Black Rose Books Radical Book Sale
2024-12-05 16:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 4:00-8:00 pm ETCo-op Bar Milton-Parc3714 avenue du Parc, Montreal

Join us for discounted prices and panel discussions at the beautiful Co-op Bar Milton-Parc as we bring you boundary-pushing books that dig deep and stand out. This is your chance to gift something meaningful (or treat yourself) while supporting independent voices and a small independent nonprofit publisher.

Come for radical ideas, critical insights, and stories that you won’t find on any bestseller shelf.

RSVP on Facebook

WRITERS ROOM #2
2024-12-05 19:00 - 23:00 | Le Depanneur Cafe, 206 Rue Bernard O, Montreal, Quebec, H2T 2K4, Canada
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 7:00-11:00 pm ET

Following on the success of WRITERS’ ROOM #1, in August, announcing WRITERS’ ROOM #2:

Come and be in a room with other writers.

No readings, no cover charge, no books for sale. Just poets, critics, fiction writers, novelists, cartoonists, literary translators, “creative non-fiction” heads, playwrights, screenwriters, writing students, etc, gathered together under one roof.

Meet people you’ve read, people you’ll one day read, other people who sit like you and try to put words in order.

Please note: there are no scheduled activities at this event, it is just a room with writers!

Écrivain•e•s français•e•s, soyez bienvenu•e•s aussi.

Thursday, December 57-11pm onlyCafé Dépanneur, 206 rue Bernard Ouest, Montreal, Quebec H2T 2K4

BYOB + snacks (nothing will be for sale)hosted by sean michaels on behalf of the Writers’ Union of Canada

Montreal launch of The Sacred Heart Motel
2024-12-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Co-Op Agenda, 6692 Saint Denis St, Montreal, Quebec, H2S 2R9, Canada
Friday, December 6, 20247:00-9:00 pm ET

“I’m sick / of outsourcing care to desire” writes Grace Kwan in this sure-footed, arrestingly wise début, and this axis, between fantasies of belonging and the experience of being held, is perhaps at the core of the book, threaded through each poem. If “again and again I’ve abandoned my urgency / for the romance of cruelty,” how does that self in each of us return?

— River Halen, author of Dream Rooms

Join Grace Kwan for the Montreal launch of THE SACRED HEART MOTEL, taking place at Co-op Agenda in Petite-Patrie.

Featuring special guests Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch and Carlos A. Pittella

Food! Drinks! Readings! Heart-shaped key chains!

In poet Grace Kwan’s debut, they are ruthless and nimble, guiding us through the recesses of body and roadside space. The reader tours the motel through this multiverse narrative, from amenities to rooms to back alleys, through the generations of ghosts and queer love stories, until they are left alone with the heart at the centre. The Sacred Heart Motel is a disorienting, startling collection about placelessness and longing.

Grace Kwan is a Malaysian-born sociologist and writer based in “Vancouver,” the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Their recent poetry appears in Canthius, Room Magazine, and others. Find them at https://grckwn.wordpress.com/.

Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch is a writer living in Tio’tià:ke. Their work has appeared in The Best Canadian Poetry 2018 anthology, GUTS, carte blanche, the Shade Journal, The New Quarterly, Arc Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. They were longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2019. Their book knot body (2020), published by Metatron Press, was shortlisted for the QWF Concordia University First Book Prize. The Good Arabs (2021), published by Metonymy Press, was the winner of the 2022 Grand Prix du livre de Montréal and received an Honorable Mention from the 2022 Arab American Book Awards for the George Ellenbogen Poetry Award.

Carlos A. Pittella (he/him) is a Latinx poet & the recipient of a Frontier 2022 Global Poetry Prize. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he lives in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke & currently teaches Poetry at John Abbott College. He completed his MA in English/Creative Writing at Concordia University, where he co-edited Headlight Anthology with the team who won the 2023 Forces AVENIR award. He also holds a doctorate in Literary Studies, having defended his thesis on the trilingual sonnets of Fernando Pessoa. His writing is haunted by borders, having recently appeared in Jacket2, The Capilano Review, & in the chapbook footnotes after Lorca (above/ground press, 2024).

