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Want to write like an award-winning author? This Moroccan masterclass might help

A writing masterclass in Morocco provides insights into both Marrakech’s ancient medina and the secrets behind good storytelling

5-MIN READ5-MIN
Participants at the Silk Road Slippers writing masterclass held in Marrakech, Morocco. Photo: Ayman Bardi
Victoria Burrows
Sitting back in an armchair between the bookshelves and the log fire, novelist Kamila Shamsie reads out her latest, soon-to-be-published short story.

The tale, of a Pakistani goddess who takes root in a British garden, is captivating, but there is another layer to our admiration: the writing encapsulates so many of the things we have learned over the past few days – less is more; never underestimate the intelligence of the reader; show, don’t tell. As the story comes to its potent conclusion, there is a moment of silence before the room erupts with applause.

Participants in the Silk Road Slippers writing masterclass enjoy dinner at the Jnane Tamsna hotel. Photo: Ayman Bardi
Participants in the Silk Road Slippers writing masterclass enjoy dinner at the Jnane Tamsna hotel. Photo: Ayman Bardi

We finish our cocktails and stream out into the night, the desert garden shimmering with hundreds of candles. We follow the lights to our table, which has been set up on the sand. Flames glimmer from foliage-wrapped candelabras while tea lights in glass lampshades suspended from arches overhead compete with the stars.

It is magical – a scene straight from a romance novel.

But do not be fooled. Not everything at the Silk Road Slippers writing masterclass is wonder and triumph. Within the bougainvillea-draped, ochre-shaded walls of the Jnane Tamsna boutique hotel just outside Marrakech, in Morocco, there is self-doubt and self-loathing, tears and the proverbial tearing out of hair.
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