Posts by Trevor Corson
May workshop coming up
Save the date for our next dinner salon and workshop: the evening of May 16 (Thursday). One slot may still be available for a text-in-progress to be workshopped. Please contact the director to reserve a slot. (Normally we meet on the second Thursday of every month, but because of Ascension Day this year, in May…
Read MoreDance first, think later
The number-one most-read article at the moment in the Finnish Medical Journal (Lääkärilehti) is a new column by NeuWrite Nordic board member Jussi Valtonen, award-winning novelist and a researcher in psychology at the University of Helsinki. Valtonen poses some very pointed questions for the medical establishment as he considers the results of a recent meta-analysis…
Read MoreNew film about reverse aging hits theaters
We’re thrilled that the new film Palimpsest, aspects of which were workshopped at NeuWrite Nordic, hits theaters in Helsinki this Friday, 12 April. Trailer, info, and tickets here. A special screening with English subtitles will be held in Punavuori on Monday, 22 April, at 17:00. Info here. (If you are interested in additional English-subtitled screenings…
Read MoreCan AI feed the world? And what is “precision agriculture”?
Biomedical researcher, published novelist, and NeuWrite Nordic participant Franziska Bentz has written a wide-ranging article surveying the past and possible futures of technology in agriculture. The rapid evolution of data and automation provides much promise but also challenges, Bentz writes for The Science Basement. One of those challenges is that farmers and scientists often don’t…
Read MoreFebruary workshop report: Using ourselves as characters to help audiences explore the unknown in science
Lecturing at an audience and just “explaining the science” isn’t always the most effective way to communicate. An alternative approach that’s often recommended is using a personal story to connect with an audience first. Even better, if a scientist or writer can present themselves as a relatable human being, they may have a better chance…
Read MoreJanuary workshop report: What explains public distrust of science?
A concern frequently voiced by participants in our workshops is the decline of public trust in science. The need to rebuild trust, and strengthen public awareness of the scientific process, are oft-cited goals of science communication, including the kind of science-related creative writing we try to foster in NeuWrite Nordic. Yet how to solve the…
Read MoreDecember workshop report: Going deep—the ethics and methods of immersion
What happens when, as we research and write, we take a really deep dive—especially into subject matter that might be outside our expertise, or into a complicated real-world situation, or even into the minds of the people we’re writing about? What ethical problems arise for us as writers? What writing techniques can we use? How…
Read MoreLiterary science writing wins award
Exciting news for all of us working in the mysterious creative space between the literary arts and science: yesterday, the debut novel Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize. The novel has also been nominated for Finland’s most prestigious literary award, the Finlandia Prize (which was won by our…
Read MoreNovember workshop report: Metaphor & irony
The metaphor of modern medicine as a tower anchored a draft piece of fiction that we workshopped this month. In the story another tower appeared through the mist, too: alternative medicine. This text used concrete visual drama to take an idea and, as the screenwriting teacher Robert McKee puts it, wrap that idea in an…
Read MoreOctober workshop report: Reaching readers
How do you get your message to the audience that needs to hear it—especially if they are likely to resist? For that matter, as writers, how do we learn enough about our intended audience that we can meet them where they are? The author of one of the draft texts we workshopped this month faced…
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