Schrijversvakschool Amsterdam (the Amsterdam Writers’ School), located at Jan Luijkenstraat 98, has acquired a solid reputation in the Netherlands as one of the few educational institutions to offer creative writing courses. The school not only has a comprehensive 4-year writing programme, but it also offers a wide variety of individual courses. Besides general courses in the fields of prose, poetry, drama, scriptwriting, essay and creative writing, Schrijversvakschool Amsterdam also provides specialized courses, such as the novel, screenwriting and children’s literature.

Besides its Dutch-language curriculum, Schrijversvakschool Amsterdam also offers individual courses in English to both native and non-native speakers. Due to increasing demand, a new course, Short Stories, will be on offer, starting Spring 2009. Short Stories may be taken after the basic course Creative Writing Skills. Please note, however, that Creative Writing Skills is not a prerequisite to Short Stories

Teachers

In principle, the pedagogical method that is followed in the courses does not differ from the 4-year programme. The teachers, who draw upon their experience as professional writers, not only comment directly on the writing assignments of the course participants, but also provide insight into the very craft of writing. Nevertheless, there is a difference. Whereas students in the 4-year programme are judged according to their level of professionalism, the individual courses are mainly geared towards encouraging the aspiring writer.

Classes

The course meets eight times and each session lasts three hours. The class is held on either Monday or Friday evening from 7 to 10 p.m. Besides attending the class sessions, the participant is also expected to work independently. The results of the independent assignments are discussed in the group. All participants receive comments on their work in progress according to their own specific level of development and are provided stimulation to develop their ideas further. Each group holds a maximum of 14 participants.