Quebec Writers' Federation

The Ghost at the Heart of a Short Story
2023-04-12 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-04-19 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-04-26 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
A man down on his luck has moved everything he owns out onto his lawn, and for no reason anybody can articulate, he pawns some of it to two young passersby; in northern Ontario, a woman whose cancer is in remission lets a teenaged boy, half her age, kiss her on a floating bridge—she doesn’t know why; in a hotel room in Wenatchee, a man has a strange, galvanizing sexual encounter with a bare-knuckle boxer, and it leaves him more sure of himself, or more sure of his past, or more sure of who he might yet become. But if you asked him what had changed, he wouldn’t be able to tell you.

There is something ineffable in every good short story, something that cannot bepinned down, a question—perhaps insignificant—whose answer is not merely unknown, but unknowable, and whose presence haunts us long after we’ve put a story down.

This workshop is a guided discussion about the plot, characters, point of view, structure, and language (the mechanics or “craft”) of participants’ short stories, as well as an investigation of each story’s aboutness, patterns, emotional plot, and central question(s)—that is, all those hard-to-define elements that make fiction what it is.

Additionally, the workshop aims to foster community among the attendees, to bring together

writers of similar skill and drive, and to encourage the kind of creative energy that crackles

between new practitioners.

Some Learning Objectives

Critical reading, and the ability to identify the roots of a story’s problems, particularly with regard to dramatic structure and conflict. Conversely: the ability to identify the roots of a story’s successes, especially when it seems intangible or difficult to pin down.

Close reading, even of your own work, for strongest possible sentences. (They are, after all, the building blocks of fiction.)

Immersing yourself in, and engaging with, literature among a cohort of people who are similarly immersed and engaged in literature; enjoying it.

In our first meeting, we will establish a schedule, review workshop etiquette, spend some time meeting each other, and do a few writing exercises. From then on, each session will consist of detailed discussion and feedback of participants’ stories. The goal, always, is to offer the writer of each story constructive suggestions to help them improve the story and their craft. We are, I always say, in this together.

In preparation: Please bring a short story you’ve written of no more than 2500 words to the first session.

D. W. Wilson is the author of Once You Break a Knuckle, a collection of short stories, and Ballistics, a novel. His work has appeared in lit mags across the globe, and in 2011 he won the BBC National Short Story Award for “The Dead Roads.” Since then he has been shortlisted for numerous fiction prizes, and has won the CBC Short Story Prize and the Manchester Fiction Prize. He taught creative writing at the University of Victoria and Brandon University, as well at literary festivals such as the London Short Story Festival and Wordfest.

Writing the TV Pilot
2023-04-13 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-20 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-27 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
In this eight-week workshop, Montreal-based screenwriter Allen Markuze will give you the tools to be able to write a TV pilot. He’s going to do so by asking and helping answer the following…

What is your TV series about?

Is your idea sustainable?

What happens episode to episode?

What’s the theme of your show?

What are some similar shows?

Who are your characters?

Is your pilot going to be a premise episode or an episodic episode?

What is a three-act structure and five-act structure?

These intimate sessions will involve a mixture of group discussion, critical analysis of TV pilots and shows, and workshopping participants’ own ideas with the goal of completing their own TV pilot. Ideas will be workshopped in groups as well as one-on-one with the workshop leader and fellow participants.

Allen Markuze is an award-winning screenwriter who has taken part in writers rooms and has written for a variety of live-action and animation TV shows that have aired on the likes of Netflix, Disney, Nickelodeon, Hulu, and CBC. Before embarking on a screenwriting career, Markuze spent several years working in LA at Dan Halsted’s company, Manage-ment, where he helped manage a roster of writers from shows such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and on feature films like Friday Night Lights and Wall Street. Prior to that, he worked as an assistant to screenwriter Janus Cercone (Leap of Faith with Steve Martin). Markuze’s foray into the entertainment industry began as a development intern in LA at Underground Films (FX’s Snowfall) where he read countless scripts, books, and plays, and eavesdropped on A LOT of conversations.