Co-op Agenda is wheelchair accessible and has all-gender washrooms. We ask that attendees mask when they’re not eating or drinking. We will have air purifiers on site. There will be a lot of seating and an intermission. More detailed accessibility info coming soon.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2024-12-07 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, December 7, 2024, 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-minute breaks 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.

Read Quebec Book Fair
2024-12-07 12:00 - 2024-12-08 17:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
December 7, 2024, 12:00 pm-7:00 pm ETDecember 8, 2024, 12:00 pm-5:00 pm ET

Casa d’Italia (505 rue Jean-Talon E, Montreal)

The Read Quebec Book Fair is back! Join us on December 7th and 8th at Casa d’Italia (505 rue Jean Talon Est) to discover the latest releases of new works from local publishers, authors, and translators. We’re also looking forward to a full program of literary events—including an interview with author and Mohawk activist Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel on Saturday, a comics panel with a stellar lineup, and QWF’s Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase performances on Sunday—as well as a multitude of author signings.

Produced by the Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ), the Read Quebec Book Fair celebrates the vibrancy of the English-language literary scene in Quebec, with local publishers displaying their titles, and Librairie Paragraphe selling books from Quebec writers and translators published elsewhere. The Fair will offer fun for young booklovers, with a cozy, book-filled Kids’ Nook both days, and a musical performance for children by Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne on Saturday at noon. There will be an opening cocktail Saturday evening—it is free and open to all, wine and bites will be served.

The fair is open from 12 pm-7 pm Saturday and 12 pm-5 pm Sunday at Casa d’Italia. The building is accessible directly across from Jean-Talon metro and fully accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing for in-person events is optional, though encouraged, with hand sanitizing stations available at all locations.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

A Duck in New York City – Musical Performance for Kids of All Ages
2024-12-07 12:01 - 13:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Saturday, December 7 202412 pm–1 pm ET

20th Anniversary Celebration with Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne, complete with anniversary cake!

Based on the Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winning musical picture book of the same name, a heartwarming children’s story and a dozen happy-go-lucky songs about self-esteem and determination. Follow a little duck from the Prairies who has a big dream: making it to New York City and doing his ducky dance on Broadway!

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel in Conversation with Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussain
2024-12-07 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
December 7, 20242 pm–3 pm ET

Join Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, longtime activist and visual artist, to hear about her new book, When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance. A memoir of a deeply engaged life, with an account of the siege at Oka, where she was a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) spokesperson. In conversation with Samir Shaheen-Hussain, MD, author of Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada, winner of the 2021 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the 2021 Concordia University First Book Prize, and le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole 2022.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

Create Your Own Comic Strip! A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
2024-12-07 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Saturday, December 7, 20242 pm–3 pm ET

Create your own comic strip! We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

Workshop: Embodied Writing with Maya Khamala
2024-12-07 14:00 - 17:00 | Studio 414, 10 Avenue des Pins West #414, Montreal
Saturday, December 7th, 2-5pmStudio 414, 10 Des Pins West #414All are welcome! Limited spots.

Book here: linktr.ee/heartfire.kundalini

Writing, breathwork, meditation & optional sharing circle

Writing happens in the body. The more you engage your senses, the stronger your language. Whatever emotions you spill onto the page are deeply rooted—at the cellular level.

Get out of your head and into your body so you can write with vital presence. Doing so has the potential to be a deeply empowering and healing act. If you’ve never done breathwork or meditated before, it really doesn’t matter. If you’re not a writer, that’s ok too. This workshop is for writers wanting to enhance or expand their practice, non-writers interested in exploring their potential, and anyone who feels called to navigate the relationship between body and language.

Our practice will interweave:

Discussion

Kundalini breathwork

Stretches

Creative writing prompts/exercises

A Kundalini meditation

An optional sharing circle

Chai & a sweet snack

What to bring: your journal, a pen, & an open mind. Pens & paper will also be available.

