Memoir: How to Tell Your Story
2024-03-11 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-03-18 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-03-25 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | 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
2024-03-12 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-03-19 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-03-26 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.

Lunch and Learn: How to Get Translated or Publish Translations
2024-03-13 12:00 - 13:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Wednesday, March 13, 202412:00–1:30 pm ESTOnline via Zoom (RSVP below for Zoom link)

Have you ever wondered about the potential of getting your book translated? Or are you an aspiring translator with an idea for a project for which you’re unsure how to progress?

QWF has you covered in this iteration of our Lunch and Learn series! Renowned translator and author Katia Grubisic (the most recent recipient of the Cole Foundation Prize for Translation) will lead us in this hour-and-a-half session, where she goes over the lifecycle of publishing translations.

Expand the reach of your artistic work by getting a high-level insider view into the wonderful world of literary translation. You are invited to bring all your questions.

Come join us on the 13th of March from 12-1:30pm online via Zoom. Secure your spot by clicking on the RSVP button below, and a Zoom link will be sent to you a few days before the session.

The Facilitator

Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor and translator whose work has appeared in various Canadian and international publications. Her collection What if red ran out was shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and won the Gerald Lampert Award for best first book.

Her book translations include Martine Delvaux’s White Out, Stéphane Martelly’s Little Girl Gazelle, and Marie-Claire Blais’s final novels. Her translations of David Clerson’s first novel, Brothers, and of A Cemetery for Bees, by Alina Dumitrescu, were shortlisted for Governor General’s Awards, and her translation of Clerson’s short story collection, To See Out the Night, won the Cole Foundation Prize for Translation.

Edit Your Own Prose: The Art of Rewriting
2024-03-13 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-03-20 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
2024-03-13 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-03-20 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.

Ali Hassan Comes to the Eastern Townships
2024-03-14 18:00 - 19:00 | Bishop’s University, 2600 College Street, Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1M 1Z7, Canada
Join us on Bishop’s University campus on Thursday, March 14 for a very distinct speaker indeed!
Ali Hassan – standup comedian, actor and broadcaster – joins us for an illuminating talk about his memoir, Is there Bacon in Heaven? Throughout the talk, Hassan navigates themes of identity, belonging, self-doubt, family and health through deft and comedic storytelling. The book, published by Simon & Schuster in 2022, was described by Rick Mercer as “perhaps the funniest and most heartfelt Canadian memoir yet.” This event takes place on March 14 at 6 pm in Bandeen Hall on Bishop’s University Campus, with a Q&A and a free reception after the event for attendees. Books will be available for purchase, but transactions are cash only. Sponsored by the Ogden Glass Lecture Series and the Speakers’ Committee. For more information, please contact Dr. Linda Morra at lmorra@ubishops.ca

Getting Weird: Crafting Surreal Short Stories
2024-03-14 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-03-21 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Getting Weird is an 8-week short fiction workshop that focuses on writing strangeness into the everyday, as a method for exploring and disrupting questions of race, gender, sexuality, climate change, capitalism, and other big topics. Participants will read a wide range of writers who delve into the weird, such as Paige Cooper, Giada Scodellaro, Renee Gladman, Hiromi Goto, Mariana Enriquez, Carmen Maria Machado, and Callum Angus. They will be given an array of writing prompts, designed to investigate different aspects of surreal fiction, and will also have the opportunity to give and receive feedback on short pieces of writing.

Weird fiction contains elements of the eerie, the uncanny, and the surreal, and encourages high levels of playfulness and perceptiveness, two key elements of compelling storytelling. Weird fiction can also serve as a strong vehicle for writers from underrepresented groups to remake the world in ways that decenter white, colonial, hetero-cis-normative worldviews. Prompts will include the following topics:

Weird micro-fiction

Engaging the senses

Weirdness at work (parsing the rituals of capitalism and labour)

Gender euphoria/queer weirdos

Reworking ancestral mythologies

Dream logics

Participants will receive prompts the week before each session (except before the first meeting), and will be given a rota (workshopping schedule) in advance. Each participant will have at least one opportunity to submit one piece of writing (up to 2000 words) to the group, which will be discussed in-session by their peers, with additional feedback provided by the instructor. These submissions should be based on one or more of the prompts given in the workshop. Participants should be prepared to do the following homework between sessions: responding to writing prompts, reading one assigned piece of fiction, providing feedback to their peers.

