Quebec Writers' Federation

Poetic Conversations
2023-03-13 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-03-06 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | 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).

Pitch, Plan, and Lead: How to Get and Give a Workshop for Writers
2023-03-12 08:00 - 17:00, 2023-03-05 08:00 - 17:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Are you ready to share your knowledge of your chosen literary field? Need a hand getting started on your pitch, or polishing your workshop-leading skills? Together with other emerging and established literary folk, we’ll talk about how to conceive, plan, and lead a successful workshop, whether on an aspect of craft, a literary genre, or an angle on the business of writing – just in time for QWF’s spring call for workshop proposals.

Over two Sunday mornings, we’ll explore possibilities for bringing as much creativity to your workshop design as you do to your art. You’ll develop and refine your workshop idea and transform it into a solid pitch. We’ll talk about how to plan a workshop that’s fun and effective for you and the participants, whether it lasts one afternoon or ten weeks, including how to manage a diverse group of participants with differing goals, skill levels, and workshop experience.

In the first session we’ll talk about:

choosing your topic

how to design a format (one day, four afternoons, two hours a week for eight weeks?) and plan your activities across that time frame

how to add readings, videos, or reference materials

how to describe your teaching experience and approach to leading a workshop – what will you lead participants to accomplish, and how?

what to include in a “more detailed workshop description (up to two pages)”

Between sessions you’ll create a clean draft of your pitch using this form: https://qwf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/QWF-2022-2023-Proposal-Form-for-Workshop-Leaders.pdf and share it with the group by email. In the second session, we’ll consider the drafts and help each other make them even clearer, more powerful, more engaging.

We will also discuss:

how to manage workshop time to strike a good balance between the various elements, such as in-class writing, group discussion, and homework tasks

making sure everyone in a diverse group gets what they need (even the difficult ones)

accounting for – and celebrating – each participant’s distinct individuality

cultivating a sense of community

sharing information about the writing life – how to get published, how to get paid, do you need an agent, doing public readings/open mics, etc.

modeling and fostering respect, warmth, honesty and generosity in your workshop

In this context we’ll discuss the Guidelines for QWF Workshop Participants and Workshop Leaders. Please have a look at these before we meet: https://qwf.org/activities/programs/workshops/guidelines-for-qwf-workshop-participants-and-workshop-leaders/

The workshop leader will wear a mask during meetings. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to do so as well, which will increase the accessibility of the workshop to anyone with increased vulnerability.

*Note: Professional literary credentials vary depending on the type of workshop you plan to offer. If you aren’t sure whether your credentials make you a candidate for leading a QWF workshop, please contact Lori Schubert at admin@qwf.org.

Elise Moser has published short stories, a novel for adults, a YA novel, and a nonfiction book for kids. She has edited anthologies, been literary editor of online arts and culture magazine Rover, and sat on the boards of Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, PEN Canada, the QWF, and the English-language Arts Network. She has twice been a mentor and has led workshops on the short story, on having a successful writing group, and on combining the practices of writing and walking. At least two of her workshop groups became writing groups, and continue to meet and write together.

Confabulation presents: Accomplices
2023-03-11 20:00 - 21:30 | Centre Phi, 315 rue St. Paul O, Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 2M3, Canada
Stories of best friends, co-conspirators and partners in crime.

