Quebec Writers' Federation

Reading and Q&As with Daniela I. Norris on the Intellectual Property Show! (online)
2021-11-21 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Sunday 21 November, 2021 from 6-8pm EST – please join us for this fun online event!
3rd Sunday of each month, this event is focused on written works that would make great TV shows, movies or even video games! Join us at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81743719370?pwd=[REDACTED]
This month’s feature is DANIELA I. NORRIS!
Daniela I. Norris is a former political writer, turned novelist, author, speaker and time-traveller. After two decades of living in six countries on three different continents, she returned to Canada and is now based in Montreal. She is the author of three novels, three non-fiction titles and a collection of short stories. She is currently working on her first YA novel, The King of Montreal, based on a conspiracy theory from the 1800s.

Storytelling-In Your Own Voice, In Your Own Words
2021-11-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Online via Zoom
Open to all
Limited to 12 participants

Tell us a story of your hopes, dreams and fears.

Whether yours is a love story or an adventure, a true-life story or one that’s totally imagined, you will be free to improvise and adapt as you are guided through the creative process of bringing a story to life and telling it In Your Own Voice and Your Own Words.

This six-week online workshop is an invitation to explore not only the process of creative writing, but also a brief introduction to the essential elements of oral and nonverbal communication necessary to assimilate (as opposed to memorizing) an original story for a traditional style oral transmission, i.e., a telling vs. a reading.

Unleashing the imagination

Using images and working within allotted time limits, your will be guided through the basic steps and elements of creative story writing (these elements being the key to any storytelling project, written or oral).

The writing sessions will include exercises in creative thought, improvisation, situation, and character motivation as well as the ongoing transition and adaptation of your story.

Throughout the workshop, you will continue to experiment and improvise, and the ongoing transition and adaptation of your written text (Your Words) will gradually evolve into a story made to tell (Your Voice).

Storytelling exercises will cover creating the storyboard, incorporating senses and emotions, and using both voice and gesture to bring the story to life.

Freedom of creative voice and individual style are encouraged!

Through the sharing of stories, we may see past our differences; stimulate interaction between generations, languages, and cultures; strengthen our confidence, identity, and sense of community.
With laughter and tears, participants will share their thoughts and ideas, memories and emotions, in a positive, enjoyable, and non-judgmental environment designed to encourage growth and well-being. . . simply for the pleasure of it!

Patti Warnock, aka La Contesse, travels the globe, collecting and sharing her stories. She has participated in festivals and cultural activities throughout Quebec, Canada, the Caribbean, France, Iran, and China,
receiving commendations for her storytelling and writing work. Her repertoire (for the young at heart of all ages) consists not only of traditional style tales, but also of her own creations, where reality and fiction walk hand in hand, and which are based on the reality of everyday life events, and on her own childhood in rural Quebec and in northern Canada.

W.R.I.T.E.® Workshops: Culture in the Schools – ELAN ArtistsInpire – QWF programs.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patti-warnock-13a7a83b/

Creating Compelling Non-Fiction
2021-11-22 20:00 - 22:00, 2021-11-29 20:00 - 22:00, 2021-12-06 20:00 - 22:00 | Online via Zoom
Open to all
Limited to 12 participants

Creative non-fiction has been breaking out of its niche to become an increasingly central component of the literary scene. For those wishing to enter this vibrant and thriving field, having one’s work read and constructively critiqued by an established writer and a group of one’s peers is an invaluable experience. Creating Compelling Non-Fiction is precisely such an opportunity.

Our workshopping will be done from the ground up. Analysis will be rigorous, readings will be close, group feedback will be thorough, supportive, and respectful. As workshop leader I will provide advice and critique that is both pertinent to the type of non-fiction being addressed and applicable to the genre as a whole. I’ll strive to provide practical and creative tips drawn from my extensive experience with short- and long-form journalism and book-length non-fiction.

Along the way, numerous questions will be confronted and addressed:

What are the qualities and writing options unique to this form?
What are the lines between non-fiction, creative non-fiction, and fiction?
Are some subjects and narrative strategies better suited to a non-fiction treatment than others?
What distinguishes memoir from autobiography?
What is the writer’s responsibility to factual rigour in non-fiction?
How much research is too much research?
What are some of the ways to invest non-fiction writing with the narrative pull of good fiction?
Precisely what story does the writer wish to tell?
What are the choices—sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page—that will best serve that story, and lead to effective and engaging non-fiction?
Finally, how do writers know when their piece is done?

Throughout the workshop I will stress the mutual, collective nature of our undertaking. Offering one’s work to the eyes of others is an essential step in the journey of all writers, and attaining a degree of comfort with that process is its own reward.

