Since 2015, the Dutch Foundation for Literature has been organising the Slow Writing Lab, a project in which a select number of young authors can develop their talent creatively and professionally, together with several Dutch higher art schools and literary organisations. For this latest edition, the graduate programme in (Drama) put forward Mona Thys as a promising young writer.
The programme
Mona is in good company. From 20 January 2023, she and 11 other authors will work intensively for a year on a personal creative research project. All participants will be supervised by Michiel Koelink (teacher of Time Based Media, Art Sciences and Game Design at the Bachelor and Master of the Academy Minerva and Hanze Hogeschool Groningen), the Dutch Foundation for Literature, Literature Flanders and the partners involved. Since 2021, all participants are also guided individually by a coach.
The Lab further consists of monthly plenary (working) meetings and master classes, and it is set up as a 'free master': the participants choose their own topic or theme, and they put together their own programme under the guidance of an individual coach and experts in their specific development paths.
Mona Thys
Mona Thijs (1999) graduated in June 2022 as master of Media, Writing & Performance Art at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. Her short stories appeared in the literary magazine DW B and she published several columns in dS Magazine, De Standaard and Klasse. Mona is currently working with creator Astrid De Haes on the multilingual dance-theatre performance 'Blueberries leave bruises on the skin', which will premiere in April 2023. Mona has a great love for social-artistic projects. As part of her masters, she did an internship as a directing assistant at the social-artistic theatre workshop HETGEVOLG. In March 2022, she realised Playlist van de pluk, a multilingual radio series in which she got to work with the music, stories and languages of seasonal workers in the Haspengouw fruit harvest. (Source: https://www.slowwritinglab.nl)
For more information on the project, previous editions and results: www.slowwritinglab.nl.
Photo: Jurgen Delnaet