About the Facilitator

Maya Khamala is a lifelong writer of many stripes. From poetry to grassroots journalism to creative nonfiction, word is her bond. She has also collaborated with visual artists at a loss for words, and has worked as a freelance copywriter and editor for close to a decade. She has a shiny little MA in Creative Writing to list among her credentials, and is an emerging novelist to boot. Maya has an extensive background in feminist, anti-racist and climate justice movements—work that has deeply informed the way she wields words. Aside from being a writer, she is also a Kundalini Yoga teacher in training. She got into Kundalini as a way of healing from trauma and its many lifelong manifestations in her body, as well as to counteract being a writer who sometimes forgets to step away from the keyboard…and take a breath.

Book now

The Violet Hour Book Club Reads Subterrane by Valérie Bah
2024-12-07 15:00 - 16:30 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Saturday, December 7, 20243:00 pm-4:30 pm ET

Led by founder Christopher DiRaddo, this monthly discussion group for lovers of classic and contemporary works of LGBTQ literature will hold its December meeting on the stage at Casa d’Italia. Author Valérie Bah will make a special appearance at 4 pm for the last half hour of the group discussion.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

Opening Cocktail
2024-12-07 17:00 - 19:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Saturday, December 7 20245 pm–7 pm ET

A very special edition of the Read Quebec Book Fair’s 5 à 7. Come have a drink at the end of an exciting day of book browsing and literary events. Meet public historian, artist and educator Cassandra Marsillo, author of Dalla valigia alla tavola, an oral history of Montreal immigrants from the Italian region of Molise, complete with 40 recipes – and enjoy Molisan antipasti created from the book’s recipes. This event is also a “Super Schmoozer” bringing together members of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, the Writers’ Union of Canada, Quebec chapter, and the English-language Arts Network. Chat about books, writing, and the delicious food! Everyone is welcome.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

Archives Out Loud: A Panel Discussion on Italian-Canadian Writing in English in Quebec
2024-12-08 12:00 - 13:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Sunday, December 8, 202412 pm–1 pm ET

Moderated by Nancy Marrelli, archivist of the Italian-Canadian Community Archives of Quebec, which are housed at the Casa d’Italia, an exchange between: Domenic Cusmano, publisher of Accenti: The Magazine with an Italian Accent; novelist and literary impresario Christopher DiRaddo, and playwright Michaela Di Cesare. Reception in the Archives office in the basement to follow.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

How I Got Published: Fiction Edition
2024-12-08 13:00 - 14:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Sunday, December 8, 20241:00 pm–2:00 pm ET

Looking for tips on getting your own writing into print? Writer/translator Mélissa Bull, editor of the QC Fiction imprint at Baraka Books, will moderate as panelists Rebecca Morris (Other Maps), Sofia Ajram (Coup de Grâce), and Lili Zeng (Dear Haider) recount their journeys to publication. There will be plenty of time for questions from the floor.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

Postcards to the Future! A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
2024-12-08 13:00 - 14:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Sunday, December 8 20241 pm–2 pm ET

Mail a message to your older self. We’ll be designing with words and pictures a double sided postcard with a message you’d like your future self to know. It could be serious or playful or both, you decide what the adult version of you should know! For kids 10 and up.

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

Cards for Peace: A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
2024-12-08 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Sunday, December 8 20242 pm–3 pm ET

We’ll create holiday greeting cards with drawings and writing for family and friends around the themes of peace, gratitude and light! Every tradition welcome!

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

The Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase
2024-12-08 15:30 - 16:30 | Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2R 1T6, Canada
Sunday, December 8 20243:30 pm–4:30 pm ET

QWF’s Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase will once again display the creative talents of the finalists for the Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize.

