My Spring 2024 Writing Courses in Stockholm, Sweden

During the spring of 2024 I’ll be offering three writing courses at Skrivarakademin, Stockholm. There are still spots left in the intro and intermediate courses, but unfortunately the third course is already fully booked.

A weekend short story workshop is scheduled for March 9-10.

I’m a working author so my courses are skills-based and focused on quickly developing writers’ ideas and abilities. Each evening includes theory and textual analysis, and each writing challenge focuses on a particular skill. During discussions we talk about how each others’ texts function for us as readers, without value judgments –– in other words we act as readers, not editors. Attendance is always excellent and participants tend to be friendly, motivated, and intelligent. Many of the writers stay in touch and continue meeting after courses have finished. Former students sometimes even collaborate to make books together, such as last year’s well-written book Aurora’s Thread, written, edited, and produced by a group of my former writing students. 

Latest book coming soon – Echo 6, 2nd Edition

My latest book Echo 6, 2nd Edition is coming soon.

I spent the past year writing the best stories and texts possible to help young people in their second year of high school develop their skills in one of the world’s most important languages. The book includes many new stories written by me, a couple of my older stories (with some revisions), and many practical and theoretical texts.

Reprinting textbooks happens frequently, but it’s relatively unusual that they go into second editions –– a process which generally involves major overhauls, while staying true to the original tone and concept. I’m thrilled to have just completed re-writing two books, Echo 5 & 6, for their second editions, and I’m thankful to all the students and teachers out there who have described how they’ve used the first edition, and suggested how I might improve them in the second.

This sumer I did something I don’t normally do: I added up sales figures for my titles. According to statistics from my publisher, there are about 140,000 copies of books with my name on the cover in print –– in schools, libraries, and homes. I view it as an enormous responsibility to be helping that many young people develop into adults, using one of the world’s most important languages.

Creative writing courses, Stockholm. A few spots left for fall courses

As usual I’ll be teaching Creative Writing and Narrative Theory Thursday evenings this fall at Skrivarakademin, Stockholm (located at Folkuniversitetet, Kungstensgatan 45, near Odenplan). I’m also pleased to announce that well-known poet Moira Egan (native of Baltimore, resident of Rome) will be joining me for a weekend course in short story and poetry writing. This will be Moira’s third course in Stockholm; her previous courses have been extremely popular.
Free trial classes Wednesday evening, August 24th: Creative Writing 6-7 pm and Short story kl 7:15 – 8.15 pm.

Please let me know if you have any questions: kfrato(‘at’ symbol)yahoo.com

Latest book released: Echo 5

After more than a year of intense work, the second edition of my book Echo 5 (Natur och Kultur publishers, Sweden) has been released. This edition is expanded with many new stories, sample texts, how-to sections on writing and speaking in different ways, audio texts, factual articles, exercises, etc. Five stories are by other authors, the rest of the book I’ve written (a few classic stories remain; many others are new).

Writing books for classrooms is a major undertaking. Textbook authors employ many skills: planning with editors, reading numerous books and articles, drafting, re-writing, editing, proofreading, discussing layout, pictures, typography… everything.

I wrote the first edition in 2013, and one goal then was to write a more intelligent and engaging book than was currently available. I was proud of my work then, but prouder now. I know more now than I did then. For the past decade in addition to teaching young people, I’ve also taught writing classes for adults, and have travelled Sweden meeting and speaking with teaching staffs all over the country –– I’ve been to nearly fifty schools. I’ve also switched jobs twice since writing the first edition, and have worked with a much broader range of young students.

Another benefit is that I’ve included in the new edition many ideas and skills from my book Creative Writing: A Classroom Guide (Natur och Kultur 2019).

I’ve also written a preface for students, as well as an explanation of who Echo was (a nymph from Greek mythology) and why the book borrows her name. Why does it? I chose the title a decade ago because I want those who use the book to cause positive, intelligent echoes in the world. I hope the book itself helps make positive echoes in the world.

Fall 2022 creative writing courses, Stockholm, Sweden

As usual I’ll be teaching Creative Writing and Narrative Theory Thursday evenings this fall at Skrivarakademin, Stockholm (located at Folkuniversitetet, Kungstensgatan 45, near Odenplan). I’m also pleased to announce that well-known poet Moira Egan (native of Baltimore, resident of Rome) will be joining me for a weekend course in short story and poetry writing. This will be Moira’s third course in Stockholm; her previous courses have been extremely popular.
Free trial classes Wednesday evening, August 24th: Creative Writing 6-7 pm and Short story kl 7:15 – 8.15 pm.