This workshop is open to new fiction writers, as well as writers who already have a developed fiction practice. Participants should emerge from the workshop with one or two solid short story drafts, and a confidence in their ability to unsettle the status quo on the page.

H Felix Chau Bradley is the author of Personal Attention Roleplay (Metonymy Press), which was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Kobo Rakuten Emerging Writer Prize in 2022; and the chapbook Automatic Object Lessons (House House Press). Their writing has appeared in carte blanche, ESPACE art actuel, the Humber Literary Review, Maisonneuve Magazine, the Montreal Review of Books, PRISM International, Weird Era, Xtra and elsewhere. They live in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), and work as an editor for Metonymy Press, This Magazine, and Le Sigh. They were recently awarded QWF’s carte blanche Prize.

Book*hug Poetry Launch
2024-03-14 18:00 - 20:00 | L’Euguélionne Bookstore, 1426 Rue Beaudry, Montreal, Quebec, H2L 3E5, Canada
Thursday, March 146:00–8:00 PM ETL’Euguélionne, librairie féministe1426 Rue Beaudry, Montréal, QC

Book*hug Press and L’Euguélionne, librairie féministe invite you to a Montréal book launch for you by Chantal Neveu (translated by Erín Moure), Oh Witness Dey! by Shani Mootoo, and Medium by Johanna Skibsrud!

Admission is free. All are welcome to attend.

Books will be available for purchase, and, of course, the authors will be signing!

Speculative Fiction Master Class: Readying Your Work for Publication
2024-03-14 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-03-21 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
As in all of my workshops, speculative fiction is defined broadly to include anything from science fiction to fantasy to slipstream to magic realism. Participants are free to submit a short story, an excerpt from a larger work, a script, speculative poetry, a comic, or graphic novel excerpt.

The workshop will consist of ten sessions so as to give each participant the opportunity to workshop their piece twice: once for initial feedback and a second time once revisions have been made. We will begin by having each workshop member introduce themselves and their project, including their intentions. Following these introductions, I will give a brief presentation on different vectors of analysis in evaluating a piece, including:

story, plot arc, and pacingworldbuildingcharacter, POV, voice, and tonedescriptions and other issues of language and writing qualitytheme and meaning/intention

beginnings and endings

In week 1, we will workshop a very short story that participants should read before we meet: Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” In discussing this story, participants will have the opportunity to practice both the workshopping method and vectors of analysis that we will be employing during subsequent sessions.

In weeks 2 through 9, we will workshop two to three submissions at each session. There will also be discussions and exchanges on a topic or topics related to one or more of the vectors of analysis mentioned in the first session. These topics will not be determined in advance, but will flow organically from the submissions discussed that particular week.

The last session will be reserved for an in-depth presentation on maximizing your chances of publication, including a list of resources, and a guest presentation by a speculative fiction publisher. I will also answer any new questions that may have arisen in previous sessions.

*This workshop will take place at the QWF Office (Room 3, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Westmount, Quebec) with up to 2 virtual spots for participants who are unable to attend in-person. By default, all workshop registrations are for in-person spots. If you would like to attend the workshop via Zoom, first email Riley (riley@qwf.org) to see if online spots are still available for this workshop, and then wait for confirmation. Virtual spots are limited and are reserved for people who either live outside Montreal or have a medical condition.

Su J Sokol is a writer of speculative and interstitial fiction as well as an editor. Xe is the author of three novels: Cycling to Asylum, long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and optioned for a film; Run J Run; and Zee, a finalist for the Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Les lignes invisibles, the French translation of Cycling to Asylum, was published in 2022 by VLB Imaginaire. Sokol’s short fiction and essays have appeared in various magazines and anthologies.

Humour in Storytelling: A Comedy Writing Workshop
2024-03-15 10:30 - 16:30 | QC
Is there room for comedy in your writing and storytelling? Ali Hassan certainly thinks so! The stand-up comedian, actor, broadcaster, and author of the comedic memoir Is There Bacon in Heaven? will be leading a one-day interactive, engaging workshop that will leave you more equipped than ever to inject humour into your writing and storytelling. Ali will draw in part from his personal writing experience and will share samples of his own use of humour with subjects like identity, family, and even religion.