Biography, Autobiography, and Ghostwriting
2023-04-13 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-04-20 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-04-27 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
The basic tools of biography and autobiography are the same, and this workshop will show how you can write any life in a meaningful and engaging way.

The first challenge is learning how to put lives in a larger context. This means researching the times and places the subject lived in, then weaving their individual narratives with all of their complex personal relationships, into the larger world. We will learn how to do this with the use of the illuminating details that bring people and places to life.

We will also look at the sub-category of ghostwriting, where you are writing a first-person biography and, in a sense, become the person you are writing for, internalizing their thoughts and feelings as you use all of the tools at your disposal to tell their story as if was your own.

Ghostwriting also happens to be a field where a writer can make a decent living in Canada, and at the end of the course, we will look at the business side and what goes into a ghostwriting contract.

One thing you soon discover in writing biographies of any kind, including ghosting an autobiography, is the truth of the cliché that everyone has a book in them. At least in the sense that all of our stories—following our lives along the trajectories of time and space and meeting and beating challenges—are worth telling. As a writer you discover that it is a privilege to write someone else’s life.

Ideally, you will be working on biographical or autobiographical material of your own in the class, but this is not necessary. If you are working on a text now or if you are simply planning one for the future, I look forward to meeting you in the spring of 2023 and exploring the writing of lives together.

Peter McFarlane has written 4 nonfiction books of his own and five ghostwritten books, as well as more than 100 newspaper and magazine features. He has specialized in Indigenous history and politics and has worked on several CBC radio programs as a researcher and on-air contributor. He is currently completing another ghostwritten book and a new work of his own nonfiction.

PINK NOISE ET POÉSIE
2023-04-14 19:30 - 23:30 | La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec, H2T 2R5, Canada
PINK NOISE ET POÉSIE.
Poetry-noise-sound. 4 acts. Mustard served.
@La Sotterenea, basement level of La Sala Rossa, 4848 boul St-Laurent
Tix: $18 adv – https://lepointdevente.com/billets/czz230414001
$19 on the door
April 14th 2023
Doors: 7:30 pm
Show: 8pm
With
*CLOUD CIRCUIT (Jeremy Young & Deanna Radford)
*PIGS&WOLVES (debut show) (Nadim Emond, JF Gros, Jonathan Lamy & Rachel McCrum)
*OANA AVASILICHIOAEI
*MARILOU CRAFT

Shut Up & Write! with QWF
2023-04-15 10:00 - 12:30, 2023-04-29 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

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 you have to be logged in for the registration link to show up. A Zoom link will be sent out a few days before the session.

Please note as well that these sessions are designed for silent writing, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work.

1000 – 1025: Writing 11025 – 1030: Break1030 – 1055: Writing 21055 – 1100: Break1100 – 1125: Writing 31125 – 1130: Break1130 – 1155: Writing 41155 – 1200: Break1200 – 1225: Writing 5

Writers Out Loud: Emerging Authors Panel
2023-04-15 15:00 - 16:30 | Morrin Centre, 44 Chaussée des Écossais, Quebec City, Quebec, G1R 4H3, Canada
April 15, 3:00–4:30 pm

Join us and discover the writings of the finalists of the 2022 Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) Concordia University First Book Prize! Dive into the writings of David Bradford (he/they), Trynne Delaney (they/them), and Kasia Van Schaik in this discussion about hybrid poetry, speculative futures, and female experience in a world threatened by ecological crises.

This event is held as part of the Morrin Centre’s 2023 Imagination Writer’s Festival in partnership with QWF’s Writers Out Loud series.

Register here: eventbrite.com/e/580850628867

Order the authors’ books now at La Maison Anglaise and the Festival will receive 30% of the sale!

Click here to see the full Imagination programming.

