Quebec Writers' Federation

Writers Out Loud: The Middle East As a Canvas for Canadian Writers
2024-02-01 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Adair Auditorium, Atwater Library, 1200 Atwater Avenue, top floor, Montreal, Quebec, H3Z 1T4, Canada
Join us for Writers Out Loud: The Middle East As a Canvas for Canadian Writers.

Organized by Muslim Awareness Week and QWF, this free event will feature writers Ehab Lotayef (To Love a Palestinian Woman) and Ian Thomas Shaw (Quill of the Dove) discussing how the region and concept of “the Middle East” has influenced their work. Moderated by CKUT Community Radio Reporter Samaa Elibyari.

Light refreshments will be served after the discussion.

The panel will be in person at the Atwater Library Auditorium. Attendees can attend in person or register to join online via Zoom.

Feel free to share the Facebook event with friends and family.

To attend online: Register to get the link to the Zoom Webinar. You do not need to register if you plan to attend in person.

Register for Zoom Link

About the Authors

Ehab Lotayef is a poet and writer. His poetry book To Love a Palestinian Woman was published by TSAR in 2010. His works have appeared in multiple anthologies, papers, and webzines. Ehab, who was born in Cairo, Egypt, also writes in classical Arabic and colloquial Egyptian. He holds a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and is an IT and Technical Services Manager at McGill University. Ehab has been, and continues to be, dedicated to social justice and is a founding and active member of a number of NGOs.

Ian Thomas Shaw is a Canadian novelist and former diplomat. Born in Vancouver, he worked for 34 years first as an international development expert and then as a diplomat, living in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Ian’s second novel, Quill of the Dove, is a blend of literary fiction and political thriller set against the Lebanese Civil War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ian is also the founder and main editor for Deux Voiliers Publishing (27 books edited), and the founder of the Prose in the Park Literary Festival and the Ottawa Review of Books.

Getting to the Venue

The Adair Auditorium is located on the top floor of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre.

Address: 4023 Tupper Street (side entrance)Westmount, QC H3Z 1X4

Note: As this event will be held outside the library’s opening hours, please use the Tupper Street entrance if the main entrance on Atwater is closed.

Closest Metro: Atwater Station

Closest Bus lines: 24, 63, 90, 104, 138, 144, 150

Accessibility: The auditorium is fully accessible by wheelchair. From Tupper Street, there is a slight slope down to a side entrance to the basement. Once inside, there is an elevator to the second floor, where the auditorium is located.

For questions or requests about accessibility, contact John Wickham, Communications Officer, at john@qwf.org.

Learn more about the office location and accessibility.

The Second Plateau Symposium
2024-02-02 20:00 - 2024-02-03 01:30 | 4361 Saint Denis, 4361 Saint Denis, Montreal, QC, H2J 2L2, Canada
The Plateau Symposia is holding its second in-person event, featuring readings from Kiara Blanchette, Nuria Isabel, Salesforce Child, and Inuya Schultz.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2024-02-03 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, February 3, 10:00 am–12:30 pmOnline via Zoom—RSVP below to receive the 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.

The Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the session.

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

10:00–10:25: Writing 110:25–10:30: Break10:30–10:55: Writing 210:55–11:00: Break11:00–11:25: Writing 311:25–11:30: Break11:30–11:55: Writing 411:55–12:00: Break12:00–12:25: Writing 5

To receive the Zoom link, RSVP below. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the session.

Note: RSVPs will close 24 hours before the event starts. If there is no option to RSVP, RSVPs are closed.

Illuminated Grant-Writing
2024-02-03 10:30 - 13:30, 2024-02-10 10:30 - 13:30, 2024-02-17 10:30 - 13:30, 2024-02-24 10:30 - 13:30 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This series of four workshops will examine how writers with projects for print, spoken word, or storytelling can develop 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 (CCA) and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), and an arts council program officer will join us to answer questions. This series is information-heavy and intended for Quebec-based writers at all stages of their practice: emerging, mid-career, or established. Participants must have an original literary arts project in mind in order to focus their efforts and be prepared to complete tasks between sessions.

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.

As soon as they have registered for the workshop, participants should email a short, one-sentence description of their current literary arts project to riley@qwf.org with the subject line “For Tawhida Tanya Evanson.”

Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, author, performer and producer. Her poetry collections include Bothism and Nouveau Griot, and her debut novel Book of Wings won the 2022 CAM/Blue Metropolis New Contribution Prize. Her French autotranslation Livre des ailes (2023) is fresh from Marchand de feuilles. With a twenty-five-year practice in oral poetry and music, she performs internationally and has released studio albums and short films including the upcoming concert film CYANO SUN SUITE. She is president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word Program, and produces interarts events as Mother Tongue Media. She moonlights as a whirling dervish. www.mothertonguemedia.com

Perspective in Literary Fiction
2024-02-07 18:00 - 21:00, 2024-02-14 18:00 - 21:00, 2024-02-21 18:00 - 21:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This five-week workshop will offer a deep dive into the use of perspective in fiction. Storytellers operate in first-person, second-person, third-person limited, third-person omniscient, and more unusual points-of-view. What distinguishes these perspectives? What are their gifts and limitations? Most importantly, what can your chosen perspective do for the story you want to tell?

