We were thrilled to invite the General Manager of Fighting Words, Sara Bennett, to share her invaluable experience with stimulating children and young people to write and to draw. For picturebook translators and creators, it was a great opportunity to discover the inspiration and creative processes behind the tales written by pupils in Ireland.  

 

Thanks to virtual meeting technology, Fighting Words and the Picturebook Translation and Editing community met for the first time without time and location constraints. This successful online event offered an effective platform that fostered knowledge sharing and cross-cultural interaction. Sara shared the ways to support young people by teaching them to harness the power of their own imaginations and their creative writing skills. Sara also conducted a mini workshop in which the participants practiced the narrative structure by co-writing a short story in English. Following her attentive guidance, the participants witnessed the creative process of story-crafting and the birth of a tale.

 

It was an impactful intercultural exchange that exemplified the human gift of imagination and the aesthetic pleasure of storytelling.