To complement and underpin our workshopping, a short list of works by some of the contemporary masters of the form will be read and discussed. I will emphasize the general importance of reading as deeply as possible, especially in the area in which one wishes to write; where useful, I will provide personally tailored suggestions-for-further-reading lists for participants. A guest appearance by a prominent Montreal-based writer and journalist will be incorporated.
Ian McGillis has been writing about books and visual arts for the Montreal Gazette for more than twenty years. His critically acclaimed novel A Tourist’s Guide to Glengarry was shortlisted for the QWF’s Hugh MacLennan Prize For Fiction and McAuslan First Book Prize, and was a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

Poetry: An Act of Mischief
2021-11-23 18:00 - 20:00 | Online via Zoom
Open to all
Limited to 12 participants

American poet Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) once called poetry ‘an act of mischief.’ In this online, hands-on workshop participants will be encouraged to ‘play’ outside the boxes they habitually construct for themselves, to venture into dubious territory, to be mischievous. Sessions will be tailored to meet the needs and interests of the group, with writing triggers designed to coax out your dormant little ‘gems.’ Some of the topics we will explore include imagery, line breaks, and poetic language. What makes a good poem? What are some practical ways of incorporating this knowledge into your own writing? Roughly half of each class will be devoted to theoretical concerns and/or writing exercises; the second half, to workshopping the pieces produced in class and tweaked at home. No texts are specifically required, but you are strongly encouraged to read poetry and/or essays on poetics outside class time and share materials that might be of interest to the group. Beginning, emerging, and intermediate poets welcome.
Carolyn Marie Souaid is the author of eight poetry books and an award-winning novel. She has performed at festivals and literary events in Canada and abroad, and her work has been featured on CBC Radio and in a variety of national and international publications. Her controversial videopoem, Blood is Blood, won a top prize at the 2012 Zebra International Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. Other books have been shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the QWF’s A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. Carolyn has been guest faculty in creative writing at Bishop’s University and has led several previous QWF workshops.

Suspended Meaning: Making Filmpoems
2021-11-23 20:00 - 22:00 | Online via Zoom
Open to all
Limited to 12 participants

What happens when image and sound and poetry collide? The experience of a filmpoem is suspended somewhere between what is seen, what is heard, and what is ‘read.’ Learn how to create your own filmpoems with Rachel McCrum, from conception to writing to filming to editing to production.

This 8-week workshop is suitable for both beginners and those with some experience in writing poetry and/or making films. Support will be tailored to whatever participants already have access to, and to their needs.

We’ll set the foundation by introducing the basics of filming, video-editing, soundtracks, post-production, and writing poems suitable for short films. Along the way, we will explore and discuss examples of filmpoems, from the Surrealist experiments of the 1920s to videopoetry of the 1980s, to performance, animation, and digital art in the 1990s and 2000s. By the end of the workshops, each participant will have their own original DIY, guerilla-style filmpoem to showcase.

Over the workshop, we will cover

Introduction to the genre, exploring how filmpoetry has evolved since the start of the 20th century, and how to break down elements of text, image and sound.
Critiques to explore how each element influences our perceptions of the finished piece, including pacing, framing etc.
Exploring the types of poems that make good filmpoems (and those that do not).
Developing your own visual language.
Writing original poems.
Use of archival footage and sound (including rights).
Introduction to various editing suites.
Editing techniques and post-production work.
Sound effects and soundtracks; use of music.
Finishing a film.

Equipment requirements: There is no need for expensive technology or software, although those with access to more sophisticated equipment are welcome to use it. The basic requirements will be a digital camera or cameraphone (a basic cameraphone is enough); a PC or Mac computer with basic editing software installed, and a good Wifi connection. We will use WeTransfer and Google Drive to share documents, resources, and large video files. There will be some homework set between sessions (no more than 2 hours per week).

If you are curious about the genre ahead of signing up for the website, you could check out https://movingpoems.com/ and http://motionpoems.org/ for examples.
Rachel McCrum is a poet, performer, event organizer, and workshop facilitator. Originally from Northern Ireland, between 2010 and 2016 she lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she was the first BBC Scotland Poet in Residence and recipient of a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Her debut collection The First Blast to Awaken Women Degenerate was published in a bilingual edition with Mémoire d’encrier in Fall 2020. She has produced filmpoems in Scotland, Ireland, and Canada, and coordinated the international collaborative projects ‘cinepoems Quebec-UK’ (2016) and ‘Moving Pictures and Borders’ (2017) – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkKtEfsozu9cZELX6QO8KCQ

Life Writing: An Introductory Memoir Workshop
2021-11-24 18:00 - 20:00 | Online via Zoom
Open to all
Limited to 12 participants

“Part of the art of memoir is seeing and recognizing the story itself. Life is messy. Art gathers up the chaos and gives it form.” Dani Shapiro.