Each class will open with a discussion of perspective in some published fiction. How close is the narrator to the characters? How does the perspective affect the voice in which the story is told? What is the relationship of the voice to the characters?

Next, we will do two writing exercises. The first will be largely generative, based on the reading. The second will be integrative, guiding participants to apply what we are learning to their own stories or characters.

After discussing the writing exercises, we will devote the last part of each class to discussing participant stories.

On registration, participants will receive a packet of published stories or samples to be discussed in the first class; reading for subsequent weeks will be distributed after our first meeting. Participants are encouraged to bring ½-1 page of fiction to share on the first day, though they may choose instead to share some work generated in class. Subsequently, each participant is encouraged to submit 3-10 pages of fiction to be discussed by the class with a special focus on perspective. Otherwise, discussion will be tailored to participant preferences, with an eye to making discussion as useful to the writer as possible.

Participants should arrive each week having read the assigned stories and their peers’ work (approximately 40 pages). Be prepared to discuss these thoughtfully and with engagement! My goal is to create a space for candid and open-ended discussion.

Participants will finish the workshop with greater fluency and command in perspective, as readers able to discern the subtleties and mechanics of this important aspect of our craft, and as writers able to choose and employ a storytelling perspective with verve and confidence.

Padma Viswanathan’s novels have been published in eight countries and shortlisted for various awards, including the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her most recent book is Like Every Form of Love: A Memoir of Friendship and True Crime (Random House Canada, 2023). Her short fiction, essays, and short translations can be found in Granta, The Paris Review, BRICK, and elsewhere. Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas, she has also served as fiction faculty at the Banff Center, the Vermont Studio Center, the Bread Loaf Conferences, and the low-residency MFA of Fairleigh Dickinson University. More at www.padmaviswanathan.com

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2024-02-09 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Friday, February 9, 12:30 pm–3:00 pmFree, In PersonQWF Office (Room 3, 1200 Atwater Ave., Westmount)

Register for the session by filling out the RSVP form below.

Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

Join us for an in-person Shut Up & Write session at the QWF office!

Do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do, and meet a few of your fellow QWF members. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25 minute bursts, with 5-minute breaks 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.

12:30–12:55: Writing 112:55–1:00: Break1:00–1:25: Writing 21:25–1:30: Break1:30–1:55: Writing 31:55–2:00: Break2:00–2:25: Writing 42:25–2:30: Break2:30–2:55: Writing 5

To register, RSVP below.

Getting to the QWF Office

Our office is located on the top floor of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre, in Room 3.

Address: 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3Westmount, QC H3Z 1X4

Closest Metro: Atwater Station

Closest Bus lines: 24, 63, 90, 104, 138, 144, 150

Accessibility:

The QWF Office is fully accessible by wheelchair from the side entrance on Tupper Street. Once inside, there is an elevator to the second floor, where the QWF office is.

Learn more about the office location and accessibility.

Launch of Yolk 3.2
2024-02-09 19:30 | Librairie De Stiil Bookstore, 351 Duluth Ave E, Montreal, Quebec, H2W 1J3, Canada
Friday, Feb 9, 7:30 pmDe Stiil Booksellers (351 Ave. Duluth E., Montreal)

Join the folks at Yolk at De Stiil Friday, February 9th for the launch of yolk volume 3.2: Solastalgia, complete with readings from the issue, music, merchandise, and drinks. Issues of 3.2 will be available for purchase online and at select bookstores following the launch.Where: @destiil_books, 351 Duluth Ave E, Montreal.Time: Entrance at 7:30pm, readings set to begin at 8pm.Entry: $7.50 (or PWYC), or $20 with a copy of volume 3.2. Card or cash accepted.

Late Winter Writers Residency Online 2024
2024-02-12 00:00 - 2024-02-23 23:59 | Online
Overview
The Late Winter Writers Residency Online is a small cohort program that gives you a chance to learn from each other and faculty, attend exclusive talks, ask questions, and develop your practice.
What does the program offer?
This two week online residency provides broad thematic teaching from faculty members, Fawn Parker and Annick McAskill, Q&A sessions and workshopping. Instructors will discuss ideas, experiences, and obstacles that you may be encountering with your writing of both poetry and fiction.
One-on-one mentorship will allow you to receive direct mentorship on craft and professional development.
Who should apply?
Writers in all creative genres are invited to apply. The online program is designed for emerging and established writers with a proven publication record. We welcome writers from all ages (18+), backgrounds, and all gender identities and expressions.
This Residency only accepts projects that are being written in English.
This program is not open to applicants who have taken part in a Banff Centre residency in the last year, nor to current faculty members of any other Banff Centre programming.
Application Deadline: November 08, 2023
Program Dates: February 12 – February 23, 2024
Learn more and apply online: https://bit.ly/3o6Sf0q
*Financial Aid of 100% of the program fee is available for this program.