Featuring:

Moe Clark (“committing a dream/pawâkan Palestine”)

Lucia De Luca (“Congratulations”)

Emilia Malpica-Iruegas (“twenty-one”)

Roger Sinha (“Hater’s n Baiters: The Culture Collision”)

Mac van den Hoeven (“Memory Justice”)

Read Quebec Book Fair: All Events

QWF Holiday Book Giveaway
2024-12-13 13:00 - 16:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Fri, Dec 13, 20241:00-4:00 pmQWF Office (1200 Atwater Ave, room 3, top floor)

Join us for a holiday meetup and book giveaway at the QWF office!

Stop by between 1 and 4 pm on Friday, December 13, before we close for the holidays. Light refreshments will be available, and QWF members can take up to three free books. Not a member? No problem. Come join QWF and get your three free books, too. Either way, enjoy a casual holiday hangout with your fellow writers and the QWF staff.

RSVP on FAcebook

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.

RSVP on FAcebook

Book Launch: This Is It: A Novel in Stories by Matthew Fox
2024-12-19 19:30 | Notre Dame des Quilles, 32 rue Beaubien Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2S 1P8, Canada
Thursday, December 19, 2024, 7:30 pm ET

Join Matthew Fox as he launches his new novel, This Is It, in Montreal. The wonderful Christopher DiRaddo will host the event, which will include a short reading and a Q&A. Books will be available for purchase at a discount, and Matthew will be available to sign them.

RSVP on Facebook

Lectures Logos Readings January 2025
2025-01-13 19:00 - 21:00 | 2741 Notre Dame Street West, 2741 Notre Dame Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3J 1N9, Canada
Monthly Readings at UNIA Hall , 2741 Notre-Dame West, Montreal, QC 2741 Notre-Dame West, Montréal, QC H3J 1N9, on Monday January 13, 2025. The confirmed readers are Sharon Lax, Evadne Anderson, and Be Wyrd.

Lunch & Learn with QWF
2025-01-14 12:00 - 13:15 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Tuesday, January 14, 12:00–1:00 pm ETOpen to all—register for Zoom link

Looking to learn more about QWF, what we do, and how we can help you as a writer?

Join us for the next Lunch & Learn with QWF!

In this quarterly online orientation session, we’ll provide a deep dive into our many programs and services and how we can help you in your writing journey. Whether you’re new to QWF, want to learn about a particular program, or simply want to meet the team, we welcome you to join us.

Riley Palanca (Membership Services Coordinator) will discuss QWF programs and services for emerging and aspiring writers, including our mentorship program, Shut Up & Write writing sessions, and writing workshops.

Lori Schubert (Executive Director) will explain QWF programs and services for more established writers, including the Writers in the Community program, the Hire a Writer Directory, and the QWF Awards.

John Wickham (Communications Officer) will provide a brief tour of the website, highlighting sections and resources that are particularly useful to QWF members.

Free and open to all. We hope to see you there!

To get the Zoom link: Fill out the registration form. You’ll receive the Zoom link by email shortly thereafter.

If you have trouble registering or joining the meeting, contact John at john@qwf.org.

Lunch & Learn with QWF is our quarterly orientation series to welcome new members and provide an overview of QWF’s activities. The next one after January 14 will be on April 15. Learn more about our Lunch & Learn series.

REGISTER NOW

Launch of The Page Issue 4
2025-01-17 18:00 - 21:00 | Espace Maurice, 916 Ontario St E Suite 320, Montreal, Quebec, H2L 1P4, Canada
Join us on Friday, January 17th, from 6-9pm to celebrate the launch of the 4th issue of The Page!
In addition to the launch, the venue is hosting a two-day exhibition of new works by Phil Tremble, Fiona Ruth & Jeremy Richer-Légaré.
Works will be on view through January 18th, from noon to 6pm.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2025-01-18 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, January 18, 2025, 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-minute breaks 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.

Reimagining Shakespeare, Remaking World Systems
2025-01-21 08:30 - 11:30
January 21, 2025, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ETArmstrong Building 365 & 370, McGill University, 3420 rue McTavishFree event with registration. Register here.