Our lives are filled with stories—experiences of joy, heartbreak, or transformative change. If you’ve always wanted to write down true stories from your life, here’s a place to begin. Whether you’re writing family tales for the next generation or describing life-changing moments for a wider audience, this workshop will help you find your voice and polish your prose.
Building a writer’s toolbox of basic narrative techniques helps shape personal episodes into stories that engage readers. Sessions will include discussion of short readings and tips for getting stories from your head and heart onto the page. Each week, two or three participants will be asked to email their drafts of a life-based story for peer feedback the following session. You will learn how to offer supportive feedback to your fellow writers in accordance with workshop guidelines. The workshop leader will provide written comments on submissions to help writers lift their first drafts to the next level.

Karen Zey’s creative nonfiction stories, personal essays and craft articles have been widely published in literary magazines. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and featured in Getting to the Truth: The Craft and Practice of Creative Nonfiction (Hippocampus Books, 2021). Karen has led writing workshops and hosted literary events at her local West Island library. She belongs to a monthly writing group whose members first met in 2013 at a QWF workshop. Karen believes that emergent writers thrive by finding community in which they can explore craft and share writerly talk.
Visit: www.karenzey.com
(Twitter @zippyzey) http://twitter.com/zippyzey

QWF Literary Awards Gala
2021-11-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Online
The winners of six prestigious book prizes will be announced from the Cabaret Lion d’Or, Montreal, in a live-stream broadcast of the Gala, on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, at 7 PM. The QWF Literary Awards Gala will be hosted by Giller Prizewinning author Sean Michaels.

Since 1988, the QWF Literary Awards have celebrated the best books and plays published or performed by English-language writers and translators in Quebec, as well as those translating English works from Quebec into French. Each award comes with a purse of $3,000.

This year also marks a very special moment in the history of QWF: the unveiling of The Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, the first QWF Award to be endowed. Nobody embodied the values of QWF more than Janet Blachford. She was a dedicated and serious writer with a keen sense of humour and a strong community ethic. For years, she volunteered endless hours of her time to serve the organization as a board member, and we are proud to play a role in contributing to her legacy.

This year’s finalists
Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Dani Jansen, The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life (Second Story Press)
Nadine Neema, Journal of a Travelling Girl (Wandering Fox/Heritage House)
Monique Polak, Room for One More (Kar-Ben Publishing)
Su J. Sokol, Zee (Bouton d’or Acadie)

Concordia University First Book Prize
Sponsored by Concordia University

Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch, Knot Body (Metatron Press)
Balfour M. Mount, Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path As I Remember It (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
Samir Shaheen-Hussain, Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism Against Indigenous Children in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
Aimee Wall, We, Jane (Book*hug Press)

Cole Foundation Prize for Translation (French to English)

Sheila Fischman, Em (Random House Canada)*
Sarah Henzi, I Am a Damn Savage; What Have You Done to My Country? (Wilfrid Laurier University Press)**
Donald Winkler, Orwell in Cuba: How 1984 Came to Be Published in Castro’s Twilight (Talonbooks)***

*A translation of Kim Thúy, Em (Groupe Librex)
**A translation of An Antane Kapesh, Je suis une Maudite sauvagesse; Qu’as-tu fait de mon pays? (Mémoire d’Encrier)
***A translation of Frédérick Lavoie, Avant l’Après (La Peuplade Récit)
A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry
Sponsored by two anonymous donors

Sarah Burgoyne, Because the Sun (Coach House Books)
Klara du Plessis, Hell Light Flesh (Palimpsest Press)
Jessie Jones, The Fool (Goose Lane Editions)
Sarah Venart, I Am the Big Heart (Brick Books)

Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction

Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt, Peacekeeper’s Daughter: A Middle-East Memoir (Thistledown Press)
Karen Messing, Bent Out of Shape (Between the Lines)
André Picard, Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada’s Elders in the Wake of a Pandemic (Random House Canada)
Robyn Sarah, Music, Late and Soon (Biblioasis)
Samir Shaheen-Hussain, Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism Against Indigenous Children in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press)

Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction
Sponsored by Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore

Mikhail Iossel, Love Like Water, Love Like Fire (Bellevue Literary Press)
Saleema Nawaz, Songs for the End of the World (McClelland & Stewart)
Aimee Wall, We, Jane (Book*hug Press)
Kathleen Winter, Undersong (Knopf Canada)

OTHER AWARDS
Also announced at the Gala will be the winners of three other prizes. The carte blanche Prize will be awarded to a Quebec writer in recognition of their outstanding submission to carte blanche, QWF’s online literary journal. The honorary Judy Mappin Community Award will be bestowed upon a person who has contributed to the advancement of Quebec’s English-language literary community. The new QWF College Writers Award will be awarded for the best short story, poem, or work of nonfiction written in English between August 15, 2020 and June 4, 2021 by a student at one of the six sponsoring colleges: Champlain, Dawson, Heritage, John Abbott, Marianopolis, and Vanier.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Participants are invited to watch the premiere live-stream of the Gala on Wednesday, November 24 at 7 PM at the QWF YouTube page.