Canadian Parents for French Bilingual Virtual Story Time with Candace Amarante
2023-03-10 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom, https://bit.ly/35akIGi
Join author Candace Amarante for a Bilingual Virtual Story time Session on Friday, March 10th Participants will listen to a story about Ottawa and learn about the Bilingualism that exists all around us. They will also listen to “The Pheasant’s Tale… Or was it its Tail?” written by Candace Amarante.
PDF/virtual access to the books read as well as other recommended stories will be emailed to all participants following the session. There will be opportunities to ask questions as well a creative drawing activity so please tune in with some paper and crayons or pencils. The content is most appropriate for ages 5-10, but all are welcome to listen to these fantastic stories. Participants will receive a zoom link by email prior to the event. Register for free now!
Please email mhawley@cpf.ca with any questions or concerns pertaining to the event.
About Candace
Candace Amarante writes short stories, plays and children’s books. “Le ciel me sourit/ The Sky Smiles at Me” is Candace’s first bilingual book for children. Her most recent work includes: a dialogue, “Let’s not talk about it anymore” (Questions: Philosophy for Young People Fall 2022); The Dream Machine (in collaboration with Dr. Argerie Tsimicalis and Shriners Hospitals for Children-Canada; Tellwell Publishers, forthcoming); “The Blunder Family: Now where’d I put the pork?” (East of the Web 2020); The Pheasant’s Tale or … was it its Tail? (Green Bamboo Publishing 2017). Candace holds a doctorate in political science from Columbia University, NY. She lives in Montreal, where she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children. When she is not writing, she loves skiing with her husband and reading with her daughter. For more information, please visit her website: https://sites.google.com/site/candaceamarante/

Biography, Autobiography, and Ghostwriting
2023-03-09 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.

Writing the TV Pilot
2023-03-09 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.

The Ghost at the Heart of a Short Story
2023-03-08 20:00 - 22:00 | 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.

Carolyn Guillet's "Seventeen [Anonymous] Women": Public Reading and Book Launch
2023-03-08 19:00 - 21:30 | Theatre Rouge, 4750 avenue Henri-Julien, Montreal, Quebec, H2T 2C8, Canada
Seventeen women gather around the metaphorical fire of a lit theatrical stage to tell their stories, to dip their ladles into the bubbling stew-pot of humanity’s collective tales, some new, some old. They sing, they suffer, they laugh, they cry. Feisty, angry, whimsical, and forgiving, they obey the ancient dramatic imperative to act out life’s most challenging obstacles, crises, revelations, and transformations, for their benefit and for ours. In the same way a painter moves towards the light, they stumble and grope and feel their way towards joy, taking us with them. Seventeen women, seventeen stories, seventeen juicy spiritual journeys for hungry souls. The premiere production of this vibrant, playful and evocative theatrical text has been described by Ray Conlogue (former theatre critic Globe & Mail) as “Brilliant… Funny & Sexy”, and by Jim Burke (theatre critic for Montreal’s Gazette) as “sublime”.

The Joys and Pitfalls of Memoir
2023-03-08 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-03-07 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.

Writers Out Loud: Woman, Life, Freedom
2023-03-08 16:00 - 17:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
March 8, 2023, 4:00–5:30 EST

Free, open to all.Online via Zoom. Registration required.Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4c6qj4lXRDmGR2kaIkbAQQ

On International Women’s Day, authors Baharan Baniahmadi (Prophetess, winner of the 2022 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction) and Anahita Jamali Rad (for love and autonomy and still) come together in a panel discussion about their writing practice and the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement in Iran.

The event will feature both writers in conversation with a moderator followed by an audience-led Q&A.

Part of QWF’s Writers Out Loud series.

Please feel free to share the Facebook event with friends or family.

About the Panelists

Baharan Baniahmadi is an Iranian-Canadian artist based in Montreal. After attaining a BA in theatre from Tehran’s Art University, a BA in Paris, and an MA in philosophy and art from Paris-8 University, Baharan began her acting career in France, where she collaborated with numerous prominent stage directors. She moved to Canada in 2018, and in 2019 she was named Greatest Actor of Colour in Montreal by Diversité artistique Montréal (DAM).

In 2006, Baharan released her first collection of short tales, published in Iran. Her English-language debut, Prophetess, was published in Montreal in 2022 and won the 2022 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction.

Anahita Jamali Rad is a text-forward artist currently living, working, and making on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg people of the Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa). Jamali Rad’s work is founded on techno-materialist histories of dominant ideologies, class struggle, desire, place, displacement, silence, negation, and the void. They have published two full-length books of poetry: for love and autonomy (Talonbooks, 2016) and still (Talonbooks 2021). Their most recent work is the chapbook, WHAT I WANT, published by Model Press.