If Shakespeare could advise contemporary leaders on how to navigate today’s challenges, what would he say? On January 21, 2025, McGill Delve explores this question in a special event organized for the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University, the English Department of McGill University, and the Stratford Festival.

McGill Delve is honoured to welcome leaders from the cultural, financial, social, and economic spheres to sketch a roadmap towards sustainability and wellbeing, using Shakespeare’s life and work as our guide. Together we will examine the qualities of money-making (wealth, status, power) and meaning-making (the search for purpose, identity, and significance) to determine how they can converge and co-exist to create a better world for everyone.

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Presenters

Antoni Cimolino KeynoteArtistic Director, Stratford FestivalMember of the Order of Canada

Antoni Cimolino is the Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival, a post he was named to in 2012, having served as General Director, Executive Director and General Manager, in addition to other roles. He began at the Stratford Festival in 1988, as an actor, taking on his first directing projects in the mid-1990s. In 2013, his first season as Artistic Director, Cimolino introduced The Meighen Forum, a season-long series of more than 150 events illuminating the themes of the playbill and illustrating their relevance in today’s world. That same season he directed The Merchant of Venice, with Tom McCamus and Scott Wentworth, and Mary Stuart, with Seana McKenna and Lucy Peacock, a production that was extended an unprecedented four times. In 2014, Cimolino and Executive Director Anita Gaffney launched Stratford Festival On Film, an ambitious project to capture all of Shakespeare’s plays. The productions from this ongoing initiative, along with films of some non-Shakespeare productions and original digital content are part of a massive catalogue of arts programming available on the Festival’s subscription streaming platform, Stratfest@Home. In 2018, Cimolino and Gaffney launched a $100-million campaign to build a new Tom Patterson Theatre. The campaign exceeded its goal and the new theatre opened in May 2022, winning a number of architectural awards, including the Governor General’s Medal in Architecture, the global MasterPrize Award, the UK Civic Trust Award and the Design Excellence Award from the Ontario Association of Architects, as well as the OAA’s People’s Choice Award. Cimolino, now in his 37th season at the Festival, is the director of the 2024 production of London Assurance at the Festival Theatre.

Shawn BrownSenior Director of Engineering, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise

Dr. Brown is Senior Director of Engineering at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise where he leads a large team of engineers building high-performance computing cloud services. He was formerly the Director of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and Vice Chancellor of Research Computing at the University of Pittsburgh. He has over 25 years of experience in developing software to support the use of high-performance computing for research in areas such as chemistry, bioinformatics, and public health. His research interests are: (1)How agent-based modeling and other computational techniques can be used to provide decision support in public health and chronic disease; (2) Building of highly convergent collaborative neuroinformatics platforms for open data sharing and computation; (3) Synthetic Ecosystems for representing cohort and cross-sectional data for modeling and open data sharing.

Nick DragerAdjunct Professor, McGill University and University of Ottawa

Nick Drager, former Director of the Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights and Senior Adviser in the Strategy Unit, Office of the Director-General at the World Health Organization and former CEO of the TuBurculosis Vaccine Initiative; is Adjunct Professor at McGill University and the University of Ottawa ; Honorary Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; His work focuses on current and emerging public health issues related to global health with a focus on global health diplomacy/governance, foreign policy and international trade and health. The policy related, research and training activities of his work contribute to enabling policy makers and public health practitioners to analyse and act on the broader determinants of health development, to better manage and shape the global and national policy environment for health and to place public health interests higher on the global development agenda to improve health outcomes. He has an M.D. from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Hautes Etudes Internationales, University of Geneva

Laurette Dubé ModeratorEmerita Professor and Distinguished McGill Chair of Consumer and Lifestyle Psychology and MarketingFounding Chair and Scientific Director, McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE)