Click here to buy a festival pass.

Poetic Conversations
2023-04-17 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-24 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is known to have said, “A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.” Put differently, a reader’s personal response offers an added dimension to a book. In this workshop, participants will select a published poetry collection whose world resonates with them, one that includes poems they would like to “dialogue with” for the remainder of the workshop.* Weekly writing prompts will initiate a “conversation” with a chosen text from their book, an opportunity to engage with the source material on a deeper level. Topics covered will include imagery, line breaks, and poetic language, and we will attempt a variety of poetic forms. Roughly half of each session will be devoted to theoretical concerns and/or writing exercises; the second half to workshopping the pieces produced in class and tweaked at home. Aside from the selected poetry book, no texts are required, but participants are strongly encouraged to read poetry and/or essays on poetics outside class time and share materials/information that might be of interest to the group.

*A list of suggested poets and/or titles will be provided after the first class, upon request.

Author of nine poetry books and an award-winning novel, Carolyn Marie Souaid has performed at literary events in Canada and abroad; her work has been featured on CBC-Radio and in a variety of national and international publications. Her videopoem, Blood is Blood, won a top prize at the 2012 Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. Other books have been shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. Carolyn has been guest faculty at Bishop’s University and has led several previous QWF workshops. Her literary papers are housed at Rare Books and Special Collections of the McLennan Library (McGill University).

Picture Book Spyglass: Writing through the Lens of Children’s and YA Literature
2023-04-17 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-04-24 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Why every writer should know picture books: in this workshop, emerging and experienced writers will return to the source and hone their skills through a selection of outstanding picture books. We will learn wisdom, gain inspiration, and rediscover the joy of word-sounds and word play. We’ll find eye-popping object lessons in voice, character, plot, and surprise—while renewing our delight in language.

Be prepared to articulate your own writing goals for this session to receive personalized prompts. Or feel free to just explore, through collaborative and individual writing time and assignments. Whether you are casting for new reveries, or seeking to push forward on a particular project, let the concise brilliance of picture books light your way.

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Raquel Rivera is a two-time winner of the QWF Prize for Children’s and YA Literature; her books were selected for CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens (starred selection), USBBY Outstanding International Books (Grades 3-5), Quill & Quire’s “Best of 2007” (Children’s), and more.

Raquel has lived and worked in Washington DC, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Barcelona, and Toronto (where she was born and raised as a first-generation Canadian). These experiences, and her own mixed heritage, engender her deep interest in history, culture, social roles, and norms. Cultures in cooperation is the theme that runs through her writing.

The Joys and Pitfalls of Memoir
2023-04-18 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-19 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-25 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-26 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This workshop will explore the hazards and rewards of writing a personal memoir. Throughout the eight weeks, we will look at ways to produce a compelling narrative out of the chaos of the past. We’ll discuss the tremendous value of research, but we’ll also consider whether research can sometimes handicap a project. We will explore the creation of a narrative voice. And we will ask if and how a writer knows that a memoir has achieved its ideal focus and shape.

Each participant will be expected to produce one or two finished (or near-finished) pieces of writing. They could be either stand-alone essays or excerpts from a longer work. I will provide a detailed response to these pieces, and other participants in the workshop will be asked to give their feedback too. A good portion of time each week will be spent on a discussion of the work submitted by participants. Throughout the workshops, I plan to emphasize the crucial importance not just of remembering but of rethinking and rewriting.

In the remainder of each session, we will examine and debate issues that memoir-writing brings to the fore. We will delve into some thorny issues that memoirs often raise: the unreliability of memory, an author’s urge to justify, and the sense of hurt and betrayal that a memoir may provoke in other people. I will ask the participants to read selected materials (none of them too lengthy) as a basis for discussion.