The QWF is also inviting viewers to participate in the QWF Maskerade, taking place in the half hour before the Gala airs. Beginning at 6:30 PM on November 24, viewers are invited to take a picture of themselves at home, ready to watch the event in their Venetian masks. Post the photo on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using #QWFMASKERADE: All who do will be entered into a draw to win a collection of the award-winning books.

More information about the shortlisted authors, including photos and book summaries, is online at the QWF Literary Database, http://quebecbooks.qwf.org.

Story Technique – A Hands-on Investigation
2021-11-24 20:00 - 22:00 | Online via Zoom
Open to all
Limited to 12 participants

“The only way … to learn to write short stories is to write them, and then to try to discover what you have done.” Flannery O’Connor

This eight-week workshop will investigate the short story form. Using five truly great realist and speculative short stories as reference, we’ll do a quick review of the basic building blocks of story-writing: things like detail, narrative point of view, and elements of time and place. Then we’ll investigate technical innovations with an eye to attempting something new in our own fiction. Workshop time will be split between discussing technique in published models, and reading and discussing our own stories.

As soon as you have registered for this workshop, please submit a single WORD document containing the following information to workshops@qwf.org with the subject line “For Claire Rothman”:

A short paragraph about yourself.
A sentence about what you hope to get from this workshop.

Story Technique will be taught online on Zoom. You’ll need a computer and a decent online connection. We will keep things interactive, with participants pairing up in break-out rooms for one-on-one exchanges, and also giving short presentations to the group.

You will receive links to the five stories we’ll be using as models. Reading them before our start date is strongly recommended.

Claire Holden Rothman is a Montreal writer, translator, and fiction editor, whose third novel, Lear’s Shadow (2018) won the 2019 Vine Award for Jewish Canadian Fiction and was short-listed for the 2020 Jacob Isaac Segal Award. Other novels include My October (2014), shortlisted for a Governor General’s Award and nominated for a Scotiabank Giller prize, and The Heart Specialist (2009), also nominated for the Giller. She has taught fiction workshops at McGill and Bishop’s Universities. For many years, she taught English literature and creative writing at Marianopolis College in Montreal.

www.claireholdenrothman.com

Teen Spirit: Writing YA
2021-11-25 18:00 - 20:00 | Online via Zoom
Young adult fiction is a genre that has exploded in popularity in the last few decades, but it is a genre that is often hard to define. Many people want to write stories about adolescence, with teenaged protagonists. Does that automatically make the work YA? What exactly is YA? That is one of the questions we will seek to answer in this workshop as we look at the genre and talk about what makes it great. YA is exciting, explorative, and highly creative, allowing writers to experiment with novel structure and narrative voice. It is also challenging, in that the story must be engaging to young readers and speak to them in a way that is never condescending or pedantic. The writer must do all this with plots that are fast-paced and original, and with characters that are believable and never clichéd.
In this workshop, we will look at the components of the YA novel, including character, voice, plot, structure, setting, dialogue and figurative language. We will also discuss how to generate ideas, the writing and editing process, marketing and working with editors. Participants will learn how to deal appropriately with sensitive topics such as sex, violence and profanity. We will explore various forms of the YA novel, such as traditional narrative, journal form and the verse novel. We will also talk about different sub-genres, such as fantasy, historical, mystery, reluctant reader, and others. We will use John Truby’s book, The Anatomy of Story, as a support and guide to the process of storytelling. It is recommended that participants purchase this book.
Participants will have the opportunity to workshop their own writing on a designated night by sharing up to 20 double-spaced pages with the group. Fellow participants will read the work in advance and offer critiques in a supportive round table forum. Writers can then ask questions on their work and gain valuable advice for revision.
The schedule below shows the main topic of each session. Writing exercises, examples taken from published works, and discussion will be also part of each session.
Week 1: Introductory session Participants will introduce themselves and their work; they can also share their expectations for the workshop. Lori will introduce herself and her work to the group and provide an overview of the units that will be covered during the upcoming sessions. We will also lay out the workshopping schedule.
Week 2: Plot, structure, pacing.
Week 3: Character and voice.
Week 4: Setting, symbolism and figurative language.
Week 5: Dialogue.
Week 6: Publishing, submissions, expectations etc.
Week 7: Workshopping.
Week 8: Workshopping. Wrapping up loose ends, final questions.
Lori Weber is a native Montrealer who has written eight young adult novels, including Deep Girls and Yellow Mini; a middle grade novel called Lightning Lou; and one picture book, My Granny Loves Hockey. A ninth young adult novel, The Ribbon Leaf, is forthcoming with Red Deer Press in 2022. She has also published poetry, short fiction, and essays in various Canadian journals. She taught English Literature and Creative Writing at John Abbott College for twenty-six years, and has been a QWF mentor five times, as well as workshop leader several times. She lives in Dorval, Quebec.

