Writing Creativity Social Justice
ABOUT US
At Wind&Bones we are interested in exploring the intersections between writing, creativity and social justice. We believe writing is transformative. It can revolutionise how we see ourselves and each other, help forge community, and give us the tools to imagine and to build a more just, kinder and wiser world.
We run workshops, training and creative events. In all our events, what aim to build confidence, support diversity, open up new possibilities for dialogue, and deepen our capacity for understanding ourselves, others, and the world that we share.
Wind&Bones is run by Dr. Will Buckingham and Dr. Hannah Stevens.
Hannah and Will have years of experience in writing, teaching and activism. Hannah has a PhD in creative writing. She writes short fiction and creative non-fiction and has published widely in journals and anthologies. Her first book-length collection In Their Absence is due to be published in 2019.
Will has a PhD in philosophy. He writes fiction, non-fiction and for children. His twelfth book, Hello Stranger, will be published by Granta in 2020.
WHAT WE DO
We run projects that explore the intersections of creativity, writing and social justice.
WORKSHOPS
We run creative writing workshops! Recent projects have included workshops with refugees and asylum seekers in Leicester in the UK, classes on writing and activism at the Parami Institute, Yangon, and workshops on writing and ethics at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Indonesia.
TRAINING
We also run training events. Most recently, we worked with a group of language teachers from community education projects in Hpa-An, Myanmar, exploring how creative writing can be used in multilingual environments.
CONSULTANCY
Currently we are consulting for Mote Oo education, who provide educational material to post-secondary institutions in Myanmar. We also work with individual writers in developing their craft.
We are currently Writers in Residence at the Parami Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Yangon.
WHY WIND&BONES?
Between us, we have over a quarter of a century of experience as writers, literary activists and workshop leaders.
We set up Wind&Bones out of a conviction that creative writing can be a powerful tool for transforming how we see ourselves, how we see each other, and how we see the world. Wind&Bones aims to harness this creative potential to make the world a better place.
We have worked on projects relating to missing people, set up bilingual philosophy salons in China, run creative projects with LGBTQ+ communities and mental health services, consulted on community-based educational projects, and led workshops in settings as diverse as hospitals, art colleges, universities, cathedrals and schools.
We have taken our name – Wind&Bones – from the famous sixth century Chinese book on creative writing, the Wenxin Diaolong or ‘Carving Dragons and the Literary Mind’ by Liu Xie. Fenggu (風骨) or ‘The Wind and the Bone’ is the title of one of the chapters of his book, suggesting how good writing is born out of a combination of suppleness and structure.
蔚彼風力，嚴此骨鯁。— 劉勰
So cultivate the vigour of the wind, and make the bone robust — Liu Xie
WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?
“This writing workshop is recommended for anyone who wants to develop the confidence to become a better writer. Will and Hannah are prolific writers who foster a strong, collaborative community from their writing prompts and the way they draw from literature and their own writing experiences. The teachers are genuine, compassionate human beings who understand that writing is personal–and they succeed in getting you to overcome your fears to get something, anything, on paper.”
— student on Writing, Myth and Tradition
“A practical, enjoyable and skilfully delivered program… I found the balance of practicality and idealism impressive and was particularly pleased by the very down-to-earth, realistic advice about a writing career than can only come from two people who have committed their lives to literature and the creative process.”
— student on Writing, Myth and Tradition
“What a creative workshop! You made creative writing both fun and interesting.”
— Sayama Nan Chit Po, teacher from the Education Gathering Group.
“Thank you both for being such fantastic, inspiring teachers”
— student on Writing, Myth and Tradition.