“Memoir,” for the purposes of this workshop, can include small-scale personal essays as well as longer, more ambitious texts. The participants may choose to focus on a particular relationship, place, or time. But the pieces they submit for discussion should all be personal in nature, and unless there are unusual reasons to the contrary, they should make use of the first-person pronoun. Memoir can be a demanding form; it allows the author no place to hide. Yet it can be immensely rewarding to write.

The overall aim is to equip participants with more awareness, more skills, and more confidence in their own work.

Deep Story Design
2023-04-18 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-04-25 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Deep Story Design depends on a divine trine of three elements: character, plot, and theme.

Novelists, screenwriters, and memoirists who learn to harmonize these elements are able to create stories with depth and resonance.

This 8-week online course is for the longer form narrative writer who wants to: create structurally sound and engaging plots; craft characters whose inner and outer conflicts captivate readers; and develop impactful themes that linger after the story is over.

Using April’s Deep Story Design method of combining basic three-act structure, the seven stepping stones that uphold a narrative arc, and the four stages of authentic character development, writers will be guided to create a cohesive story that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Weekly lessons, homework assignments, and in-class exercises and conversations will focus on the essential story elements that need to be in place to ensure a compelling and meaningful narrative.

Note: Handouts will be provided digitally. Live weekly Zoom calls will be recorded and available for review for up to two weeks after the workshop finishes. Homework assignments, shared with and reviewed by participants, will receive light feedback from April during class time.

April Bosshard has been called a “story whisperer” and “story genie” for her keen awareness of story principles and deep understanding of the writer’s craft, which allows her to help writers deal with the complex issues of story-creating and sticking to the writing process. She’s led workshops in Canada, the US, France, and Mexico, including at the internationally recognized San Miguel Writers Conference. She’s written novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction essays for traditional and independent markets, which include publications in the US, UK, and Canada. Most recently, she contributed a chapter to the newly released The Great Book of Journaling, How Journal Writing Can Support a Life of Wellness, Creativity, Meaning, and Purpose, (Conari, June 2022). April develops and maintains online courses and writing programs while also working with individual clients as a writing coach and developmental editor.

Tell Your Story as a Graphic Novel!
2023-04-18 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-04-25 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
You don’t need to be an artist to enjoy this graphic novel workshop. All you need is a story you want to tell and the courage to put it down on paper. Drawings can be formal and detailed or simple and expressive. Comic making bridges storytelling and picture making, and this workshop will explore both. Through dynamic exercises that combine simple drawing experiments and story brainstorming, each participant will develop their own personal style and hone the story they wish to tell.

People will share their work and give feedback on each other’s pieces and end the workshop with a comic of their own!

Kate Lavut is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Chico, a true tale of the time she dressed as a boy, jumped on a bus, and went to Mexico. Chico was featured at TCAF, Toronto Comics Arts Festival, and was a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Lavut has recently produced her play A Little Bit Pregnant at Fringe Montreal and was a finalist for the Most Promising Emerging Artist award. She is currently at work on a new graphic novel, about her experience having breast cancer, called Content Removed.

Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival
2023-04-22 10:00 - 2023-04-30 19:00 | Hotel 10, 10 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 4C9, Canada
The Blue Metropolis Festival is one of the largest multilingual literary events in North America. Each year, writers from Quebec, Canada and around the world converge on Montreal for a couple of days. Festivalgoers are treated to live interviews, roundtable discussions, public readings, debates, master classes, reading and writing workshops. Every year, the Festival is structured around several strong themes that bear testimony to a keen social awareness and to a passion for literature in all its richness.
In 2023, Blue Metropolis turns 25.
The anniversary edition of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival will take place April 27 to 30, 2023, in Montreal (in-person program). The online program will premiere April 22 to 27, 2023.
In addition to our usual program, part of our programming will be dedicated to this 25th anniversary.
For more information, visit our website (bluemetropolis.org) as of March 17, 2023.