SpeakUp
2021-11-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, https://bit.ly/35akIGi
FREE EVENT
SpeakUp: The Montreal Inter-Active Poetry Exchange
Poets: Patrick Burman, Jim Olwell, Claire Sherwood, Peter Richardson
A POETRY READING WITH A DIFFERENCE: AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Each audience member receives a copy of the poems
Poet reads poems, followed by 15 to 20-minute discussion on the poem
Poet reads poem a final time
Visit our Facebook page for more details.
Contact us to register and receive the Zoom link: MTLSpeakUp@gmail.com

Way Out: Developing Long-Form Fiction Already in Progress
2021-11-25 20:00 - 22:00, 2021-12-02 20:00 - 22:00, 2021-12-09 20:00 - 22:00 | Online via Zoom
Open by application to writers with a novel or novella in progress
Limited to 10 participants

This workshop is intended for writers who are looking for guidance and encouragement while working on a novel or novella already in progress. Ideally, you’ll have a significant portion (about 30–50 pages) of your novel or novella already completed, as well as a solid grasp of the story you’re working on.

Writing long-form fiction on your own or with few readers can be exhilarating, but can also leave you with abandoned drafts, half-written chapters, and the sinking feeling that there’s no way out. Gaining insight from unbiased readers—myself and the other members of the group—in a supportive, creative atmosphere will help you identify issues, clarify your intent, and find real ways to improve your manuscript. To this end, our primary focus will be on workshopping sections of each participant’s novel or novella. Each week, one or two participants will be invited to submit 10–15 pages from their work-in-progress in order to receive feedback and notes from each person in the group. You’ll also be encouraged to include one or two questions about your work with your submission, and will have the opportunity to engage in informal question and answer sessions in each workshop.

Workshopping will be combined with lectures and writing exercises to help you gain new insight to constructing and completing your novel or novella. We’ll explore ways to reinforce the structure of your existing manuscript, gain deeper understanding of characters, fix plot holes, tie up storylines, and approach publishers and editors. We’ll also work on developing another skill invaluable to any writer: The ability to pinpoint what might not be working—and cut or rework if need be. Because writing a novel or novella takes as long as it takes, this workshop is designed to help you stay motivated and focused through the difficult parts of writing a long piece and aims to give you the tools to finish your manuscript in your own time.

Please submit the following to workshops@qwf.org, with the subject line “For Maya Merrick,” by Monday, September 13.

A short summary of your novel or novella (about one or two lines).

A maximum of 10 pages from your novel or novella, double-spaced (if these are not the opening pages, please include a brief note to let me know where we are in the story).

One or two questions about your novel, the process of completing a long work, and/or what to do with it once you’ve finished.

You will be notified about whether you’ve been selected for the workshop by Monday, November 20.
Maya Merrick’s novel, Sextant (Conundrum Press), was released to critical acclaim in 2005, followed by The Hole Show (Conundrum Press) in 2007. She works with the Quebec Writers’ Federation as a mentor and workshop/master-class facilitator, has been an instructor at Concordia University’s Centre for Continuing Education, and has served as the editorial and administrative assistant at Conundrum Press. She is an active writing coach/mentor, editor, copyeditor, and manuscript consultant. Maya is currently completing her third novel, Colour Radio, and is working on The Ride, a book of microfiction.

Found in Translation: An Exchange Among French and English Quebec Writers and Translators
2021-11-27 17:00 - 18:00 | Palais des congrès de Montréal, 1001 Jean Paul Riopelle Pl, Montreal, Quebec, H2Z1H5, Canada
(En français suivant)

What’s it like to translate another writer’s work? How does it feel to have your work translated into English or French? Does it change your career? Offer new dimensions, open doors, deepen understanding? How strong is the English-language market for Québécois authors? Do francophone readers read English Quebec writers in translation? How do you translate la parlure populaire Québécoise to English? These questions and more will be on the table at a bilingual panel discussion on literary translation — the process, the players, the market, the bilingual fun of it all — hosted by the Quebec Writers’ Federation at the Salon du Livre de Montréal.