Solo Collab
2024-02-13 19:30 - 23:30 | Casa del Popolo, 4873 boul. St-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec, H2T 1R6, Canada
Klara du Plessis, Rachel McCrum, Katherine McLeod & Deanna Radford. Poetry & Dance
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Doors: 19h30, show: 20h00
Casa Del Popolo, 4873 boul St-Laurent, Montréal
Advance tickets available. $8 +taxes & fees: https://www.venuepilot.co/events/91259/orders/new#/
$10 at the door
KLARA DU PLESSIS is an interdisciplinary artist-scholar, literary curator, and poet. Her most recent publications include G, translingual poetry composed in collaboration with Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi, and I’mpossible collab, a collection of literary essays. Post-mortem of the event is forthcoming fall 2024 from Palimpsest Press.
RACHEL MCCRUM is a poet, performer, editor, and curator. Originally from Northern Ireland, she lived in Edinburgh, Scotland between 2010 and 2016, 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 translated by Jonathan Lamy and published in a bilingual edition with Mémoire d’encrier in Fall 2020, and was a finalist for the Le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole from the Quebec Writers’ Federation in 2022. She is currently working on a new spoken word show on stepmothers. Rachel is the vocalist for noise-poetry group Pigs&Wolves.
KATHERINE MCLEOD (she/her) is a scholar and dancer. She publishes research on feminist listening to literary audio, and most recently she has co-edited with Jason Camlot the special triple-issue of English Studies in Canada, “New Sonic Approaches in Literary Studies.” She teaches in the Department of English at Concordia, she curates Where Poets Read, and she produces the monthly series ShortCuts for The SpokenWeb Podcast.
In 2023, DEANNA RADFORD’s poetry-sound group Cloud Circuit recorded its first full-length album at Hotel2Tango in Montréal. Following that, they took on the role of Ambassadors of the Embassy of Utopia as part of the Tartu International Literary Festival Prima Vista in Estonia. She is also a co-founder of improvisational group, The Tuned Air Trio, with vocalist Ayelet Rose Gottlieb and multiinstrumentalist Eric Lewis. Deanna’s poetry has appeared in The Belfield Literary Review, The Capilano Review, Radio, Occulto, and elswhere.
ACCESSIBILITY: Casa Del Popolo is located on ground level. There are ramps on both the venue and bar front entrances for wheelchair accessibility. Washrooms are gender neutral and one is wheelchair accessible.

Lunch and Learn with Playwrights' Workshop Montreal
2024-02-14 12:00 - 13:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Wednesday, February 14, 202412:00-1:30 pm ETOnline via Zoom

Presenting Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal!

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal (PWM) is a theatre creation and development centre sparking collaborative exploration of new work. In this Lunch & Learn, PWM Programs and Development Manager Heather Eaton will be presenting the programs and activities PWM offers to playwrights in various stages of their careers.

With their varied programming, including mentorships, workshops, residencies, dramaturgical conversations, and professional development workshops, PWM is an invaluable centre for playwrights, dramaturgs, theatre translators, and performance makers.

Come join us on the 14th of February from 12nn-1:30pm for a virtual presentation. Folks are invited to come with questions for the dedicated Q&A portion toward the end.

RSVP using the button below and a Zoom link will be sent to you a couple of days before the event itself.

