by Christine McSwain & Emma Stough

Bret Lott, Christine McSwain, & Emma Stough have gone to meet our friends at the University of Bahrain. Follow their progress here!

May 8
Bahrain

We began this morning at the Modern Knowledge School, where we met with high school students who had been nominated for the class by their teachers for excelling in English. In the workshop we and Professor Lott guided them through writing prompts in both poetry and fiction. Though they were quiet at first, the students became more outspoken and eager to contribute as the workshop went on. We enjoyed this chance to visit another Bahraini school and meet younger students with promising futures in creative writing ahead of them.

After the workshop at the Modern Knowledge School, we headed back to our hotel for an interview with Bahrain TV. Professor Lott and we two gave interviews about the program and about our writing lives. We will keep you updated if our appearance goes viral in the future.

In the afternoon, we traveled to the Arabian Pearl Gulf School to conduct a workshop with local teachers on the ways we have taught creative writing to our students here in Bahrain. This workshop provided a unique opportunity to collaborate with teachers in Bahrain from all sorts of countries and backgrounds. From a learning perspective, we were intrigued to watch Professor Lott teach a group of teachers about teaching. Being a part of these workshops in general has given us great insight into the teaching of creative writing–as has this program in general–and for that we are very thankful.

Our last meeting of the evening was a lucky one. Former US Ambassador to Bahrain, William Roebuck, just happened to be in the country this week and we were able to meet up with him briefly to catch up. Ambassador Roebuck served as the US Ambassador to Bahrain when Professor Lott made his first trip here two years ago, and it was surely a gratifying experience to meet again after the success of this program.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Bahrain! Our time here has gone by so quickly, and we plan to make the most out of our final day here. It has been an incredible experience thus far, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to travel here–especially for the opportunity to meet with our students in real life. That’s the most important part of this journey we will never forget!

Until then–
Christine & Emma