{"id":714,"date":"2022-08-22T13:37:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T11:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/?p=714"},"modified":"2022-08-22T13:44:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T11:44:52","slug":"the-night-of-reading-2022-and-advanced-creative-writing-at-kantonsschule-wettingen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/blog\/2022\/08\/22\/the-night-of-reading-2022-and-advanced-creative-writing-at-kantonsschule-wettingen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Night of Reading 2022 and Advanced Creative Writing at Kantonsschule Wettingen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

To wrap up this year of stories, poems and drafts yet to finish, the students of the Advanced Creative Writing<\/em><\/a> course had the wonderful opportunity to get together for a laid-back night of reading our own texts and enjoying a snack. After a break of two years, on the 27th of April, our school\u2019s lovely assembly hall (Aula) was once again open to friends, family, and to anyone with a knack for writing to come and listen to the fourteen Advanced Creative Writing<\/em> students presenting their texts in this year\u2019s Night of Reading<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With the help of our teacher and editor, Ms Sara D. Nyffenegger, we spent this year crafting our texts, sometimes \u2013 although very hesitantly \u2013 even sharing them with our peers. Events like this give many young writers the opportunity to present and perform what they have worked hard to create. Putting your thoughts into words can be a very personal thing, so, to many of us reading them out loud can be a very gratifying but also an exhilarating occasion. Especially with regards to the prompts of the Swiss Creative Writing Prize <\/em><\/a>which we received for the 2022 competition. Starting in December up until the very beginning of April we put our heads down to brainstorm and come up with poems about identity<\/em> and short stories based on the word offline<\/em>. Each year the Advanced Creative Writing<\/em> course at KWSE steps up to the challenge and submits many wonderful and successful texts to the competition.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s audience had the pleasure to listen to prize winning stories and poems, such as the poems of last year\u2019s winner, Im\u00e8 Esenam (G3A). She not only won 1st<\/sup> prize for her poem Black coffee or To all the girls with hard to swallow names<\/em>, but also claimed 2nd<\/sup> prize with To be black, to be woman<\/em>. Jil Hug (G3C) got to read her short story Trapeze Act<\/em>, which was short listed in 2021, as well as a new story, Radio Silence<\/em>, with which she reached 3rd<\/sup> place in this year\u2019s competition. The school also placed well in the poetry section this year, as Carole Meier took home the 2nd<\/sup> prize for her poem Nothing Left<\/em>, and both Vrinda Arora (G2A) and Sulamith Tamborriello (G4A) were short-listed. The night was a success and after an hour of listening to different genres of writing, the evening came to a close with lively chatting and engaging discussions accompanied by a tasty ap\u00e9ro riche.<\/p>\n

We were excited to welcome everyone back to our campus this year after the pandemic and are already looking forward and working towards getting to invite you again to next year’s Night of Reading<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(Text: Carole Meier, G2C \/ Photo: Sara Nyffenegger)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Black coffee or To all the girls with hard to swallow names <\/strong>by Im\u00e8 Esenam<\/p>\n

(1st<\/sup> place at the Swiss Creative Writing Prize Competition, Poetry, 2021)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To all the girls with hard to swallow names<\/p>\n

The names we never find on water bottles and coffee cups,<\/p>\n

The names people shake their heads at<\/p>\n

The names that so quickly turn into a joke like they have no worth<\/p>\n

The names they don\u2019t even try to pronounce<\/p>\n

And in exchange turn it to whatever they want<\/p>\n

The names that go from Chimamanda to Mandy or Consuela to Ella<\/p>\n

Like black coffee diluted with sugar and cream to Starbucks lattes,<\/p>\n

So, they can bare to swallow it whole<\/p>\n

The ones that get called complicated and dismissed<\/p>\n

When asking to be called by their names that are gifts<\/p>\n

And in return say sorry<\/p>\n

The ones that now have apologies for names<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your name might not be a Starbucks latte, that teenage girls down so easily<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s black coffee, one so strong people shy away from it,<\/p>\n

