Writing as Resistance: A Creative Writing Workshop with Syrian Women Leaders

I recently concluded a six-week creative writing workshop with a group of Syrian women leaders and activists, an experience I carry with deep gratitude and pride.

This workshop was designed as a space of resistance and care. A space to write against silencing, fear, and political erasure, and to reclaim language as a tool for dignity, memory, and collective power. Working closely with a small group of women leaders, I witnessed how writing can reopen blocked paths of expression and create confidence where silence was once enforced.

Over six intensive weeks, we met virtually for long-form sessions focused on creative nonfiction and political writing rooted in lived experience. Together, we explored writing not as a product, but as a sustained practice and a way of thinking. We spoke openly about fear, exhaustion, and the risks of speaking publicly as women, and we learned how to hold each other through the process of writing difficult truths.

Each participant worked on a substantial nonfiction essay, developing it through multiple drafts, peer workshops, and editorial feedback. I was honored to accompany these writers through one-on-one sessions, where we reflected not only on structure and language, but on confidence, voice, and permission to be heard.

Throughout the workshop, we engaged with essays on feminism, social justice, creativity, and human rights. We discussed why we write, how habits are built, how voice emerges, and how personal writing is always political, especially in contexts shaped by violence and repression.

What stayed with me most was the collective atmosphere of sisterhood. Writers supported one another through feedback letters, careful reading, and generosity. Writing became a shared responsibility, not a solitary struggle.

I learned deeply from this group. From their courage, their precision, their humor, and their insistence on meaning. This workshop reaffirmed my belief that teaching writing in political contexts is not about technique alone, but about trust, accountability, and building spaces where women can speak without apology.

I am grateful to Hivos for supporting this work and for recognizing the importance of creative writing as part of feminist and political practice.