Que signifie traduire les ouvrages littéraires d’autrui? Comment se sent-on lorsque notre propre travail fait l’objet d’une traduction? Quel impact la traduction a‑t-elle sur la réception de l’œuvre par un nouveau public? Le marché du livre anglais est-il intéressant pour des auteur·rice·s québécois·e·s? Les lecteur·rices·s francophones lisent-ils des écrivain·e·s anglo-québécois? Comment bien traduire les spécificités linguistiques franco-québécoises? Tous ces questions et d’autres enjeux seront à l’agenda lors d’une table ronde bilingue au sujet de la traduction littéraire au Québec — le processus, les joueurs, le marché, le saut dans un monde bilingue — parrainée par la Quebec Writers’ Federation au Salon du livre de Montréal.

The Pipeline - A play reading series!
2021-12-09 19:00 - 2021-12-11 21:30 | Kin Experience, 397 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2G3, Canada
The Pipeline is Infinithéâtre’s annual public reading series of plays that have come down our development pipeline. Audience feedback takes centre stage as Infinithéâtre invites the public to catch the excitement and share their views on plays that we are considering for production in future seasons, giving the public a unique opportunity to voice their opinions and directly influence Montréal’s cultural development. All readings are free for the public to attend, with donations accepted and appreciated. This year’s Pipeline readings series runs from December 9-11th, at Kin Experience in downtown Montreal.

Illuminated Grant-Writing
2022-01-22 10:00 - 13:00, 2022-01-29 10:00 - 13:00, 2022-02-05 10:00 - 13:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
January 22, 29 & February 5, 2022, 10am-1pm

Open to all who have a literary arts project in mind
Limited to 15 participants

This series of three workshops will examine how writers with projects for print, spoken word, or storytelling can make a strong literary arts grant application. From drafting a project description to balancing a budget, we will also discuss artistic risk, impact, and cultural appropriation. Focus will be on funding programs at the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. A program officer will also join us to answer questions. This series is intended for Quebec- based writers at all stages of their practice: emerging, mid-career, or established. There will be tasks to complete between sessions and participants should have a clear, original literary arts project in mind.

Access to MS Word or similar writing software will be necessary as well as a willingness to share work and give and receive feedback in a workshop setting.

To complete your registration (after using the link below), please send a short, one-sentence description of your current literary arts project to workshops@qwf.org. The subject line should read “For Tawhida Tanya Evanson.”

Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, author, artist, producer, and arts educator. Her poetry collections include Bothism (Ekstasis 2017) and Nouveau Griot (Frontenac 2018), and her first novel, Book of Wings (2021), is fresh from Véhicule Press. With a 25-year practice in spoken word, she performs internationally and has released several studio albums and videopoems. In 2013, she received the Golden Beret Award and was Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. She is program director of The Banff Centre Spoken Word Residency and vice president of QWF. Based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, she moonlights as a whirling dervish.

Website
http://www.mothertonguemedia.com

Socials https://www.facebook.com/tanya.evanson https://www.instagram.com/radiasilencia https://twitter.com/semayatavon

Creatively Exploring Our Relationships with Bodies: A Poetry Workshop
2022-01-22 20:00 - 22:00 | Atwater Library Auditorium, 1200 Atwater Avenue, 2nd floor, Westmount, QC
Have you recently Googled, “seasonal allergies or COVID,” or “COVID toes”? Has someone other than a nurse or doctor taken your temperature in the past 18 months? How did you spend those fifteen minutes post-vaccine?
Join Rebecca Păpucaru to read and write poems about hypochondria and hypervigilance, our bodies – but those of others, too. Authors to respond to may include Billy Collins, Sylvia Plath, and others.
Beginner to advanced, writers and readers alike are welcome to creatively explore our relationships with our bodies – our ultimate frenemy – through writing prompts and exercises.
**This workshop will follow the January 21, 2022 Atwater Poetry Project with Rebecca Păpucaru and Gillian Sze, 7:00-8:00 pm in the Atwater Library Auditorium.
Rebecca Păpucaru‘s first book, The Panic Room, was awarded the 2018 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry. Her poetry has appeared in journals in Canada, the US, and Ireland, and been anthologized in The Best Canadian Poetry in English. “Yentas” won The Malahat Review‘s 2020 Novella Prize and was selected for the 2021 National Magazine Awards. Her short fiction has appeared in Grain. Rebecca lives in Sherbrooke, QC and despite fears of Lyme disease, hikes regularly.
To register: awe@atwaterlibrary.ca.
Co-presented with the Atwater Poetry Project.

