Yelena Moskovich, whose recent debut novel The Natashas has been earning stellar reviews across Europe, visited Kent MA students as part of Paris: The Residency, a Kent module in Creative Writing. Led by Moskovich and instructor Adam Biles, the evening began at Shakespeare and Company for a reading and discussion of her book. It continued on the Place de Notre Dame, where students practised ’embodying’ pedestrians, discreetly imitating their gait and movements as the basis for developing fictional characters. On the Quai de la Tournelle, students focused on their sense of hearing, alternatively listening to and writing the Parisian soundscape.
Olivia Rosenthal, one of the Paris MA students in Creative Writing, commented: ‘We saw places by night that we might have missed by day. We were definitely out of our comfort zone some of the time. Yelena has a background in acting and that helped us to see character from a new angle. It was challenging and fulfilling to try and be somebody else.’
Yelena Moskovich (pictured) is the keynote speaker at the MA conference on Motion at Reid Hall, Kent’s base in Paris, on Monday 6 June — part of a week-long MA festival. Click here for further details.