Hope to work with you this fall.

Registration open for writing courses, spring 2022

Registration is open for my spring 2022 writing courses in Creative Writing and Narrative Theory and Creative Writing and Narrative Theory II at Skrivarakademin, Folkuniversitetet, Stockholm.

The courses have been quite popular since I first started offering them in 2012, and have often had waiting lists. Participants sometimes stay in touch for years afterwards, helping each other with their writing.

I’ve designed the courses to develop skills in a systematic fashion, starting with linguistic issues, then moving on to technical issues of tense, perspective, and flashbacks, before finally working with larger narrative and theoretical issues. If you have any questions, please contact me at kfrato@yahoo.com.

Echo (Natur och Kultur) – new ideas?

In 2013 when I arrived at the name for the Echo series of high-school English textbooks, my hope was that the books and their stories would reverberate with students throughout their lives. I put great care into researching and writing psychologically complex stories and texts to captivate young people’s imagination.

Natur och Kultur publishers imagined the books would be re-printed a few times before becoming outdated; I determined to make the books as timeless and relevant as possible.

Eight years later, the first book I wrote in the series, Echo Main Issues 5, has been re-printed half a dozen times. I’ve been using the stories and other materials in the books in the classroom ever since, and while the novelty of writing them has worn off, my students’ engagement with them has not. My students are just as interested in the characters and their lives, and find the interactive sections just as compelling.

As the books have gone back to the printers, I’ve made minor corrections. Thanks to the many teachers and students who use the books, the series is still going strong. Do you work with the books? What improvements would you like to see? Please let me know here, or by contacting me at kfrato@yahoo.com. If you have other feedback on the books, please let me know, as well.

Creative Writing Course starting Feb. 25th

Despite the Pandemic, I still plan to run Skrivarakademin’s Creative Writing and Narrative Theory course this spring, with the first meeting delayed until Thursday, February 25th. Classes are scheduled on-location at Folkuniversitetet, Kungstensgatan 45 in Stockholm (nearest train stop is Odenplan, nearest subway stop is Rådmansgatan), with an online option available for those who wish to participate via video-link from home.

As with the two previous terms, I’ll be offering in-person and online participants. We have engaged groups and attendance is always very high. The last few years, spots have been very hard to get, but due to the Pandemic there are at the moment a few left.

The course meets for ten weeks, and covers basic elements of narrative writing, from punctuation and syntax to story mechanics. We also work with theory, and study professional examples. Many students report gaining both skills and self-confidence, and that they learn better self-discipline and editing skills. We also have a lot of fun together.

And good news: some participants from the fall 2020 class are currently writing a story cycle together with some of my other students. The paperback book is scheduled to be printed and released this May. Watch this space for more news about the project. And please contact me at kevin.frato@folkuniversitetet.se if you have any questions.

Looking forward to working with you this spring.

Column published in textbook authors’ periodical

It’s been a while since I published in Swedish, but in December I published a column in Manus, the quarterly of the Swedish Textbook Authors’ Guild (SLFF).  My column tells the story of travelling to lecture in the north of Sweden with my editor.  During the trip I wondered about the Swedish term for “teaching materials” –– a discussion which eventually led me to question my relationship to my own books, my identity as an author, and the role of textbooks in society.  The text concludes with the assertion that books read in schools convey knowledge young people need to grow up and maintain a functioning democracy.

Teaching new course this spring – Creative Writing and Narrative Theory II

My writing students have been asking for this course for years, so of course I’ve been careful to avoid offering it.  What more can I possibly teach, after ten intense weeks in the intro course?

But through teaching the course Prosa (Prose Writing) at Skrivarakademin’s Skrivarlinje, and publishing my recent book Creative Writing – a Classroom Guide, I’ve realized I do have a few more things to teach.  And if I’m clever, I can squeeze six more evenings of teaching into an already busy schedule.

So this spring, in addition to Creative Writing and Narrative Theory (which I’ve taught every term since 2012, and which last term had a waiting list) I’ll also be teaching Creative Writing and Narrative Theory II, which will go into greater detail and involve more challenging concepts and skills than the intro course.

Creative Writing and Narrative Theory will meet on ten Thursdays from 6-9:15 pm, starting March 5th.  The advanced course will meet six times, every other Wednesday, starting February 19th.  Participants often continue meeting after the end of these course, and several groups have later cooperated to write and co-publish story cycles.

Please contact me with any questions you might have.