Hello I’m Paulina,
I love stories: reading them, telling them and writing them.
My early poems and short stories appeared in Pushing Out the Boat, Meeting Points and There's a Bairn in my Broth.
In 2009, Koo Press published my first poetry chapbook: In Search of Salt, an exploration of love, lust and motherhood. In 2011 my 2nd collection of poems was published by Blue Salt Collective: The Way - a poetic pilgrimage, a modern-day interpretation of the codex of the Camino de Santiago de Compostella: route descriptions, poetry, folklore and recipes.
creative writing workshops - currently I teach creative writing for Helping Heroes. I teach workshops that explore haiku, list poetry, onomatopeia, and flash fiction. If you’d like me to come to your school (NL) for a workshop, reach out to me via the contact button.
One of the exciting new programmes I run is The Garden: a multimedia storytelling workshop that explores how youngsters can make a positive change to their world through stories. Contact me for more information.
Flash Fiction Challenge - this yearly creative writing competition is open to all TTO and GCN schools. Run in partnership with Nuffic and in its 4th year now. This year will see a partnership with Hogeschool Windesheim: the initial jury will be sourced from their students. See Nuffic website for more information. Or click here.
Storytelling - I organise storytelling events with a number of storytellers. I can also be hired as a storyteller myself. Reach out to me via the contact button.
Reading promotion - I work as senior reading consultant for Rotterdam Library. I am also visiting schools as a reading coach for Stichting Lezen. I can come to your school too, to coach the team on the importance of reading and ways to create a reading culture amongst pupils and teachers.
Book-a-Doodle - this resource is almost done. It comprises a series of short clips that help motivate youngsters to read, and keep notes on their reading via doodling templates.
I’m still dancing in the dark,
but you taught me to be
when I travel this rattlesnake lane,
the fuel injection, the ignition keyPaulina Vanderbilt