Slantwise: Writing the Prose Poem
2026-04-30 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
For poets, prose writers, and curious in-betweeners. All levels welcome.

What happens when a poem refuses the line? Or when a paragraph shifts under the influence of rhythm, repetition, and associative logic? The prose poem claims a wonderfully hybrid space between genres. It’s written using sentences as units of meaning but driven by compression, imagery, voice, and lyric intensity. What actually differentiates poetic prose from a prose poem? The ambiguity itself can be useful creative fuel.

Our workshop will invite poets to explore possibilities beyond the line break, and prose writers to loosen their attachment to traditional narrative. Each week, we will:

Read and discuss a prose poem and/or short craft-focused text

Respond to a generative writing prompt meant to inspire new writing

Workshop participants’ pieces in a supportive and inclusive environment

We’ll also explore a range of prose poem variations such as the haibun, list poems, persona poems, collage-based prose, constraint-driven pieces, and more.

Expect some reading and drafting to happen outside of the workshop. Our shared time will be devoted to generative discussion and thoughtful feedback. Prior workshop experience is helpful but not necessary. Either way, participants should come ready to both receive and offer critique in the spirit of curiosity and care.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2026-05-01 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Free, open to QWF members
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 one.

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.

If you registered for the session but can no longer attend, please email john@qwf.org.
If the session is full, email john@qwf.org to be placed on the waitlist.

Pathways to Narrative-Building: Journalism, storytelling, and mobilizing media
2026-05-05 12:00 - 13:30 | Concordia University, McConnell Building, 1400 blvd Maisonneuve West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
In a moment when information and misinformation are moving at a break-neck pace and trust in media institutions is dwindling, how can we challenge dominant narratives and confront current power structures? What does it look like to harness journalism and storytelling for effective knowledge mobilization and social change? Join us for interactive skill-share that will center on practical approaches to sharing knowledge and understanding impact in an ever-shifting techno-cultural landscape.
We look forward to digging into narrative-building with you and our special guests:
– Danièle-Jocelyne Otou-Nguini (New Room Group & Black Healing Centre),
– Rachel Gilmore (Bubble Pop Media),
– and Savannah Stewart (The Rover)
They will lead discussions on wielding communications for social transformation, in an effort to better equip us to defy power through our stories.

Crafting a Compelling Personal Essay
2026-05-05 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-05-12 17:45 - 19:45 | Online via Zoom
The personal essay sits at the crossroads of memory, imagination, and reflection. It is a form that invites vulnerability and experimentation, asking writers to turn the lens inward while reaching outward toward readers. This ten-week workshop explores the craft of creative nonfiction through readings, discussion, and guided writing exercises. Together, we’ll study a wide range of contemporary essayists and thinkers such as Sheila Heti, Alicia Elliott, Maggie Nelson, James Baldwin, Leslie Jamison, and Joan Didion, whose work challenges and expands our understanding of form, voice, structure, and truth-telling.

Each week, participants will write in response to prompts designed to help them develop their voice, experiment with structure, and explore the ethical and emotional complexities of writing about real lives (our own and others’). We will discuss fragments and braids, confession and restraint, intimacy and distance, always returning to the central question: how do we shape lived experience into compelling art?

By the end of the workshop, participants will have generated several essay fragments and drafts, gained tools for revision, and deepened their understanding of the essay as both a personal and public act. Writers will leave with at least one essay draft they can continue to refine beyond the course. No prior experience is required—just a willingness to read closely, write bravely, and share generously.

Week 1 — What Is a Personal Essay?

Theme: Truth, memory, and the boundaries of nonfiction.Readings:

Sarah Manguso, The Two Kinds of Decay (selections)

Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”

In-Class:

Introductions & course goals

Discuss “truth” vs. “fact” in essay

Prompt: Write a short scene from memory, then annotate where memory fails

Homework: Write a 600–800-word vignette about a formative memory.

Week 2 — Memory and Fragment

Theme: Shaping nonlinear memory.Readings:

Sheila Heti, Motherhood (fragmented passages)

Maggie Nelson, Bluets (selections)

In-Class:

Discussion: how fragment builds resonance

Exercise: Write three fragmentary takes on the same memory

Homework: Develop a mosaic-style essay (1,000 words).

