About Sigrid
Treasure hunter, bridge builder, story maker
I am Sigrid and my stories are about arriving and leaving, about longings and transformations, about forests, waters and the beings that live in them. I perceive the world in stories, experienced, told, heard, read. Stories are my key to the world.
Whether in books, on records or through what I have experienced from others: Even as a child, stories helped me understand the world and its people. In writing, I always discover new answers to the question: What else could it (have) been like? In oral storytelling, I immerse myself in stories and, through them, also find and reinvent myself again and again.
I am an “also” person. What I encounter is “tapped” to see if it can’t also be connected to creative writing, storytelling, the creative process, and brought into workshops and courses. In doing so, I was inspired by my dance therapy training as well as my storytelling training and contacts with colleagues in international creative writing.
What goes into the writing workshops and writing courses is always related to my own writing, my experiences as a writer. Writing very short stories and combining them, “processing” classic material into something new, constantly varying and developing one’s own writing voice, these are all topics that also accompany me as a writer and are important to me.
Always on a treasure hunt
As an author, writing coach and storyteller, I am also: treasure hunter, bridge builder, story maker. The idea for a new exercise or method can make me almost as happy as a new story. I like to share my treasures with you, to let you participate in what I have learned and discovered, what I try out and experience.
Creative Writing in English has allowed me to discover new things about myself and my writing for many years. With flash fiction, which I first learned about in England, I discovered my voice in brevity. As English is not my native language, writing in English means expressing myself with a limited vocabulary. However, this can lead to new ideas and new paths. Therefore I’d like to encourage you too, even if you are not writing in English as a native language.
I am very interested in the international exchange on Creative Writing. Therefore I am a member of the European Association of Creative Writing Programmes (www.eacwp.org). Furthermore, I am a member of the German Association for writing didactics and writing research (www.gefsus.de) and the Storytelling Association (www.erzaehlkunst.com).
Training and further education
- 1986-1990 Studies of social and business communication, graduation as “Diplom-Kommunikationswirtin”, Hochschule (today: University) of Arts, Berlin
- 2000-2001 Further training as an instructor of creative writing groups, Institute for Creative Writing, Berlin
- 2009-2010 Advanced training in Integrative Poetry and Bibliotherapy, Fritz Perls Institute, Hückeswagen
- 2010-2011 Advanced training in Integrative Dance Therapy, German Society for Dance Therapy, Pulheim
- 2021-2022: Advanced training in Free Storytelling, Erzählkunst e.V., Berlin
My vita in short
Sigrid Varduhn, born in Berlin in 1967, is a writer, writing coach and storyteller. She studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin from 1986 to 1990 and has worked in publishing marketing and adult education. In her writing workshops, she has been encouraging people to discover literary-creative writing for themselves since 2000. Since 2019, she has also been taking people on fairy tale and saga walks into other worlds as a storyteller. Sigrid Varduhn lives in Caputh on the Schwielowsee in Havelland.
