This was an excellent conference – the first for MAI in Montenegro, and full of joy!
The conference was organised in conjunction with IFES Serbia. In total we had 20 Participants and 4 Trainers.
The trainers included:
· Balázs Zágoni (Romania) – An award-winning writer for children and young audiences, with 16 published books.
· Tatjana Samardžija (Serbia) – An Associate Professor of French Language and Linguistics at the University of Belgrade, Department of Romance Studies.
Both trainers were excellent, and joined in the conference with much enthusiasm. We are indebted to them for giving their time freely.
On behalf of MAI-Europe:
· Janet Wilson (UK) – Author, publisher, creative writing coach, and Chair of MAI-Europe.
· Anna Shirochenskaya (Russia-Spain) – Publisher, author, translator, radio presenter, and Vice-Chair of MAI-Europe.
Delegates came from Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Romania, and North Macedonia. What a joy it was to sing and pray together in our morning devotions, as well as at other times in the day!
While a few attendees were over 50, the average age was 33, with the youngest participant being 19. It was a group of 20 committed and passionate Christians, 17 of whom had never attended a MAI-Europe event before, and we had lots of fun together!
Alma, from Albania, said, “As soon as we heard that there was going to be a conference about writing, we knew we had to be there.”
The delegates were hungry to learn. There were excellent questions after every session and a high degree of engagement during the writing exercises.
The Programme: The programme was designed to engage both fiction and non-fiction writers, with many participants interested in both genres. The primary goal was to help each participant explore their own unique voice and style.
We also enjoyed getting to know each other over meals and in free moments. Evening “walk-and-talk” times added another dimension, forging friendships as we discussed our writing projects.
All in all, it was a significant, exciting step toward fostering a growing community of European Christian writers.
Going forward: Many participants have already inquired about next year’s event! We hope to be able to organise a follow-up conference in 2025.
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