Laurette Dubé is an Emerita Professor and James McGill Chair of Consumer and Lifestyle Psychology and Marketing at the Desautels Faculty of Management. She is Founding Chair and Scientific Director of the McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE). Originally trained as a nutritionist, with graduate degrees in finances (MBA), marketing (MPS), and behavioural decision making/consumer psychology (PhD), Dr. Dubé’s lifetime research interest bears on the study of affects, behavioural economics, neurobehavioural, and socio-economic processes underlying consumption, lifestyle, and health behaviour. Her translational research examines how such knowledge can inspire more effective behavioural change and ecosystem transformation as scale to address complex challenges and possibilities facing modern society. Through MCCHE, Dr. Dubé has pioneered convergence and systems approaches to research and innovation in agri-food, health and economic domains, placing the whole person as the center of the whole society. She is principal investigator of the 3-Agency funded pan-Canadian SMART healthy cities implementation sciences training platform. She is also the academic lead of the ISED-funded FCI-Canada platform that connect enterprises from agri-food sector across Canada to improve their performance and resilience in domestic and international markets. She led Canada International Collaboration into EU-Horizon funded FSAFETY4AFRICA, with both programs anchored into the convergence-by-design approach she pioneered with a world network of like-minded scientists and action leaders. Dr. Dubé is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 2006. She received the 2011 YMCA women of distinction award for the social and environmental science in 2011 and the 2013 The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Scott HendersonMedia and Technology InvestorBoard Member, Tangerine (Audit Committee) and SAGE Publishing (Finance Committee)

Scott Henderson has over 25 years of experience operating and investing in media and technology businesses. Over the course of his career,k he has been senior executive / board member with financial, strategic and operating experience. He is a digital native with first-hand experience leading the transition from print to digital (Financial Times). He is the cofounder and CEO of successful technology start-up in business aviation sector (Traxxall). Particular interest in datadriven business models. Extensive Merger &Acquisition experience across publishing, digital media, education, financial technology and aviation.

Ann-Marie MacDonaldNovelist, Playwright, ActorRichler Artist in Residence, McGill University, Department of EnglishOfficer of the Order of Canada

Ann-Marie MacDonald is a novelist, playwright, actor, and television host. Her work has been honoured with numerous awards, including the Chalmers, the Governor General’s, Gemini, Dora Mavor Moore, John Drainie, the Gascon-Thomas, the Canadian Authors Association, the Canadian Booksellers Association, and the Commonwealth Prize. Her writing for the stage includes the plays, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning, Juliet), Belle Moral: A Natural History, and Hamlet-911; the libretto for the chamber opera, Nigredo Hotel, and book and lyrics for Anything That Moves; her novels are Fall On Your Knees, The Way the Crow Flies, Adult Onset, and Fayne. Ann-Marie graduated from the Acting Program of The National Theatre School of Canada in 1980. In 2019 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She was the 2024 Mordecai Richler writer-in-residence at McGill University.

Raghu MachirajuProfessor of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science and Engineering and Pathology at the Ohio State University.

Raghu Machiraju is a Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science and Engineering, Pathology at The Ohio State University. He is a Co-Principal Investigator of the ICICLE, a newly funded NSF Institute to Democratize AI ( icicle.ai). Additionally, he serves as an Associate Chair for Growth in the Department Computer Science and Engineering and as a Principal Data Scientist at the Translational Data Analytics Institute. Raghu’s research includes applying data science and AI models to problems from the clinic and the biology laboratory.

Hon. Julie Miville-DechêneSenator, Senate of Canada

André PratteExpert Panelist, Canadian Centre for the Purpose of the CorporationFormer Senator, Senate of Canada

The Honorable André Pratte is an Expert Panelist at the Canadian Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation (CCPC. André assumes the role after a successful career as a journalist spanning nearly 40 years.  Most of this time, he worked for La Presse, Canada’s foremost French language newspaper. From 2001 to 2015, he was the paper’s Chief Editorial Writer and was part of the company’s management team. In 2016, André was appointed to the Senate as an independent Senator. Disappointed by the partisanship that still dominated the Senate, he resigned from this position in 2019. In 2022, André received an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts.  Earlier in his career, he had studied economics at McGill University and received a B.A. in political science from the Université de Montréal. Besides his journalism career, André wrote several books on history, the media and politics, including a biography of Wilfrid Laurier. He has spent years reflecting on issues such as crisis management, the media’s role in society, the social license to operate, businesses’ purpose, economic development, the exploitation of Canada’s immense natural resources, and climate change. André also sits on the boards of The Lighthouse – Children and Families and of the Paul Gérin-Lajoie Foundation.