Through examples of comedic writing, discussions, and various writing exercises, workshop participants will learn tips and tools on how to employ humour in storytelling (with characters, dialogue, and storylines) and a broader sense of the landscape for comedic writing. You might even learn how comedic writing can be an asset to your career!

Ali Hassan is an author, broadcaster, actor and comedian who has performed for audiences across Canada, in the United States and internationally. Ali is the host of the CBC Radio hit stand-up comedy show Laugh Out Loud. He is also this season’s guest host on The Next Chapter, and for the past eight years (come March) he has been the host of Canada Reads, CBC’s “Battle of the Books”.

Ali has appeared on the big screen in award-winning films such as French Immersion, the hockey hit Goon and Tammy’s Always Dying. Some of his recent television roles include Designated Survivor (ABC & Netflix), Cardinal (CTV), Odd Squad (PBS Kids, CBBC), Dino Dana (TVOKids), Workin’ Moms (CBC) and Murdoch Mysteries (CBC). Ali is currently featured in two television shows – Run The Burbs (CBC, Hulu), and the Peabody-Award winning Sort Of (CBC Gem, HBO Max).

Ali has performed at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and Toronto’s JFL42. Ali has also toured across Canada as one of the stars of Just For Laughs Comedy Night In Canada tour, hosted by Rick Mercer. A Canadian Screen Award and Canadian Comedy Award nominee, Ali has toured his solo show Muslim Interrupted around Canada to great acclaim. He has taken the show to Scotland to perform at the world’s largest comedy festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2023, Ali began touring his latest one man show, based on his decade in the food industry, Does This Taste Funny? His comedic memoir Is There Bacon in Heaven?’ is out now with Simon & Schuster, and was described by Rick Mercer as “perhaps the funniest and most heartfelt Canadian memoir yet.”

Funny Writers Out Loud: On Writing Humour
2024-03-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Unitarian Church of Montreal, 5035 Boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest, Montreal, QC, Canada
Join us for Funny Writers Out Loud: On Writing Humour. Authors Ali Hassan, Tara McGowan-Ross, and Rebecca Păpucaru sit down with moderator Nisha Coleman to talk all things comedy and humour writing-related. A Q&A period with the audience will follow. Prepare to learn and laugh!

The event starts at 7:00 PM in the Sanctuary of the Unitarian Church of Montreal (5035 Maisonneuve Blvd W.), near Métro Vendôme. For transportation and accessibility information, visit the Unitarian Church’s website.

Books by the participants will be available for sale after the discussion.

RSVPs are not required but encouraged to help us gauge attendance. RSVP below to let us know you’re coming!

About the Panelists

Ali Hassan is an author, broadcaster, actor, and comedian who has performed for audiences across Canada, in the United States, and internationally. Ali is the host of the CBC Radio hit stand-up comedy show Laugh Out Loud. He is also this season’s guest host on The Next Chapter, and for the past eight years (come March) he has been the host of Canada Reads, CBC’s “Battle of the Books.” Ali has appeared on the big screen in award-winning films such as French Immersion, the hockey hit Goon, and Tammy’s Always Dying. Some of his recent television roles include Designated Survivor (ABC & Netflix), Cardinal (CTV), Odd Squad (PBS Kids, CBBC), Dino Dana (TVOKids), Workin’ Moms (CBC) and Murdoch Mysteries (CBC). Ali is currently featured in two television shows: Run The Burbs (CBC, Hulu) and the Peabody-Award winning Sort Of (CBC Gem, HBO Max). Ali has performed at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and Toronto’s JFL42 and has toured across Canada as one of the stars of Just For Laughs Comedy Night In Canada tour, hosted by Rick Mercer. A Canadian Screen Award and Canadian Comedy Award nominee, Ali has toured his solo show Muslim Interrupted around Canada to great acclaim. His comedic memoir Is There Bacon in Heaven? is out now with Simon & Schuster, and was described by Rick Mercer as “perhaps the funniest and most heartfelt Canadian memoir yet.”

Tara McGowan-Ross is an urban Mi’kmaw multidisciplinary artist and writer. She graduated from Concordia University’s philosophy program with a minor in Creative Writing in 2016. She is the author of poetry collections Girth and Scorpion Season, and the memoir Nothing Will Be Different. She has served on numerous editorial boards, including Goose Lane’s Icehouse imprint, and has been anthologized in Best Canadian Poetry and Anthologie de la poésie actuelle des femmes au Québec. She lives in Montreal, where she is a theatre critic, a rebel educator, a Substack columnist, and the host of Drawn & Quarterly’s Indigenous Literatures Book Club.