Poetry & music with Elena Stoodley + Svens Telemaque + The Legendary Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
2024-02-14 20:00 - 23:30 | La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec, H2T 2R5, Canada
Casa Del Popolo Productions, Arts in the Margins, et Lectures Logos Readings present The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble on their 50th Anniversary Tour & Special Guests Elena Stoodley + Svens Telemaque
Wednesday February 14, 2024, Doors: 8:00 pm, music: 9:00 pm
All ages. Tickets: $22 +fees & taxes
Box office: https://www.venuepilot.co/events/88138/orders/new#/
★★★ ~le français suit ~
THE ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE was formed in 1974 shortly after SIR KAHIL EL ZABAR graduated from Lake Forest College, with the goal, “To combine concepts of African American music with its earlier roots in traditional African music, to produce new motifs and sounds true to their origins yet firmly pointed in a new artistic direction of enlightenment and deep listening”. Half a century later and the rich, compelling, ever-evolving sound they are known for, is still going strong. Together with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is one of the two remaining original groups active in the world today that were nurtured in the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.) El Zabar attests. “My concept was based in logic as it pertains to the history of Great Black Music.
EHE has a strong rhythmic foundation, innovative harmonics and counterpoint, well-balanced interplay and polyphony among the players for highly developed ensemble dynamics. They are strong individual soloists with an in-depth grasp of music history, originality, fearlessness and deep spirituality. Alongside multi-faceted El-Zabar, the EHE’s current line-up includes COREY WILKES on trumpet, who has worked with numerous jazz masters, including Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Elling, and multi-instrumentalist ALEX HARDING on baritone sax, who has performed with Dollar Brand, Julius Hemphill Sun Ra, and Fela The Musical. They whip up an electrifying mix of spiritual jazz and African rhythms built around fundamental brass improvisations and a swing-induced groove.The resulting trance-like fervor, transports one into a mind opening journey of spiritually enlightened deep listening.
Their album, Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse Records, Music for the Spirit) releases on Feb 28, 2024. https://ethnicheritageensemble.bandcamp.com/album/open-me-a-higher-consciousness-of-sound-and-spirit
Elena Stoodley is a singer, author, songwriter and sound designer half of the time, the remaining being spent in community organizing. Born in Tio’tia:ke, Montreal, she often blends her passion for social justice and black liberation with her art practices. She studied Creative Writing and Electroacoustic music and performed her music internationally, including in Cameroon and in the Republic of Congo. She sometimes gives workshops or consults on topics of anti-oppressive work practices and intersectional inclusion. Her most recent sound design work was shown in the plays, The Mountaintop, the Rootless tree, Manman LaMer, Black Out (nominated for oustanding sounddesign for the META’s – Montreal English Theatre Awards). Her most recent work was sound designing for Pipeline by Black Theatre Workshop and M’appelle Mohamed Ali by La Sentinelle and L’amoure looks something like you by Eric Noël. She is currently working on the annual recap Chécké2023 and sound design for a documentary. This Spring of 2023, she will be sound designing the play Diggers, for Black Theatre Workshop and S’enjailler by Stephie Mazunya. https://www.elenastoodley.net
Svens Telemaque abandoned familiarity and utilizes his past experiences to help him pave the way for others. Svens Telemaque has a unique perspective on life and challenges the average perception of circumstances, faith, and emotion. After relocating to Montreal in 2007, he co-founded L’art Selah, a poetry collective, and released his first book, Pen of a Ready Writer Vol.1, in 2014. He now arms audiences to face, embrace, and overcome adversity with hope. As a Social Entrepreneur, Author, and speaker, he reminds us that even “Broken Crayons Still Color.” @svens_telemaque
ACCESSIBILITY // The Sala Rossa is located on the second floor (there are 38 steps total). There are gender neutral washrooms which are not wheelchair accessible. There is a Hearing Assistance System on the FM dial at 101.1 FM. Anyone needing assistance accessing the space can contact us – we are more than happy to try and accommodate people to the best of our ability.
★★★
Productions Casa del popolo, Arts aux marges, et Lectures logos readings présentent L’ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE à l’occasion de sa tournée du 50e anniversaire et des invité.es spéciaux – Elena Stoodley et Svens Telemaque
Mercredi 14 février 2024, Portes : 20h00, musique : 21h00
Tous âges. Billets : 22 $ + frais et taxes
Billetterie : https://www.venuepilot.co/events/88138/orders/new#/
L’Ethnic Heritage Ensemble a été fondé en 1974, peu après que Sir Kahil El Zabar eut obtenu son diplôme au Lake Forest College, dans le but de « combiner les concepts de la musique afro-américaine avec ses racines plus anciennes dans la musique africaine traditionnelle, afin de produire de nouveaux motifs et sons fidèles à leurs origines, tout en s’orientant fermement vers une nouvelle direction artistique d’illumination et d’écoute profonde ». Un demi-siècle plus tard, le son riche, captivant et en constante évolution qui a fait leur réputation est toujours d’actualité. Avec l’Art Ensemble of Chicago, l’Ethnic Heritage Ensemble est l’un des deux derniers groupes originaux actifs dans le monde aujourd’hui qui ont été formés au sein de l’AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). « Mon concept était basé sur la logique de l’histoire de la grande musique noire. »
EHE s’appuie sur une base rythmique solide, des harmoniques et des contrepoints innovants, une interaction et une polyphonie bien équilibrées entre les musiciens pour une dynamique d’ensemble très développée. Ce sont de solides solistes individuels qui ont une connaissance approfondie de l’histoire de la musique, font preuve d’originalité, d’intrépidité et d’une profonde spiritualité. Outre El-Zabar aux multiples facettes, la formation actuelle de l’EHE comprend Corey Wilkes à la trompette, qui a travaillé avec de nombreux maîtres du jazz, dont Wynton Marsalis et Kurt Elling, et le saxophone baryton Alex Harding, multi-instrumentiste, qui a joué avec Dollar Brand, Julius Hemphill, Sun Ra et Fela The Musical. Ils créent un mélange électrisant de jazz spirituel et de rythmes africains autour d’improvisations fondamentales de cuivres et d’un groove induit par le swing. La ferveur qui en résulte, semblable à une transe, transporte l’auditeur dans un voyage d’ouverture de l’esprit et d’écoute profonde spirituellement éclairée.
Leur album, Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse Records, Music for the Spirit) sort le 28 février 2024. https://ethnicheritageensemble.bandcamp.com/album/open-me-a-higher-consciousness-of-sound-and-spirit?fbclid=IwAR2rL6D_aN0M0prfRc_Tj5ixxUW8jlm2NcKXTfY9N2M7vsvt6GHwEkh6A4Q
Elena Stoodley est chanteuse, autrice-compositrice et conceptrice sonore en plus de se consacrer à l’organisation communautaire. Née à Tio’tia: ke, Montréal, elle joint souvent sa passion pour la justice sociale et la libération des personnes noires à ses pratiques artistiques. Elle a étudié la création littéraire et la musique électroacoustique et a interprété sa musique à l’international, notamment au Cameroun et à la République du Congo. Elle donne parfois des ateliers ou des consultations sur les pratiques de travail anti-oppressives et d’inclusion intersectionnelle. Son travail de conception sonore le plus récent a été montré dans les pièces de théâtre, The Mountaintop, the Rootless tree, Manman LaMer, Black Out (nominé pour conception sonore exceptionnelle aux META’s – Montreal English Theatre Awards) Ses plus récents projets étaient la conception sonore des pièces de théâtre Pipeline de Black Theatre Workshop et de M’appelle Mohamed Ali de La Sentinelle ainsi que L’amoure looks something like you d’Éric Noël. Elle travaille présentement sur la revue annuelle Chécké2023 et la conception sonore d’un documentaire Elle signera la conception sonore de la pièce Diggers, en collaboration avec le Black TheatreWorkshop au printemps 2023 et de S’enjailler de Stephie Mazunya. https://www.elenastoodley.net
Svens Telemaque abandonne la familiarité et utilise ses expériences passées pour ouvrir la voie aux autres. Svens Telemaque a une perspective unique sur la vie et remet en question la perception moyenne des circonstances, de la foi et des émotions. Après s’être installé à Montréal en 2007, il a cofondé L’art Selah, un collectif de poésie, et a publié son premier livre, Pen of a Ready Writer Vol.1, en 2014. Il encourage maintenant ses auditoires à faire face à l’adversité, à l’embrasser et à la surmonter avec espoir. En tant qu’entrepreneur social, auteur et conférencier, il nous rappelle que même les « crayons cassés ont encore de la couleur ». @svens_telemaque
★★★
ACCESSIBILITÉ // La Sala Rossa est située au deuxième étage (38 marches au total). Il y a des toilettes neutres qui ne sont pas accessibles aux fauteuils roulants. Il y a un système d’aide à l’audition sur le cadran FM à 101.1 FM. Toute personne ayant besoin d’aide pour accéder à l’espace peut nous contacter – nous sommes plus qu’heureux d’essayer d’accommoder les gens au mieux de nos capacités.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2024-02-17 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, February 17, 10:00 am–12:30 pmOnline via Zoom—RSVP below to receive the 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.

The Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the session.

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

10:00–10:25: Writing 110:25–10:30: Break10:30–10:55: Writing 210:55–11:00: Break11:00–11:25: Writing 311:25–11:30: Break11:30–11:55: Writing 411:55–12:00: Break12:00–12:25: Writing 5

To receive the Zoom link, RSVP below. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the session.

Note: RSVPs will close 24 hours before the event starts. If there is no option to RSVP, RSVPs are closed.

Youth-Led Poetry Night
2024-02-21 08:00 - 17:00 | Viva Vida Art Gallery, 278 Lakeshore Road, suite 2, Pointe-Claire, Quebec, H9S 4K9, Canada
Thursday, Feb 29, 2024, 7:00 pm ESTViva Vida, 278 Ch. du Bord-du-Lac-Lakeshore, Suite 2Point-Claire, QC, H9S 4K9

You’re invited to a Youth-Led Poetry Night, a free event encouraging young writers to share their work with an audience. Everyone is welcome!

Desserts, coffee, and tea will be available.

Hosted by MNA Greg Kelley & Samara O’Gorman (Poète/Poet).

Feel free to bring your poetry, or other forms of written work for our open mic—it will be a night of sharing stories, art, and connecting with other local artists

To RSVP: Email Gregory.Kelley.JACA@assnat.qc.ca.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2024-02-23 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Friday, February 23, 12:30 pm–3:00 pmFree, In PersonQWF Office (Room 3, 1200 Atwater Ave., Westmount)

Register for the session by filling out the RSVP form below.

Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

Join us for an in-person Shut Up & Write session at the QWF office!

Do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do, and meet a few of your fellow QWF members. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25 minute bursts, with 5-minute breaks 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.

12:30–12:55: Writing 112:55–1:00: Break1:00–1:25: Writing 21:25–1:30: Break1:30–1:55: Writing 31:55–2:00: Break2:00–2:25: Writing 42:25–2:30: Break2:30–2:55: Writing 5

To register, RSVP below.

Getting to the QWF Office

Our office is located on the top floor of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre, in Room 3.

Address: 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3Westmount, QC H3Z 1X4

Closest Metro: Atwater Station

Closest Bus lines: 24, 63, 90, 104, 138, 144, 150

Accessibility:

The QWF Office is fully accessible by wheelchair from the side entrance on Tupper Street. Once inside, there is an elevator to the second floor, where the QWF office is.

Learn more about the office location and accessibility.

Book Launch: Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo
2024-02-24 14:00 - 16:00 | Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 3P9, Canada
February 24, 2–4 pmLibrairie Paragraphe Bookstore, Montreal

𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 and 𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 present a book launch for 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒌𝒊 by 𝐎𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐚 𝐊𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐨.

Join us as author 𝐎𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐚 𝐊𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐨 discusses and signs copies of her latest book 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒌𝒊.

Admission is Free.

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑:

Oonya Kempadoo is the author of three novels and is critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic. A creative practitioner with an interest in cross-disciplinary dialogue, she is a citizen of England, Guyana, and Grenada, and currently lives in Montreal.

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊:

Through luminescent light, ancestral paths, and a Caribbean spirit-inflected world, Naniki explores the musings and inner workings of the deep blue — the Caribbean Sea — and its shape-shifting sea beings.

As the sea mirrors the light from the blue skies, and its depths are exposed by daggers of sunlight, so too Naniki reveals and honours the Indigenous roots of the Caribbean and its people, whose destiny is tied to the sea, the vessel of collective memory.

Amana and Skelele are made of water and air, their essence intertwined with Taino and African ancestry. They evolved as elemental beings of the Anthropocene, and shape-shifting with their naniki (active spirits) or animal avatars, they begin an archipelagic journey throughout the Caribbean Basin to see the strange future they dreamed of. Until devastation erupts.