SpeakUp: Womanhood
2022-01-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, https://bit.ly/35akIGi
SpeakUp: The Montreal Inter-Active Poetry Exchange
Poets: Mariana Jiménez, Emily Tristan Jones, Jan Jorgensen
A POETRY READING WITH A DIFFERENCE: AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Each audience member receives a copy of the poems by email. The poems are also displayed on screen.
Poet reads their poem, followed by 15 to 20-minute discussion.
Poet reads their poem a final time.
Visit our Facebook page for more details.
Contact us to register and receive the Zoom link: MTLSpeakUp@gmail.com

Writing As Activism (with French translation)
2022-01-31 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
The Quebec Writers‘ Federation and Muslim Awareness Week invite you to a conversation with Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussain, the award-winning author of Fighting for A Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada, and Indigenous Human Rights Advocate Ellen Gabriel, moderated by Ehab Lotayef.
The discussion will focus on Dr. Shaheen-Hussain’s book, for which Ellen Gabriel wrote the Afterword, on the role writing can play in social change, and what it means to be an activist writer.
We hope you will join us on January 31, 2022, at 6:00 PM.
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La Quebec Writers’ Federation et la Semaine de la sensibilisation musulmane vous invitent à une conversation avec le Dr Samir Shaheen-Hussain, l’auteur primé de Plus aucun enfant autochtone arraché: Pour en finir avec le colonialisme médical canadien, et la défenseure des droits humains autochtones Ellen Gabriel, animé par Ehab Lotayef.
La discussion portera sur le livre du Dr Shaheen-Hussain, pour lequel Ellen Gabriel a écrit la postface, sur le rôle que l’écriture peut jouer dans le changement social et sur ce que cela signifie d’être un écrivain militant.
Un service de traduction simultanée vers le français sera disponible durant le congrès.
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Samir Shaheen-Hussain has been involved in anti-authoritarian social justice movements – including Indigenous solidarity, anti-police brutality and migrant-justice organizing – for nearly two decades. He is a member of the Caring for Social Justice Collective and has written or co-written about state violence and health care for several publications (see below). Fighting for A Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada was awarded both the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction by the Quebec Writers’ Federation in November 2021.
Samir is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University and works as a pediatric emergency physician in Tio’tia:ke (Montreal).
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Ellen Gabriel has advocated for the collective and individual human rights of Indigenous peoples and sensitized the public on the issues and realities of Indigenous peoples since 1990. In 2004, Ellen was elected president of the Quebec Native Women’s Association, a position she held until 2010.
In 2005, Ellen received the Golden Eagle Award from the Native Women’s Association of Canada. In 2008, she received the International Women’s Day Award from the Barreau du Québec/Québec Bar Association and the Indigenous Women’s Initiative “Jigonsaseh Women of Peace Award” for her advocacy work.
Ellen advocates for gender equity, the revitalization of Indigenous languages, culture, Indigenous self-determination/governance, and traditions. She lives in Kanehsatà:ke and currently works for the Kanehsatà:ke Language and Cultural Center.

Poetry To See: Creating Visual Poetry Broadsides
2022-02-10 10:30 - 12:30, 2022-02-17 10:30 - 12:30, 2022-02-24 10:30 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Participants will use text and image to create your very own visual poetry broadsides.
A poetry broadside (or broadsheet) is one sheet of paper printed on one side with a poem. Visual poetry is a growing field wherein poets use linguistic fragments to create poems that are also works of visual art.
Participants will create original mixed-media works of art fusing your own poetic texts with your own original visuals, making unique poem-objects that are both read and seen!
Through playful experimentation you will explore various text-making and image-making approaches, resulting not in an illustrated poem, but a poem that also derives its meaning and impact through its visual delivery.
Both the poetry and the visuals will be created from scratch during the workshop. No art experience necessary, just a willingness to try things out.
We will use collage, rubber stamps, stencils, dry-transfer lettering and any and all non-digital ways of making text. Materials can be found around the house and can be augmented by inexpensive store-bought items. We will provide a list of possible materials so you are prepared.
This workshop is FREE but space is limited. To register: awe@atwaterlibrary.ca.
Co-presented with the Atwater Writers Exhibition, and generously supported by the Community Cultural Action Fund (CCAF) of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF
2022-02-12 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space while still in the company of fellow writers over Zoom?
Register below to do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25 minute bursts, with 5 minutes break in between.
This event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.
Please note that these sessions are designed for silent writing, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work.

