Children's Literature Workshop

Children’s literature is a literary form directed at children from 3 to 12 years old. It presents story content, in a simple manner, that is easy for the child to understand and interact with. This type of literature depends on understanding child’s needs and interests of the age group and the best methods to meet them.

The children’s literature workshop (CLW) aims to train participants to write an integrated text with literary elements. The training relies on the interactive method, brainstorming, teamwork, and sharing ideas and evaluations. The process starts with inventing a creative idea, moves on to mastering writing techniques for children, and ends with a children’s story ready for publication through building and refining the following skills:

Understanding the Age Group:

The training in the Dubai International Program for Writing (DIPW) relies on the basics of writing for children. The first of which is defining and understanding the targeted age group in the story, with the aim of directing the trainee to search for and learn about the requirements and needs of the intended stage and simplify the method of narration accordingly.

Processing the Idea:

The trainee learns how to “draw with words,” whatever the idea is. They are trained on the techniques of condensing and simplifying ideas to suit children. The participant enters children’s world and imagination and thinks in their way and with their logic to present a story that belongs to their world and attracts them.

Building Setting, Characters, and Plot:

The participant is trained to belong to the setting in which the events will be built and developed and to establish appropriate laws for the “where and when”, in addition to the imagination that the reader will experience. This is achieved through the precise employment of characters, their roles in this place and time, and phrasing methods to create visual scenes from words while maintaining balance between the elements of imagination, persuasion, credibility, and sequence in an interesting template. There should also be humorous situations, in addition to recognizing the importance of the story title and training on the methods of choosing it.

CLW’s Objectives:

• Qualify a generation of children’s literature writers.
• Train to access the children’s world according to the age group, with all the research it requires.
• Identify the language of addressing the child through simplifying ideas.
• Learn the skills of building imaginative story texts for children.
• Expand the circle of interest in children’s literature and its genres.
• Train CLW’s participants to write for different age groups of children.
• Develop ideas and broaden the horizons of knowledge.

CLW Duration:

CLW lasts approximately 100 hours of training, over a period of 4 months, for both theoretical and practical training, and the trainees are being followed up by the trainer through a social networking group.

Workshop Outcomes:

• At the end of the workshop, each trainee produces a children’s story.
• The trainer and the evaluation committee choose the best products to nominate for publication.
• The CLW production launch sessions are held at book fairs and other specialized events.