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.

The Host

Nisha Coleman is a writer, storyteller, musician, and actor based in Montreal. Her stories have been featured on the CBC, Moth Radio Hour, Risk!, and Confabulation, among others. Her children’s book, Dear Humans, addresses climate change and was published last year.

Suggested Donation: $15 at the door ($10 for QWF members)

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2024-03-16 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, March 16, 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.

Writing Comic Poetry: Seriously?!
2024-03-18 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-03-25 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.

Exploring Childhood Through Stories: Writing Picture Books and Early Chapter Books
2024-03-19 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-03-26 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This is a workshop for writers interested in writing picture books and early chapter books, and also for illustrators who would like to hone their writing skills.

Writing a good picture book requires the storytelling ability of a novelist and close attention to a clear, simple, and often poetic language pared down to arrive at the essential.

In this workshop we will explore:

Visual literacy as well as verbal literacy, since picture books and early readers rely heavily on both.

Short writing exercises in class to inspire ideas, to reignite the emotions of childhood, and to revisit the landscapes of childhood.

Longer writing exercises at home.

Reading and studying picture books for their structure and the balancing act of words and pictures.

Revising, editing, and submitting manuscripts, including the state of the children’s book publishing industry and new technologies.

Participants should emerge with one or two drafts of a picture book or a first chapter of an early reader.

Bring one or two of your all-time favorite picture books to the first meeting. Be prepared to present each book, read a short passage and explain why it appeals to you.

Bring writing materials. We will be doing short writing exercises that will test your imagination and creativity and awake the visual awareness of childhood.

If you have a picture book manuscript in progress that you would like to submit for discussion and comments, please send a copy (four pages maximum) to riley@qwf.org by March 1. The subject line should read “For Marie-Louise Gay.”

Marie-Louise Gay studied graphic design at L’institut des arts graphiques, animation at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School, and illustration at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. She has written and/or illustrated over seventy books for children: board books, picture books, and chapter books. Her books have been published in twenty languages and have won many awards.

She has also written three puppet plays for which she created the sets, puppets, and costumes. Marie-Louise worked as a creative consultant on the scripts and animation of the television series that was created based on her Stella and Sam books. Over the years she has given writing and illustration workshops to children and adults.

Self-Publishing and Crime Writing in the Time of COVID with A. J. Fotheringham
2024-03-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Pointe-Claire Library, 100 Douglas-Shand Avenue, Pointe-Claire, Québec, H9R 4V1, Canada
Wednesday, March 20, 7:00–8:30 PM

A life-long writer, former journalist and communications specialist, A. J. Fotheringham will discuss the writing and publishing challenges she faced during the lockdowns caused by COVID and how she dealt with them. An overview of crime writing as well as her personal writing process and useful information about learning to self-publish will be included.

To access videoconferences: Registration required, before 4 p.m. on the day of the lecture, by e-mail conference_bib@pointe-claire.ca(indicate the title and date of the lecture, along with your e-mail address), or by telephone at 514-630-1218, ext. 1630.

Meet the Authors – Sandra Cohen-Rose and Ann Lambert
2024-03-21 12:00 - 13:00 | QC
Sandra Cohen-Rose and Ann Lambert will introduce their latest novels and discuss the ethical and social justice concerns they weave through their works – Climate Change, Antisemitism, White Supremacy, and Women’s Rights.
Ann Lambert, author of the critically acclaimed Russell and Leduc Mystery Series, The Birds That Stay, The Dogs of Winter, and Whale Fall, has been writing, directing, and producing for the theatre for 40 years, most recently with her Montreal-based company, Theatre Ouest End. She retired after 30 years of teaching at Dawson College and is the former head of the playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada. Ann is also the vice president of The Theresa Foundation.
Sandra Cohen-Rose, author of Waskaganish, hailed as a “Multi-Faceted Feast, a cleverly contrived, fast-paced story…” and its compelling sequel, Dangerous Dancing-A Saga of Love, Deceit and New Beginning, is a passionate storyteller who seamlessly weaves through her stories her ethical and social justice concerns cultivated during her 15-year tenure on the McGill University Medical Ethics … presiding over the Montreal and the National Council of Women of Canada, and as a Dietitian-Nutritionist. She is the author of two well-received non-fiction books.