Tell Your Story as a Graphic Novel!
2023-03-07 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.

Deep Story Design
2023-03-07 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.

Picture Book Spyglass: Writing through the Lens of Children’s and YA Literature
2023-03-06 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.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF
2023-03-04 10:00 - 12:30, 2023-02-18 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

Atwater Library Lunchtime Series: Amal Elsana-Alh'jooj
2023-03-02 12:30 - 13:30 | Atwater Library and Computer Centre, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Westmount, Quebec, H3Z 1X4, Canada
In person and by Zoom

For the Atwater Library Lunchtime Series, author Amal Elsana-Alh’jooj discusses her inspiring memoir Hope is a Woman’s Name.

“The book covers a journey that has taken her from a childhood herding sheep in her own Bedouin village in the Negev desert to a life of international activism for peacemaking and minority rights.” — review in Policy Magazine.

To REGISTER and get the Zoom link, click here.

Registration is not required for in-person attendance.

Free admission and everyone is welcome.

Atwater Library Lunchtime with: Mark Abley
2023-02-23 12:30 - 13:30 | Atwater Library and Computer Centre, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Westmount, Quebec, H3Z 1X4, Canada
In person and by Zoom

For the Atwater Library Lunchtime Series, author Mark Abley gives a presentation on his new book, Strange Bewildering Time: Istanbul to Kathmandu in the Last Year of the Hippie Trail.

To register and get the Zoom link, click here.

Registration is not required for in-person attendance.

Free admission and everyone is welcome.

With financial assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers’ Union of Canada.

The Words & Music Show: Launch of Dark Sky Preserve
2023-02-19 17:00 - 20:00 | les sans-taverne, 1900 rue Le Ber, suite 101, Montreal, Quebec, H3K 2A4, Canada
Dark Sky Preserve. Turn out the lights, shut off the web. Look up and find out how big our universe is. Ian Ferrier, Dark Sky Preserve

QWF invites you to the Words & Music Show on February 19. This special edition will feature the book and album launch of Dark Sky Preserve, a collaboration between Ian Ferrier, Louise Campbell, and Sarah Beth Goncarova.

Featured performers include:

Music

Louise Campbell

Dina Cindrić

Elizabeth Lima

John Stuart

Jason Camlot

Spoken Word

Ian Ferrier

Sarah Beth Goncarova

Rachel McCrum

Jason Selman

Co-produced by the Quebec Writers’ Federation, Words & Music, and SpokenWeb. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for this project.

Free admission

View facebook event page

The Players:

Jason Camlot is a poet, songwriter, and scholar. His lastest book of criticism is Phonopoetics. His latest book of poems is Vlarf. His latest recordings (on Spotify, Itunes, etc.) are JC SPED and Instantaneous Personal Magnetism. He is Professor of English at Concordia U and director of the SpokenWeb research network.

Louise Campbell is a Montreal-based musician whose professional hats range from conductor to cultural mediator, community arts facilitator to musicians’ health therapist. In addition to this book and album, she is anticipating a solo album launch titled ‘Sources’ in the spring of 2023. For more information, see louisecampbell.ca. Louise has visited Dark Sky Preserves in four provinces across Canada.

Dina Cindrić is a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, piano teacher and vocal workshop leader. She has performed at festivals across Canada and Europe with a number of ensembles and has been teaching music for over 20 years. She currently teaches Balkan singing at the Centre des Musiciens du Monde, and leads the RECAA Choir and female Balkan singing group Sava, in Montreal.

Ian Ferrier has spoken and played in over 500 shows in Canada, United States, and Europe. He is also the founder and curator of the audio literature label Wired on Words, of Montreal’s monthly Words and Music Show (now in its 23rd year) and the annual Mile End Poet’s Festival. He has won a Golden Beret Award from the League of Canadian Poets for his outstanding contributions to spoken word poetry, and in 2022, the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s Judy Mappin Community Award, for his contributions to the literature community in Montreal.