1000 – 1025: Writing 1
1025 – 1030: Break
1030 – 1055: Writing 2
1055 – 1100: Break
1100 – 1125: Writing 3
1125 – 1130: Break
1130 – 1155: Writing 4
1155 – 1200: Break
1200 -1225: Writing 5

Creating a Universe with Words
2022-02-19 10:00 - 13:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Two Saturdays: February 19 and 26, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
All are welcome.
Limited to 12 participants
I love what Albert Einstein once said about imagination. He said: “Imagination is intelligence having fun.” And that is what this workshop is indeed intended to be: a fast paced, hands-on workshop based on a series of writing exercises where we will find and surpass the limits that contain our everyday writing universe. We will, of course, develop our imagination outside the box and have creative fun.
Sessions will be tailored to meet the needs and interests of the group. They will be combined with lectures to help you gain new insight to construct and complete your personal writing project. We’ll explore ways to reinforce the structure of your existing work, gain deeper understanding of characters, fix plot holes, and tie up storylines. We’ll also work on developing another skill invaluable to any writer: the ability to pinpoint what might not be working—and cut or rework if need be. This workshop is designed to help you stay motivated and focused through the difficult parts of writing and aims to give you the tools to enjoy your writing process (again, if you fear you are not enjoying it anymore). The time will be split between discussing technique in published models, and reading and discussing our own creations.
Creating a Universe with Words will be a two-session workshop and is intended for experienced and beginner writers alike. You’ll need paper, pencils and—most importantly—an eraser! We will keep things interactive, giving short presentations to the group.

You will receive links to the texts we will be using as models. Reading them before our start date is strongly recommended.

Antolina Ortiz Moore describes herself as a citizen of the world. She was born in Mexico City in 1971. She studied at the French Licée in Mexico City and studied Philosophy at the Universidad Iberoamericana.
She migrated to Canada in 2000, then returned to México in 2009, where she lived in the town of Coatepec. She founded an unschooling project and a non-profit organization that promoted ecological and cultural awareness without barriers. She coordinated the planting of over 11,000 trees in a mist forest area. In 2017, due to mounting violence in the area, she decided to move back to Montreal.
Antolina´s last novel, Seda araña, won the First Mexican Woman´s Short Novel Competition in Mexico (2019), and was shortlisted for the prestigious Romulo Gallegos Literary prize in Venezuela (2020) and the Nadal Literary Competition in Spain (one of the most important in Spanish Literature). Her first and second novels received the José Eufemio Lora y Lora & Juan Carlos Onetti international award (in Peru, 2010). Her first published book was her social work thesis at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico, with a prologue by Elena Poniatowska; it sold over fifty thousand copies.
Web page: https://antolinaortizmoore.com
Instagram: oantolina
Twitter: @antolina_ortiz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/antolina.ortiz/

SpeakUp: Night & Day) Dreams
2022-02-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, https://bit.ly/35akIGi
FREE EVENT
SpeakUp: The Montreal Inter-Active Poetry Exchange
Poets: Tamara Nazywalskj, Bryan Sentes, Derek Godin.
A POETRY READING WITH A DIFFERENCE: AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Each audience member receives a copy of the poems by email. The poems are also displayed on screen.
Poet reads their poem, followed by 15 to 20-minute discussion.
Poet reads their poem a final time.
Visit our Facebook page for more details.
Contact us to register and receive the Zoom link: MTLSpeakUp@gmail.com

Virtual Poets' Retreat: Healing Ourselves and the Planet
2022-02-25 - 2022-02-27 | Online
Join us February 25-27, 2022 on Zoom for a Poets’ Retreat focussed on healing ourselves and the planet.
Explore relationships between your writing practice and climate change in these gentle, restorative, and inspiring workshops with like-minded poets using their craft to promote change and right relationships between humans and the rest of Nature. Three workshops, an exclusive poetry reading, peer writing groups, discussion with a publisher, Qigong, and an opportunity to read in the Authors and Artists festival. 10+ hours of programming: $225 CAD. Payment plans and one competitive, needs-based scholarship for a BIPOC poet available. Workshops: Artistic Contemplative Practice for EcoJustice (additionally, Qigong) by JuPong Lin, performance poet and faculty at Goddard Collage; Tender Witness: Climate Grieving for Poets by Dina Stander, end of life navigator and poet; Moon Botany by performance artist, writer, and disability culture activist Petra Kuppers. All workshop providers are BIPOC, as are all headline speakers in the co-occurring Authors and Artists online festival, whose theme is Writing the Land, tied to the WTL project (www.writingtheland.org).
For more on the Retreat: https://www.nature-culture.net/2022-poet-retreat
For more on the festival, whose headline speakers include poet Ross Gay, John Francis, Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Rahawa Haile and Latria Graham: https://www.nature-culture.net/authors-artists-festival