Copyright 101 Webinar
2023-04-26 12:00 - 13:30 | Online via Zoom
April 26, 12:00–1:30 PMOnline: Click here to register

This professional development webinar, which AELAQ is hosting in partnership with the Association of Canadian Publishers, and the Canadian Copyright Institute, will take place online on April 26th from 12 pm – 1:30 pm ET.

On the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day 2023, the panelists will give an overview of the copyright landscape in Canada – addressing the history, reform, and proposed changes surrounding the Copyright Act, and its impact on Canadian publishers.

SpeakUp: Collaborative Performance Poetry
2023-04-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Phoenix Books, 5928 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec, H4A 1X7, Canada
​FREE EVENT
SpeakUp​ : Collaborative Performance Poetry
L’Échange Interactif de Poésie de Montréal
Poets : ​​Carolyn Souaid & Endre Farkas; Jade Palmer featuring Hillary Muller & Willow Little
​Join us at Phoenix Books in NDG (5928 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec H4A 1X7)
on WEDNESDAY, April 26th @ 7 PM
​for a poetry reading with a difference, avec SpeakUp le public est engagé.
Each audience member receives a copy of the poems.
Each poet reads their poem, followed by a 15 to 20-minute discussion.
The poet reads their poem a final time.
​For more info or details contact us by
email MTLSpeakUp@gmail.com or on Facebook @MtlSpeakUp

How to Pitch the Media
2023-04-27 14:00 - 15:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Virtual Session: April 27, 2-3:30pm (No registration limit)In-Person Session: May 2, 1-3pm (Registration currently full)Free for all QWF members

QWF is pleased to offer this free workshop with CBC Montreal’s Debbie Hynes, Manager of Communications, Marketing & Brand.

“How to Pitch Your Work to CBC” will give you practical, hands-on advice on how to get your work out to the media, with a particular focus on CBC. You’ll learn what producers expect (and want) in a pitch, how to market your work to media outlets, and how to craft a pitch that sets you and your story apart.

This workshop is offered two times: once online and once in person. The in-person workshop will be held at the CBC Montreal offices and is limited to 12 participants. The virtual workshop will be held over Zoom and does not have an attendance limit. The content of both sessions is essentially the same, but the in-person workshop will be a bit more hands-on, given the nature of the format.

To Register for a Virtual Spot on April 27:

(1) Send an email to Riley at riley@qwf.org with the subject line “How to Pitch the Media – Virtual Registration.” Make sure that your email includes both your name and email address.

(2) A Zoom link will be sent out a few days prior to the session.

To Register for an In-Person Spot on May 2:

In-person registration is now closed. If you are interested in this workshop, please register for a virtual spot.

Important: This workshop is free for all QWF members. QWF membership status will be checked for both virtual and in-person participants. Not yet a member? Learn about being a member here!

Book Celebration, Audiobook Launch, and Premiere of Wekweètì and Ekwǫ̀
2023-04-29 14:00 | McCord Stewart Museum Theatre, 690 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, QC, H3A 1E9, Canada
Saturday, April 29, 2PMMcCord Stewart Museum Theatre, Montreal

Nadine Neema will be in conversation with Tammy Steinwand, Tłı̨chǫ Government Culture and Lands Protection Director, to celebrate Neema’s historical fiction youth novel and audiobook Journal of a Travelling Girl, and to watch the premiere of her short film Wekweètì and Ekwǫ̀ (“Wekweètì and Caribou”) at the McCord Stewart Museum Theatre on Saturday April 29th at 2pm.

There will be readings, songs inspired by Neema’s time in Wekweètì accompanied by Adam Goulet, and the Montreal premiere of Wekweètì and Ekwǫ̀, a short film from footage Neema took between 2000 and 2002 in Wekweètì and on the land, which features the late Elders Alexis Arrowmaker and Mary Adele Eyakfwo telling old time stories of how they grew up on the land and why they settled in Wekweètì. There will also be book signings, bannock and giveaways.

Please come early as seats are limited and this is free admission.