Tasked by their elders to go back in time to the source of the First People’s knowledge, they must surmount historical and mythological challenges alike. How can they navigate and overcome these obstacles to regenerate themselves, their love, their islands, and their seas?

Book launch of 'Take Out the Jocks: a feminist revenge comedy'
2024-02-24 15:00 - 17:00 | l’Euguélionne Bookstore, 1426 rue Beaudry,, Montreal, Quebec, H2L 3E5, Canada
Join Michael Nest for the launch of his new novel ‘Take Out the Jocks: a feminist revenge comedy’, with Linda Morra, the host and writer of Getting Lit With Linda. The novel explores what would happen if the people afraid to go out at night were young men, not young women. It follows Kate, Carly, and Seyram, friends since childhood, who are outraged by the acquittal of a local rapist and frustrated at the lack of progress with the #MeToo movement in their community. They decide to reverse gender freedoms by targeting the town’s jocks in a series of ever-more brazen attacks. On the case are local police, who can’t conceive that middle-aged moms could be capable of such things. But also on their tail are the FBI and a local journalist who suspect their involvement. Set against the backdrop of Trump’s America in 2018, the novel is a dark comedy of female vengeance that blows open literally a small American town. Michael Nest lives in Montreal. His previous book, Cold Case North: the search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett was shortlisted for Crime Writers of Canada’s Best Nonfiction Crime Book (2021) and won SaskBooks’ Creative Publishing Award (2022).

Translation Talks: D. M. Bradford and Donald Nicholson-Smith
2024-02-26 12:00 - 13:00 | QC
February 26, 12:00–1:00 pm ESTOnline via Zoom (Register for Zoom link)

Darby Minott Bradford is a poet, translator, and sometimes curator. They are the author of Dream of No One but Myself (2021), which won the A.M. Klein QWF Prize for Poetry, was a finalist for the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize, Governor General Literary Award and Gerard Lampert Memorial Award, and was longlisted for the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal. Bradford’s first translation, House Within a House (2023) by Nicholas Dawson, received the VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award and John Glassco Translation Prize, and was shortlisted for the Governor General Literary Awards for French-to-English translation. Their most recent book of poetry, Bottom Rail on Top (2023), works to complicate prevailing conceptions of Blackness by staging one personal present alongside American histories of antebellum Black life. Bradford lives and works in Tio’tia:ke (Montréal) on the unceded territory of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka nation.

Donald Nicholson-Smith is a translator and freelance editor. Born in Manchester, England, he is a long-time resident of New York City. His translations include works by Thierry Jonquet, Guy Debord, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Henri Lefebvre, Guillaume Apollinaire, Raoul Vaneigem, Antonin Artaud, Yasmina Khadra (with Alyson Waters), Jean-Patrick Manchette, and Serge Pey. His en-face translation of Abdellatif Laâbi’s In Praise of Defeat, including self-selected poems from the Moroccan author and dissident’s long career, was a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2017. Nicholson-Smith has been dubbed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in recognition of his services to French literature in translation.

Translation Talks will run for approximately one hour on Zoom and will be hosted by Griffin Poetry Prize editorial director Adriana Oniță and social media editor Medgine Mathurin.

Check out the Griffin Poetry Prize’s past Translation Talks on SoundCloud and YouTube, featuring exceptional poet-translators in conversation, including Khaled Mattawa & Sarah Riggs; Ani Gjika & Dunya Mikhail; Ali Kinsella, Dzvinia Orlowsky, & Mira Rosenthal; Valzhyna Mort & Erin Moure; and Manolis Aligizakis & Sharon Dolin.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2024 Griffin Poetry Prize Longlist on March 20, 2024.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2024-03-02 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, March 2, 10:00 am–12:30 pmOnline via Zoom—RSVP below to receive the 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.

The Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the session.

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

10:00–10:25: Writing 110:25–10:30: Break10:30–10:55: Writing 210:55–11:00: Break11:00–11:25: Writing 311:25–11:30: Break11:30–11:55: Writing 411:55–12:00: Break12:00–12:25: Writing 5

To receive the Zoom link, RSVP below. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the session.

Note: RSVPs for virtual Shut Up & Write! sessions close 24 hours before the session. If there is no option to RSVP, RSVPs are closed.

Confabulation presents: Lies I told my parents — Stories of missed curfews, careful omissions and getting caught red-handed
2024-03-02 20:00 - 22:00 | Centaur Theatre, 453 St. Francois-Xavier, Montreal, Quebec, HZY 2T1, Canada
Confabulation Montreal presents: “Lies I told my parents — Stories of missed curfews, careful omissions and getting caught red-handed.”
Saturday March 2, 2024 @ 20h
Centaur Theatre, 453 Saint Francois Xavier St, Montreal, Quebec H2Y 2T2
Get your tickets right here: https://centaurtheatre.com/box-office/event-details/?event_id=S55confablies

Writing Comic Poetry: Seriously?!
2024-03-04 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Can a poem be funny? Can we balance the light and the dark, find hilarity in a haiku? What is the value of play in creation? In this workshop, participants will be encouraged to explore the place of humour in their work, through guided readings, discussions, and exercises.

