PICADOR at School

The guiding principles underlying the Picador Guest Professorship for Literature are Democracy‚ Diversity and Creativity. The magnificent cultural diversity that the invited authors from the USA, Great Britain and Canada bring to Leipzig will provide these guiding principles with committed ambassadors. The spin-off project ‘Picador at School’ enables students to participate in this form of creative interchange with English-language authors. Classes in the form of creative writing workshops given in cooperation with teachers from the Anton-Philipp-Reclam School engender in students an understanding of the immense treasures to be found in cultural diversity.

Students of the Reclam Gymnasium met Megan Giddings on December 13, at the University of Leipzig, where learned how to write fictional and poetic texts. The students’ enthusiasm was evident in their active participation and their desire for more writing time.

On February 18 2020, Oksana Marafioti held the first ‘Picador at School’ online workshop about creative writing. The author shared the following thoughts with the students of the Reclam Gymnasium:

Who you are can change and how you change is up to you. You create your own story.

Oksana Marafioti

The Partners

The motto of the Reclam Grammar School at the German French education centre in Leipzig is “Language connects. Culture communicates. Education unites.” It defines the school’s approach to education, blending lively engagement with a spirit of partnership that conveys to students a broad-based curriculum and enables a wide range of practical activities.

The Institute for American Studies at Leipzig University was refounded in 1994 after the reunification of Germany, but can look back on a rich tradition of American studies in Leipzig that extend back into the 19th century. The Institute now has three Chairs, among them Germany’s first and only Chair for Minority Studies.

Our heartfelt thanks to the U.S. Embassy for its generous support of this project.