Frédéric SamamaHead of Strategic Development, Sustainable1, S&P Global

Mr. Samama began his career at JP Morgan in Paris. He later managed Corporate Equity Derivatives at Crédit Agricole Corporate Investment Banking in both Paris and New York. During his time there, he developed and implemented the first international leveraged employee share purchase program, a model that is now widely adopted by French companies. He subsequently joined Amundi, a leading European asset manager, where he reorganized and expanded the institutional client coverage. At Amundi, he played a pivotal role in establishing the company’s green finance leadership by launching the first mainstream equity low-carbon indexes. He also initiated the largest green bond fund of its time, aimed at financing green infrastructure projects in Emerging Markets. Mr. Samama co-launched the first coalition of institutional investors committed to decarbonizing their portfolios. This initiative was selected to represent the finance industry at the COP21 Action Day. In 2009, Mr. Samama founded the Sovereign Wealth Fund Research Initiative, an academic center dedicated to studying sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and sustainability. He co-edited a book on long-term investing alongside Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Professor Patrick Bolton, and has authored Archéologie de l’Inaction as well as numerous papers on green finance, such as “The Green Swan: Central Banking and Financial Stability in the Age of Climate Change” and “Hedging Climate Risk.” He is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York and Sciences Po in Paris.

Paul Yachnin ModeratorTomlinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies, Department of English at McGill University

Paul Yachnin is Tomlinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies at McGill University. He has served as President of the Shakespeare Association of America (2009-2010). From 2005-2010, he directed the Making Publics (MaPs) project. From 2013-2018, he directed the Early Modern Conversions project. Among his publications are the books, Stage-Wrights and The Culture of Playgoing in Early Modern England (with Anthony Dawson), editions of Richard II and The Tempest; and seven edited books, including Making Publics in Early Modern Europe, Forms of Association, and Conversion Machines in Early Modern Europe: Apparatus, Artifice, Body. His book-in-progress, “Making Publics in Shakespeare’s Playhouse,” is under contract with Edinburgh University Press. His ideas and the ideas of his MaPs colleagues about the social life of art were featured on the CBC Radio IDEAS series, “The Origins of the Modern Public.” He publishes non-academic essays about Shakespeare and modern life, including titles such as “Alzheimer’s Disease: What would Shakespeare Do?” and “Tragedy as a Way of Life.” An area of strong interest is higher education practice and policy, with publications in Policy Options, University Affairs, and Humanities, and projects, including the TRaCE Transborder Project, involving 12 universities across five continents.

Ahoy Issue 2 Launch Party
2025-01-23 19:30 | Osmo X Marusan, 51 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 1X2, Canada
Thursday, January 23, 20257:30 pm ET

Ahoy‘s Winter 2025 launch party will take place January 23rd at Cafe Osmo x Marusan. We’ve teamed-up with some friends of ours to put together something special for us to share with you—with live readings from our contributing writers and artists, food, live jazz, and DJ sets. Early-bird tickets available. Come early, stay late 🪩Doors at 7:30 pm, readings at 9:00 pm, party from 10:00 pm til late // $9 presale, $12 ATD // Contributors get in free.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2025-01-24 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Friday, January 24, 2025, 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.

Illuminated Grant-Writing
2025-01-25 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 prepare 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, and 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 exchange feedback in a workshop setting.As soon as they have registered for the workshop, participants must email a short, one-sentence description of their intended literary arts project to riley@qwf.org with the subject line “For Tawhida Tanya Evanson.”

Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, novelist, artist, and Ashiq known for her work blending poetry, orality, music, and multimedia. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, she performs internationally, has released several audio recordings, short films, and the award-winning 2024 Afrofuturist concert film CYANO SUN SUITE. Evanson has two published poetry collections and her debut novel Book of Wings won the 2022 CAM/Blue Metropolis New Contribution Prize. Her French autotranslation Livre des ailes followed in 2023. Evanson’s work explores themes of African diasporic identity, Sufi spirituality, and the human condition, and she has received acclaim at home and abroad for her captivating performances and unique approach to poetry. She produces multimedia events as Mother Tongue Media, is recognized for her role as director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word program, and is current president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation. She moonlights as a whirling dervish.

La nuit de la lecture: Elaine Kalman Naves and Chantal Ringuet
2025-01-25 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
La nuit de la lecture 2025

On January 25 at 8pm, join Elaine Kalman Naves and translator Chantal Ringuet for a bilingual reading of extracts of Kalman Naves’s memoir Shoshanna’s Story: A Mother, A Daughter, And The Shadows Of History, translated into French by Ringuet.

To register: https://tinyurl.com/3jby4sap

About the Book

At the end of the Second World War, a survivor of Auschwitz makes her way home to Hungary. Of all her family, only she and one sister have survived the camps; her young officer husband disappeared into Russia years before. Believing herself a widow, Shoshanna falls under the protection of an older man who, like her, lost everything in the Holocaust. She gives birth to this man’s child by the time her beloved soldier returns, and she has to make a choice that will cloud her life – and her daughter’s – ever after.Elaine Kalman Naves is the daughter whose earliest memories are of growing up with the consequences of that decision. Shoshanna raised Elaine with a torrent of family lore and all-too-vivid memories: the glamorous and eccentric aunts; handsome suitors and faithless husbands; death by order of the state and murder at the hand of a lover.Shoshanna’s stories, haunting and vivid, were both a gift and a burden to her daughter. This is a lush and exotic family memoir set against momentous events yet timeless in its truth-telling lessons.

Hosted by: Jeannot Clair

Voice Lessons: A Musical Book Signing
2025-01-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Librairie Pulp Books & Cafe, 3952 Wellington Street, Montreal, Quebec, H4G1V3, Canada
Beat the winter cold with an evening of music, reading, and lively discussion! In keeping with the theme of her book, Voice Lessons, Eve Krakow has invited a few singer friends to join her. This musical prelude will be followed by a reading and then a conversation led by Sivan Slapak, author of Here Is Still Here.
Voice Lessons is a collection of personal essays about an introvert’s struggle to find her voice—as a singer, a writer, a mother, and a human being. Using traditional narrative and hybrid forms, Eve Krakow explores the early loss of her mother, her innermost anxieties as a young adult, the building of family, the push and pull of heritage and tradition, and more. Juxtaposing shyness in life with boldness on stage, these stories expose the deep-seated need for human connection and belonging.

carte blanche 20-Year Anniversary Party
2025-01-30 18:30 - 23:59
January 30, 2025

Everyone is invited to join carte blanche, QWF’s online literary magazine, on January 30th to celebrate the launch of its 50th issue and 20th birthday! Our community and team have put so much time and care into the magazine over the past twenty years, so let’s toast to the past and future of carte blanche together.

Get your tickets (they’re free): https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/launch-party-carte-blanche-issue–50Doors open at 6:30pm. Readings start at 7pm.

Featuring readings from Deborah Ostrovsky, Mary Thaler, H.R. Link, Lena Palacios, and Tara McGowan-Ross.

Featuring visual artists Hannah Polinski and Mia Huang.Address will be sent to all ticket holders

GET TICKETS

Launch of H. Nigel Thomas' novel A DIFFERENT HURRICANE
2025-01-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Argo Bookshop, 1841A Ste-Catherine St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Join us for the launch of H. Nigel Thomas’ new book, A Different Hurricane. The author will be reading, conversing with Nalini Mohabir about his work, and signing books (available for sale at the event). This event is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP on ​TicketSource.
