Work Write Live – Sharing Life Stories

Abstract

As lovers of Literature we are all compelled to tell stories. Imparting who we are, our experiences, our take on life is at the very core of what it is to be human: it helps us to connect, to empathise, to belong. This paper reports on a project that was funded by the Community University Partnership Programme where students in the School of Humanities at the University of Brighton worked with residents of a local retirement village where the telling and capturing of inter-generational stories provided inspiration for creative work. Creative writing students are encouraged to share their stories, real and imagined with peers and tutors but these connections often stop at the classroom door. Students in the humanities often find it difficult to make links between their studies and the employability agenda and this project aimed to addresses this issue and enable students to reflect on their responsibility as social, democratic citizens. The paper will report on the project and give examples of the creative writing that was inspired by the intergenerational workshops