Writers of all levels, from beginner to seasoned, are welcome, and you may use whatever tools you prefer, from laptops to paper and a pen. Each workshop will begin with a reading and discussion of a poem provided by the workshop leader, followed by a writing session. Participants are encouraged but not required to share their works-in-progress with the group. You are also encouraged to bring to our meetings drafts of poems-in-progress, or any writing you may wish to shape into a poem.

Identifying what makes you laugh is key to sharpening your own wit, so a week prior to the workshop you will be asked to select a poem from a provided list. During the first meeting, be prepared to explain why this poem made you guffaw, laugh, or perhaps just chuckle. Was it the surprising wordplay? An unexpected juxtaposition? The poet’s subversion of your expectations?

Through writing prompts and exercises (both collaborative and individualized), we will play with form, persona, and language. While humour is subjective, this workshop will be a safe space, with respectful feedback provided by the instructor and the group.

Rebecca Păpucaru‘s first novel, As Good a Place as Any, will be published by Guernica Editions in 2025. Her first book, The Panic Room (Nightwood Editions) was awarded the 2018 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry and was also a finalist for the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Her short story “Yentas” won The Malahat Review’s 2020 Novella Prize. Her work has also appeared in The Best Canadian Poetry in English, Arc, EVENT, Grain, The Literary Review of Canada, Canadian Literature, and The New Quarterly, among others.

Memoir: How to Tell Your Story
2024-03-04 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Each of us has a story to tell. We all have memories. But how do you take what you’ve experienced and turn it into something more than a conversation in a bar? How do you find the weight that is in each of our lives and stories?

In this workshop we’ll focus on transforming the personal into something that reaches beyond.

Here’s a loose outline of how we’ll approach it.

Week 1

What is a story? What makes the telling a story and not just words spilling onto a page?

Week 2

How to get at that story that burns within?

Week 3

The hook, part 1: First impressions are critical

Week 4

The hook, part 2: Developing the critical eye

Week 5

Beyond copy editing: How do you know which voice is the right voice? You have to listen carefully. The story knows.

Week 6

Attack 1: You’ve written your story. We’re here to tell you we don’t like it. What are you going to do about it?

Week 7

Attack 2: Why is the story not working – or, better still, why is it working?

Week 8

Writer vs Author: writing to write or writing to get published. Why it matters.

Along the way, there will be exercises, discussions, writing, revising, reading of each other’s work, and good fun.

Eddy L. Harris is a perpetual traveler, a filmmaker and the author of seven critically acclaimed books, all of which partake of memoir, adventure tale, travelogue and cultural reportage.

He spent four years as Writer-in-Residence at Washington University teaching Black American Literature and writing classes structured as workshops. That was followed by a stint on the Nez Perce Indian reservation in northern Idaho and a documentary project he wrote and presented for BBC-Wales: Roots In Wales.

In 2014 he repeated his canoe journey along the Mississippi River which resulted in the award-winning documentary film River to the Heart, which he wrote, produced, and directed.

He has worked most recently as professor of English and Writer-in-Residence at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia

As USA Today put it: “Eddy Harris isn’t your everyday tourist. His travels almost always have a purpose, and that purpose is to write about not only what he sees, but what he feels.”

Unlock Your Filmmaking Dreams: A Short Film Screenwriting Workshop
2024-03-05 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This workshop is not just about dreaming—it’s about doing. It’s about equipping you with the tools to transform your creative ideas into compelling short films. Here’s what you can expect to gain from this cooperative experience:

Learn the fundamental skills of crafting engaging and impactful short film screenplays; the principles of character development, plot structure, and dialogue that will make your narrative resonate. Gain insights into the anatomy of a successful screenplays, receive hands-on guidance on structuring your ideas, ensuring your story flows seamlessly from start to finish and receive constructive feedback in a safe environment designed to cultivate a supportive community of fellow aspiring writers.

As you share your thoughts and insights, you will develop the skill of giving and receiving positive, constructive feedback to elevate your work and cultivate a supportive community of fellow writers. This will allow you to articulate your vision effectively, convey the essence of your screenplay with impact and hone the art of pitching your ideas confidently and persuasively.

How to apply?

Submit your CV, a paragraph detailing your previous creative writing experience and a paragraph describing the story you would like to develop as a screenplay of no more than ten script pages – equivalent to ten minutes of screen time. Adaptations of stories from other forms is encouraged. Send all your submissions materials in one email to Riley at riley@qwf.org with the subject line “For Jacob Potashnik” by Friday, February 16.

Through a series of ten, two-hour sessions, you will identify and refine the core elements of your story and develop your ideas and receive constructive group feedback. You will progress from story idea to an outline, treatment, a dialogued version, to your final draft screenplay. There is an emphasis on oral presentation of ideas and active participation for all participants.

Seize Your Spot! Spaces are limited, so act now to secure your place in this exciting QWF Short Film Screenwriting Workshop.

Jacob Potashnik is a screenwriter and producer and line-producer of documentaries, television series, commercials, web content and films of every genre. In 2019, Jacob co-produced, “Pink Lake,” a feature film which screened at international festivals in Vancouver, Hamilton, and Durban. Jacob won the WGC award for the best screenplay for, “Stardom,” co-written and directed by Denys Arcand. He is the author of, “The Golem of Hampstead, and Other Stories,” a collection short-listed for the QWF/Concordia University First Book prize.

