What?
A bold idea
NeuWrite was founded in New York City in 2009 by the chairperson of biological sciences at Columbia University—Stuart Firestein, author of Ignorance: How It Drives Science and Failure: Why Science Is so Successful—along with members of Columbia's graduate writing program in the School of the Arts. NeuWrite was driven by a bold idea: that people rarely found in the same room—scientists and creative writers—can together develop novel strategies for communicating about science with general audiences.
In addition to the original NeuWrite based at Columbia, today NeuWrite also has branches around the United States, in London, and in the Nordic region.
The creative-writing workshop
NeuWrite meetings are based on the creative-writing workshop model, in which participants give reader feedback on drafts of each other's in-progress science writing. Often the group also studies exemplary pieces of published science writing, and hosts conversations with established science writers.
The draft texts workshopped at NeuWrite can include explanatory writing; scientific commentary for non-specialists; opinion essays; journalism; personal essays; parts of nonfiction books; scripts for film, theater, and podcasts; talks and lectures for the public; fiction; poetry; and other forms of creative writing, broadly defined, that deal with science.
At NeuWrite Nordic, the creative-writing workshops are particularly inspired by the Nordic folkbildning tradition of democratic collaborative learning, including the "text conversation" approach featured by the European Association of Creative Writing Programs.
Support
The Nordic branch of NeuWrite is supported by a generous grant from
Crossing boundaries
Science writers benefit from a collaborative space like NeuWrite because their work crosses the boundaries of the sciences and the literary arts. This hybrid nature of science writing forms a cultural glue that can help hold science and society together, and that can help scientists and the public interact and understand each other's roles—a challenge that has never been more important.
Spanning disciplines
Through NeuWrite, scientists and creative writers escape their professional isolation; they make writing social and transdisciplinary. This enriches literature, science, citizen engagement, and public policy.
Why?
Who?
NeuWrite Nordic
Director
Board
Juha Saarikangas
Principal Investigator & Associate Professor, Cellular Individuality Lab, University of Helsinki
Jussi Valtonen
Novelist and Visiting Professor of Writing, University of the Arts Helsinki; Researcher, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki
Contact
NeuWrite Nordic ry is a registered non-profit association supported by the Kone Foundation.
Advisers
Brendan Battersby
Research Director, Battersby Lab, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki
Paul Graves
Poet and University Lecturer, Language Centre, University of Helsinki
Former science journalist and Senior Communications Manager, Aalto University; founder, Black Box (Musta laatikko) performed journalism series, Finnish National Theater
Howard Jacobs
Professor of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University
Science writer; Lecturer in Science & Writing, New York University; former director, NeuWrite
Professor of Practice, Department of Computer Science, and leader, Critical AI and Crisis Interrogatives research group, Aalto University
Satu Vasantola
Novelist and medical & health journalist; reporter, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
Hanna Västinsalo
Filmmaker; PhD in genetics, University of Helsinki and MFA in directing, American Film Institute Conservatory
Virpi Yliraudanjoki
Writing coach, teacher in creative writing and creative academic writing, and poet. PhD in education. Rovaniemi.