Sarah Beth (SB) Goncarova is a writer, graphic designer, screenwriter, children’s book writer, animator and performer. She is also the director of Clay Grouse Press, creator of award-winning art-poetry books, and Clay Grouse Kids, which specializes in books, musical audiobooks and animations for young readers. For her visual art, she has been the grant recipient of the Puffin Foundation and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and her work can be found in the Archive of Digital Art, Danube University, Austria, PS1 MoMA Contemporary Art Center Digital Archive, The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Art Library, and Rutgers University Special Collections.

Elizabeth Lima is a vocalist, clarinettist, improviser, performer and composer working in a full range of genres. She presents her work in a number of musical and multi-disciplinary performances that include theatre, poetry and visual arts. She is currently working on her solo staged performance “Lyrebird Hotel”.

Rachel McCrum is a poet, performer, event organiser, and workshop facilitator. 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. She is the editor of Font magazine. Her debut collection The First Blast to Awaken Women Degenerate was published in a bilingual edition with Mémoire d’encrier in Fall 2020.’

Jason “Blackbird” Selman is a Montreal born poet, trumpet player and communityworker. He is the author The Freedom I Stole (2007, Cumulus Press), Africa As ADream That Travels Through My Heart (2016, Howl) and co-editor of the poetryanthology Talking Book (2006, Cumulus Press) which chronicles the writings ofKalm Unity Vibe Collective (of which he is a founding member).

John “Triangles” Stuart works at Concordia University and spends his spare time taking photos and playing music in the Mile End. He plays with Ian Ferrier and The Magic Cookie Orchestra who have an album due in the near future.

View facebook event page

Pop-Up Poetry
2023-02-18 12:00 - 19:00 | Time Out Market, 705 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, H3B 4G5, Canada
The folk at yolk will be holding a pop-up poetry event at Time Out Market from 12:00–7:00PM, where they’ll be selling merchandise, past issues, and personalized poems for passers-by.

Atwater Library Lunchtime with: Marc Raboy
2023-02-09 12:30 - 13:30 | Atwater Library and Computer Centre, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Westmount, Quebec, H3Z 1X4, Canada
IN PERSON AND BY ZOOM: For the Atwater Library Lunchtime Series, author Marc Raboy gives a presentation on his book Looking for Alicia: The Unfinished Life of an Argentinian Rebel, winner of the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s 2022 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction.To REGISTER and get the Zoom link, click here.Registration is not required for in-person attendance.Free admission and everyone is welcome.

Banff Centre | Late Winter Writers Residency Online 2023
2023-02-06 00:00 - 2023-02-17 23:59 | Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 107 Tunnel Mountain Drive, Banff, Alberta, T1L 1H5, Canada
This two week online residency provides broad thematic teaching from faculty members, Dani Spinosa and Kate Siklosi, 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. *Financial aid available.
Learn more and apply by Nov 23: https://bit.ly/3qBB2Kf

Illuminated Grant Writing
2023-02-04 10:00 - 13:00, 2023-01-28 10:00 - 13:00 | 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 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 and an arts council program officer will 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 must have an 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.

Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, author, multidisciplinary artist and producer. Her two poetry collections are Bothism (Ekstasis 2017) and Nouveau Griot (Frontenac 2018), and her debut novel Book of Wings (Véhicule 2021) won the 2022 New Contribution Literary Prize, was on the 2022 CBC Canads Reads Longlist, and was one of Quill & Quire’s 2021 Books of the Year. With a 25-year practice in spoken word, she has performed in over a dozen countries and released several studio albums and videopoems including the award-winning Almost Forgot my Bones. In 2013, she was Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and received the Golden Beret Award for her contribution to the genre. Director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word residency and VP of The Quebec Writers’ Federation, she is at work on an Afrofuturist film premiering in spring 2023 and a French translation of her novel. She moonlights as a whirling dervish.