Writers Read presents Laurie Graham, Derek Beaulieu, and Jana Prikryl
2024-03-06 11:00 - 17:00 | 4TH SPACE, McConnell Building, Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Writers Read, a reading series based at Concordia University, is eager to feature a professional panel of outstanding writers: poet and publisher of Brick Magazine Laurie Graham, poet, publisher, anthologist and Banff’s poet laureate Derek Beaulieu, and poet and executive editor of the New York Review of Books Jana Prikryl. The panel will take place from 11am-1pm, in which Graham, Beaulieu, and Prikryl will discuss how to make a career through writing. From 1:00-2:30, light refreshments will be served as members from Concordia’s graduate literary journal, Headlight Anthology, perform a reading. Finally, from 2:30-5:00, Graham, Beaulieu, and Prikryl will read their own work. This event is free and open to all. If attendees can not be present for the whole event, they are welcome to attend as much as they can.

Writers Read is part of Concordia University’s Creative Writing program and is supported by the Department of English and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Writers Read, directed by Professor Sina Queyras since 2011, invites renowned and emerging authors, both Canadian and international, to read from and discuss their work with students and local audiences. In addition to readings, the series includes Master Classes and professional developmental activities spanning the school year.

For more information, follow @writersreadconcordia on Instagram

Edit Your Own Prose: The Art of Rewriting
2024-03-06 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
You’ve written a first draft of your novel or your memoir. You know you need to rework it, but you’re stuck. It doesn’t quite work, but you are not sure why. Rewriting the opening over and over isn’t helping. So, what should you do?

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to see your own work with an editor’s eye using tips, tricks, and hands-on exercises.

The workshop will focus on big-picture issues, including story line, character development, and genre expectations, and help you bring the story alive on the page through rhythm, effective dialogue, and language choices.

Through the course of the workshop, you’ll learn how to:

Spot common big-picture problems (info dumping, “as you know, Bob” explanations, insufficient conflict, misunderstanding genre conventions, etc.)

Track character development (goals and motivation)

See the advantages and pitfalls of different points of view

Make the most out of dialogue

Play with language and develop your imagination

This workshop is geared toward fiction and creative nonfiction book-length manuscripts.

By the end of the workshop, you’ll better understand what isn’t working in your manuscript and how to fix it, and, hopefully, have learned to love the rewriting process.

Maria Schamis Turner is a freelance editor specializing in developmental editing and line editing for fiction and creative nonfiction. She is a founding editor and previous editor-in-chief and creative nonfiction editor of the literary magazine carte blanche. She worked for 10 years on literary projects for CBC Radio, including as an editor for Canada Writes. She was also the producer of the true-story storytelling series This Really Happened and has taught numerous workshops on storytelling, writing, and editing.

Speaking Truth to Power: How to Write Non-Didactic Political Poetry
2024-03-06 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This 8-week poetry workshop focuses on writing poetry that engages with social justice and politics without leaning too far into didacticism and prescriptiveness, without sounding too preachy or like a chant in a march. This workshop intends to show writers how to subtly pack a punch into a poem that leaves the reader breathless, surprised, and moved. We will be doing this by exploring different formal approaches that will help add nuance and singularity to the poems we will be writing.

Each week, we’ll be discussing a different formal approach, including:

Direct address/letter poems

Filtering through a lens

Writer as expert

Research

Found poetry/Erasure poetry

Villanelle, the ghazal, and the power of repetition

Experimental poetry

We will be doing so by reading and discussing poems that utilize specific formal approaches based on the topic set for the week. Some of the writers we will be reading include Hanif Abdurraqib, Chen Chen, Canisia Lubrin, Trish Salah, Tommy Pico, Kay Gabriel, Dionne Brand, and Hala Alyan.

Furthermore, each week, workshop participants will be given writing prompts that will help them learn about the different forms and formal approaches discussed. The prompts will guide the participants in attempting to write poems using that week’s form. Finally, 1-2 writers will have their poems workshopped each week. Attendees will be asked to send in their poems a week in advance so that their peers can start workshopping the pieces at home a week in advance.This workshop is open to poets in any stage of their development, whether they are new to writing or already have a writing practice. The goal of the workshop is for participants to leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of the ways form and craft can be used to write more impactful and unique poems that engage with social justice and undermine the white, cis, colonial patriarchal status quo. This workshop will be especially useful for writers who feel they have something to say but don’t know how to say it.Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch is a writer, translator, and acquisitions editor at Metonymy Press living in Tio’tia:ke. Their work has appeared in The Best Canadian Poetry 2018 anthology, The New Quarterly, Arc Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. Their book, knot body, published by Metatron Press in 2020, was shortlisted for the QWF Concordia First Book Award, and their second book, The Good Arabs, published by Metonymy Press in 2021, was received honorary mention for the Arab American Book Awards and the Khayrallah Prize, and won the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal. Their translation of Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay’s La fille d’elle-même from the French was published in Spring 2023. With co-editor Samia Marshy, they are editing El Ghourabaa, an anthology of queer and trans writing by Arab and Arabophone writers, forthcoming Spring 2024.