Never getting rewarded with its richness<\/p>\n

Your name holds power in every drop<\/p>\n

The very drops your ancestors prayed for<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t apologise for your name, when its meaning has saved so many before<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t dumb it down so it fits the shackless of society<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the only gift you\u2019ll get without being expected to return the favour<\/p>\n

Although you are much more than your name<\/p>\n

It\u2019s your crown so wear it with pride<\/p>\n

Wear it high and don\u2019t let anyone take away its shine<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not being complicated, it\u2019s called having self-respect<\/p>\n

So, if you didn\u2019t offer it with sugar and cream, don\u2019t accept it when they add their own<\/p>\n

Or simply said \u2018say it right or don\u2019t say it at all\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nothing Left<\/strong> by Carole Meier<\/p>\n

(2nd<\/sup> place at the Swiss Creative Writing Prize Competition, Poetry, 2022)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Smaller and smaller was the goal.<\/p>\n

To have Control.<\/p>\n

No matter what toll it took on me,<\/p>\n

I wanted to be pretty.<\/p>\n

This idiotically simple thought<\/p>\n

God, all it brought was pain<\/p>\n

I never meant to change what’s on the inside,<\/p>\n

To keep what made me Me,<\/p>\n

Only to change what Others see.<\/p>\n

Watch me get destroyed by this impossible task<\/p>\n

I thought becoming popular could fill this void<\/p>\n

But to bask in such glory just wasn’t for me<\/p>\n

Childish dreams<\/p>\n

So dumb and na\u00efve<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

People ask who you are<\/p>\n

But who are we to say how anyone should be<\/p>\n

I thought I liked who I was, so why did no one agree<\/p>\n

They\u2019d never see the one I liked, truly, myself<\/p>\n

I want this to stop<\/p>\n

I want it to end<\/p>\n

Shelf my needs, be strong now, pretend<\/p>\n

Act as they do<\/p>\n

Dress like they dress<\/p>\n

Eat what they eat<\/p>\n

No Extras<\/p>\n

No Flaws<\/p>\n

No Comments, just peace<\/p>\n

So instead of wearing this face proudly as mine<\/p>\n

I chose the path of least resistance, to hide.<\/p>\n

A hollow mask I slipped behind,<\/p>\n

But an empty stomach, an empty mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At first it filled me with pride, what I had made.<\/p>\n

Discipline made me feel full \u2018til it was too late.<\/p>\n

So as the color of my skin started to fade<\/p>\n

And counting and comparing took a hold,<\/p>\n

As my world steadily went bleak and cold,<\/p>\n

I realized what kind of person I’d become.<\/p>\n

My emotions boiled down and my mind went numb.<\/p>\n

What I used to love so much before,<\/p>\n

Suddenly, none of it even mattered anymore.<\/p>\n

It all went away<\/p>\n

All out of my Control<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Being low made me feel high<\/p>\n

Piece by piece I replaced reason with a Lie<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen the statistics, I know I could die<\/p>\n

But it’s just so hard to let go you know<\/p>\n

It had so much patience, it started so slow<\/p>\n

The Routine, it took root<\/p>\n

And those tiny Restrictions still looked so cute<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simple, just a little bit less each time<\/p>\n

And resign to my thoughts no longer being mine<\/p>\n

Over time It even becomes less and less of a crime<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For a long time now who i see is not me<\/p>\n

As a child i had a clear Image of who i wanted to be<\/p>\n

i Imagined this Person of divine Beauty and Grace<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t recognize this Face<\/p>\n

What the mirror shows has changed<\/p>\n

Closer to what i Wanted, but somewhat estranged<\/p>\n

Deranged, Who i see is no longer me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hollow cheeks<\/p>\n

Hollow eyes<\/p>\n

Hollow soul<\/p>\n

The Hollowness took me,<\/p>\n

It swallowed me whole<\/p>\n

It ate me up, left nothing in my place<\/p>\n

An empty Shell<\/p>\n

and of me?<\/p>\n

No longer a trace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To wrap up this year of stories, poems and drafts yet to finish, the students of the Advanced Creative Writing course had the wonderful opportunity to get together for a laid-back night of reading our own texts and enjoying a snack. After a break of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":719,"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.kswe.ch\/bgf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}