A Literary Conversation with Baharan Baniahmadi
2023-02-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Westmount Public Library, 4626 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Westmount, Quebec, H3Z 1G1, Canada
With Baharan BaniahmadiHosted by Shelley PomeranceIn collaboration with QWF

Join author Baharan Baniahmadi for a discussion about her book Prophetess, winner of the QWF’s 2022 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. Prophetess is an unflinching allegorical novel that explores trauma, women’s rights, and religious tradition in Iran.

Writers Out Loud: Muslim Awareness Week
2023-01-31 18:30 - 20:00 | Atwater Library Auditorium, 1200 Atwater Avenue, 2nd floor, Westmount, QC
Free, in-person event.

The Quebec Writers’ Federation and Muslim Awareness Week (MAW—2023) invite you to a special panel featuring authors Toula Drimonis and Ehab Lotayef in conversation with Montreal Gazette columnist Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed. Featuring Guest of Honour Frank Baylis, M.P.

Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed is a television and print journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief of CanadianMomEh, the number one diversity blog in Canada. Fariha made history as the first woman to wear the hijab on Quebec television in her role as a video journalist for CityNews Montreal.

Toula Drimonis is a Montreal-based opinion columnist, news producer and writer, with a focus on politics, social justice, immigration, and women’s issues. In 2022 she published her first book, We, the Others: Allophones, Immigrants, and Belonging in Canada.

Ehab Lotayef is a Canadian poet, writer, community activist, and IT Manager of Egyptian origin. As a poet and writer, Ehab published a bilingual poetry collection, To Love a Palestinian Woman in 2010. His play, Crossing Gibraltar, was produced by the CBC in 2006.

Frank Baylis is a professional engineer, business entrepreneur, film producer, and former Parliamentarian. He is well known for his leadership in promoting equality and fair treatment for all Canadians. As a Member of Parliament, Frank was a founding member of the Parliamentary Black Caucus, which develops constructive community policies and works to address systemic, anti-black racism.

Write Here, Write Now -- New Anthology Competition
2023-01-22 13:30 - 15:30 | Online – Please RSVP
Come and join us on Sunday 22nd January, at 1.30pm, for the Zoom launch of our new book anthology competition.
Write Here, Write Now is seeking submissions of short work in any genre and on any theme. The deadline is April 11th, 2023, and those accepted will be published in a paperback and ebook format in September 2023.
At the Zoom launch, you will have the opportunity to find out more about the competition, get information on the submission details, meet the editorial board, and ask any questions you may have about the project.
About the anthology editor:
Rebecca Welton is a writer and editor. She was shortlisted for the Fresher Prize in short stories, and currently runs creative writing workshops for WHWN and BULLA. She is the editor of Hope and Resilience in the Time of Covid, an anthology of community writing and artistry. Rebecca is both a developmental editor and a qualified copyeditor. She works with writers to craft their work into the best version possible.
Write Here, Write Now is supported by Bishop’s University Lifelong Learning Academy.
Bishop’s University is located on the Traditional and Unceded Territory of the Abenaki People.

Book Publishing Explained for Writers
2023-01-21 13:00 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This is the first of two workshops to be offered in 2023 on the theme of getting published. Watch for a longer interactive workshop in the fall.

A veteran of Canada’s book industry will demystify how the publishing process works, from acquisitions to the finished product to how books get into the market. He will explain the importance of the pitch letter in finding a publisher or agent, why hitting deadlines is paramount to successful publishing, and the dual roles of the marketing department and the author’s input in creating a bestseller. He will also share his thoughts on literary agents—and how to find a publisher without one—in a nuts and bolts seminar on the arcane world of book publishing.

Former publisher of House of Anansi Press, founding publisher of University of Regina Press, Vice President of Marketing for Margret Atwood’s Longpen, and Director of Marketing and Publicity at McClelland & Stewart, Bruce Walsh has published many bestselling and award-winning books in his 30-year career. He is on the boards of Pen Canada and the Port Medway Readers Festival, is helping to program the Lunenburg Literary Festival, and is Vice Chair of the Disabilities Committee for the South Shore Libraries.

He is consulting with writers and other book professionals after stepping down as publisher due to illness and can be contacted directly at Kickinghorse@live.com.
