!

Useful locations for conference goers can be found on this map

Getting from the Airport to Olomouc

If you are arriving in Prague, take the AE “Airport express” bus from the terminal to the main train station.  You can buy your ticket inside the airport at the Bus Ticket counter, or pay in cash (100 CZK). 

You can also take a taxi. Taxis around Prague usually cost 600-800 CZK to get from the airport to the station.  Any taxi which is allowed to cue will be ok to take. Do not try to use Uber or other ride share services, they are not very common here. A taxi driver will always have a proper meter which they will turn on, and you can ask in advance whether they accept credit cards. Do not ride in a cab which does not have a working, legitimate meter. 

From the Vienna airport you can travel by train or bus. These often transfer in Brno or Breclav. Brno is possibly a more comfortable transfer point, but both are fine. Flix Bus and Student Agency have bus connections, or you can travel by Ceske Drahy (Czech Rails) or Regio Jet trains. 

Once you are in Olomouc you can take the tram or bus to your final destination. If your phone works, you can get a ticket via sms, or buy a traditional paper ticket at any of the kiosks or “TABAK/TRAFIKA” stands. Validate your ticket when you enter the tram or bus. Bus and tram schedules can be checked on IDOS (you cannot buy tickets on this site) .  You can also take a taxi, which will cue in front of the train station by the post office (to the right as you exit the building). Taxis around Olomouc cost from 100-200 CZK. Any taxi which is cuing will be legitimate.  It is possible to buy a multi-day public transport ticket for Olomouc, but realistically all places around the center are a short walking distance and you will not likely need it unless you will be going far outside of the center. 

 

 INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS

If you are a student and need to receive ECTS credits for your participation, information about this will be made available in the summer. All in-person events will take place at the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, Křížkovského 511/10, 771 80 Olomouc, Czech Republic. 

Due to the use of university dorms to accommodate the situation in Ukraine, the university cannot provide organized accommodation for participants. The city of Olomouc offers many small accommodation options:

“Student” prices can be found at Long Story Short or Poet’s Corner (do not book at an ‘ubytovna‘ – these are cheap, long-stay residences for temporary manual laborers).

Accommodation near the university can be found at Miss Sophie’s,  Arigone, or Hotel Palac. There are larger, traditional hotels around the city, and thanks to the good public transport, no matter where you book you will be no more than 20 minutes away from the conference venue. Air BnB is also possible throughout the city. 

You can find out more about our lovely city here! You can also read why the New York Times thinks it’s a great option to Prague. 

Travel to and from Olomouc can be managed:

By plane, from Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague, or Tuřany Airport in Brno, with a connecting bus or train to Olomouc. Vienna International Airport is also a reasonable option. 

By train using Czech Railways, RegioJet, or Leo Express.

By bus through Student Agency, Flix Bus, or the local Czech bus lines (which can be found here- the webpage is in CZ but if you download the app you can change the language.)

It is possible to rent a car through various providers, though parking around Olomouc is very difficult and limited. 

 

 

HISTORY IN COMICS CONFERENCE and WORKSHOP

Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic, Sept. 12-16, 2022

Representing History in/as Comics: Ethics and Choice

You can download the Schedule and abstracts final!

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are hosting a 5-day combined conference, with traditional paper presentations and workshops, as well as round table discussions and practical workshop sessions, to address questions of ethics and choice in the depiction of history, the use of history, or historicizing elements appearing in graphic novels, comic books, comic strips, editorial cartoons, and newer forms of image/text such as webcomics and Internet memes. We welcome a broad interpretation of the topic, to be examined by scholars and comics creators alike. This event will take place in blended form, with both in-person and remote options for participation. Students and doctoral candidates receive 3 ECTS credits for their participation (awarded by the host university), and there will be no registration fees. 

We now invite proposals for 20-minute PAPERS for the conference part of the event. Possible themes include, but are not limited to: 

  • Regional history in comics
  • Significant historical events
  • Representation of perpetrators
  • Family history
  • Big history 
  • Ethics and the Anthropocene
  • Natural history and the history of humans in nature
  • War and conflict
  • National mythologies
  • Biographical and autobiographical comics
  • Comics journalism
  • Documentary comics
  • Ethical concerns of the comics format
  • Artistic choice in representation
  • Multimodality and ethics
  • Comics used in teaching history

We are also accepting proposals for other types of submissions:

  • For the round table discussions, please submit up to three question proposals to be addressed by the round tables, related (but not limited) to the themes above. Please include the term “ROUND TABLE QUESTIONS” in your email subject line. 
  • Posters, especially welcome for students or first-time conference participants, on any of the themes listed above. Please include the term “POSTER SESSION” in your email subject line. 

Please submit your question proposals, paper proposal (200 words or less), along with a short biography (100 words or less) by email to elizabethallyn.woock (at) upol.cz by April 1st 2022. We’ll continue to accept late student proposals til the end of July.  Please specify if you anticipate attending in person or remotely. In the case of pandemic restrictions, the event will be moved fully online. 

 

For further information please contact: 

Elizabeth Allyn Woock: elizabethallyn.woock (at) upol.cz

Dragos Manea: dragos.manea (at) lls.unibuc.ro 

Mihaela Precup: mihaela.precup (at) lls.unibuc.ro 

Ezster Szep: eszterszep (at) gmail.com 

Barbara Postema: b.postema (at) rug.nl

Johannes Schmid: johannes.schmid (at) uni-flensburg.de 

 

Organized by Palacky University and the Erasmus+ BIP project “History in Comics” 

www.HistoryinComics.org

DOWNLOAD  History in Comics – Ethics C4