Writing&Talking Club members at the University of Sussex were joined by Nyasha Daley for a Masterclass on free writing.
Nyasha Daley is an artist whose creative practices include poetry, spoken word and film production. She is deeply curious about people and prose, centered on the exploration of identity and democratisation of knowledge. Nyasha began the Masterclass by sharing her background, transitioning from corporate content creation to artistic writing, and her experience of producing an award-winning feature film. She also discussed various types of writing and how they can lead to different career paths.
Club members then engaged in two free writing sessions, each lasting 10-20 minutes. Using a series of different prompts, they had the option to create a series of short poems, spoken word pieces, or to develop a longer narrative.
Following the writing exercises, Nyasha delved into her passion for the concept of identity, posing questions such as: What is identity? Is it the same for everyone? What constitutes an identity? This led to an activity called “listening with hearts and minds” where one person spoke about their identity for three minutes while a second person listened and noted their feelings, while a third person noted the factual aspects. These notes were then shared with the speaker and roles were rotated so everyone had a turn.
The session ended with the Club members writing a letter to their future selves. They were asked to reflect on their experiences and take these letters home to find them in five years time.