CALQ Grant Workshop
2024-03-21 13:00 - 15:30 | Community Digital Arts Hub, 460 Saint-Catherine St W, Suite 511, Montreal, H3B 1A7, Canada
Thursday, March 21, 1:00–3:30 pmCommunity Digital Arts Hub (460 Sainte Catherine St. W., suite 511, Montreal)Free, in personLimited to 10 participants (register below)

Curious about applying to CALQ but looking for some help? QWF is collaborating with Quebec Relations to bring you the support you need.

Join us at the Community Digital Arts Hub on March 21st for an in-person CALQ grant-writing workshop. Experienced grant adviser June Park will walk you through the ins and outs of applying for CALQ project funding. You’ll have the chance to review your own project summary and get feedback and suggestions during the Q&A.

About the Workshop Leader

June Park is a writer, editor, and consultant with over 20 years of experience in the arts and culture sector. She has worked in various capacities for local and national organizations, and with emerging to internationally renowned artists of every discipline. She was born in Korea and has lived across Canada from Vancouver to Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal, where she is currently based. She has an MA in literature from the University of Toronto and was the recipient of the QWF Max Margles Fiction Prize in 2022.

This free workshop is open to QWF members only and is limited to 10 participants. To sign up, sign into your QWF account and fill out the RSVP form below. Please double-check your availability on that day before sending in your RSVP.

[07-Mar] This workshop has filled up within minutes of its announcements, and currently has a long and extensive waitlist. While you are still welcome to put your name on the waitlist by emailing Riley (riley@qwf.org), it is unlikely that a spot would open up for new additions at this point. We do encourage you to look up ELAN’s Quebec Relations program which provides free consultations and advice for grant-writing in Quebec. They have an upcoming free online workshop on March 13, from 12-1pm, that is specific for CALQ’s Vivacite grant, which supports professional artists and writers from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Writers Read and The Canadian School for Irish Studies Present Lisa McInerney
2024-03-21 19:00 - 21:00 | York Ampitheatre, 1515, Sainte-Catherine Street West, Montreal, Qc, H3H 1L8, Canada
Writers Read, a Concordia-based reading series, in collaboration with the Canadian School of Irish Studies, is eager to host Lisa McInerney. Lisa McInerney is the author of three novels: The Glorious Heresies (2015), The Blood Miracles (2017), and The Rules of Revelation (2021). She has won the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the RSL Encore Award, and the Premio Edoardo Kihlgren for European Literature. The Boston Globe describes McInerney’s writing as “vibrantly-drawn, richly-rendered, and wonderfully full of surprises.”
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 and updates, follow @writersreadconcordia on Instagram

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2024-03-22 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Friday, March 22, 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.

Inhabiting the Isolarion: A Psychogeography Poetry Workshop
2024-03-23 10:30 - 16:30 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
‘Fifteenth-century mapmakers developed the concept of the ‘isolarion’: the type of map that describes specific areas in detail, but does not provide a clarifying overview of how these places are related to one another.’

Robert MacFarlane, The Wild Places

‘Experience shapes us, randomness shapes us, the stars and weather, our own accommodations and rebellions, above all, the social order around us.’

Adrienne Rich

Where do you come from?Where do you inhabit?

Where do you belong?

Using the concept of the isolarion, and practices and techniques from psycho-geography, participants will create a short suite of poems exploring significant places, relationships, communities, cultures, and experiences in their lives, to explore and trace threads running from the past to present to future. Can we find the through line?

The first half of the workshop will be dedicated to using materials and techniques from psycho-geography to map significant places, experiences, and relationships from our lives, in order to create our own isolarions. This will be a sensory, intuitive exercise, designed to dig deep into the unconscious, using not only language but image, colour, texture, sound, gesture, and instinct.The second half of the workshop will be dedicated to a more reflective analysis of the isolarions and creating a short suite of poems bridging one experience and another.Participants will be asked to bring a few personal materials (fabric, postcards, photos, etc.).

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 QWF’s Prix de traduction de la Fondation in 2022. She is currently working on a new spoken word show on stepmothers. Rachel is the vocalist for noise-poetry group Pigs&Wolves.