Week 3 — Intimacy and Confession

Theme: The essayist’s voice and vulnerability.Readings:

Alicia Elliott, “A Mind Spread Out on the Ground” (title essay)

Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams (title essay excerpt)

In-Class:

Confessional vs. performative honesty

Prompt: Write a letter to someone you cannot send it to

Homework: Expand into a 1,200-word letter-essay.

Week 4 — Deepening Voice, Tone & Emotional Register

Theme: How voice, tone, and emotional distance shape the personal essay.Readings:

Zadie Smith, “Fail Better”

Katherena Vermette, selected interviews on writing community, trauma, and point of view

In-Class:

Discuss tonal shifts: intimacy, distance, authority, hesitance

Exercise: Rewrite a paragraph in three distinct tonal registers (tender, analytical, ironic)

Homework: Revise your Week 3 letter-essay with purposeful tonal modulation.

Week 5 — Structure and Form

Theme: Chronology, braiding, and experimentation.Readings:

Sarah Manguso replaced here to avoid repetition →NEW reading:

Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation (fragmented passages on structure)

Eula Biss, “Time and Distance Overcome”

In-Class:

Discuss braiding personal + cultural history

Exercise: Write a short braided passage (memory + outside text/reference)

Homework: Draft a braided essay (1,200–1,500 words).

Week 6 — The Self as Character

Theme: Distance between narrator and narrated self.Readings:

Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be? (essayistic passages)

James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son” (opening sections)

In-Class:

Compare Baldwin’s authority with Heti’s uncertainty

Prompt: Write a scene twice — once from the past self’s POV, once from the present self’s POV

Homework: Develop one version into a polished essay draft.

Week 7 — Risk, Ethics, and Responsibility

Theme: Writing what feels dangerous; truth vs. harm.Readings:

Katherena Vermette, interview excerpts on writing community, family, trauma

Alexander Chee, “The Autobiography of My Novel”

In-Class:

Debate: what’s “too much” to share?

Workshop 2–3 student essays

Homework: Revise draft based on feedback.

Week 8 — Revision and Compression

Theme: Re-seeing, cutting, deepening.Readings:

Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation (compression and brevity passages)

Joan Didion, “Goodbye to All That”

In-Class:

Revision strategies (How to “write coldly”)

Prompt: Take a draft and cut it to 70% length without losing essence

Homework: Prepare a near-final essay draft (1,500–2,000 words).

Week 9 — Workshop Intensive & Thematic Excavation

Theme: Deep structural and thematic revision.Readings:

None — focus on student manuscripts.

In-Class:

Half-class workshop

Identifying the essay’s “governing question”

Discuss strategies for expansion vs. contraction

Homework: Revise based on workshop + draft your artistic statement.

Week 10 — Final Workshop & Publication Paths

Theme: Reflection and sharing.Readings:

None — focus on participant work.

In-Class:

Final peer workshop

Discuss venues for publishing personal essays (journals, anthologies, online mags)

Closing: Write a brief artistic statement on your personal essay practice

Homework: Submit final essay + artistic statement.

By the end, students will have:

A stronger sense of their essayistic voice and relationship to truth.

A good command of how to craft a compelling personal essay.

Experience with both traditional and experimental essay forms.

Crafting a Compelling Personal Essay (Thursdays)
2026-05-07 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-05-14 17:45 - 19:45 | Quebec
The personal essay sits at the crossroads of memory, imagination, and reflection. It is a form that invites vulnerability and experimentation, asking writers to turn the lens inward while reaching outward toward readers. This ten-week workshop explores the craft of creative nonfiction through readings, discussion, and guided writing exercises. Together, we’ll study a wide range of contemporary essayists and thinkers such as Sheila Heti, Alicia Elliott, Maggie Nelson, James Baldwin, Leslie Jamison, and Joan Didion, whose work challenges and expands our understanding of form, voice, structure, and truth-telling.

Each week, participants will write in response to prompts designed to help them develop their voice, experiment with structure, and explore the ethical and emotional complexities of writing about real lives (our own and others’). We will discuss fragments and braids, confession and restraint, intimacy and distance, always returning to the central question: how do we shape lived experience into compelling art?

By the end of the workshop, participants will have generated several essay fragments and drafts, gained tools for revision, and deepened their understanding of the essay as both a personal and public act. Writers will leave with at least one essay draft they can continue to refine beyond the course. No prior experience is required—just a willingness to read closely, write bravely, and share generously.

Week 1 — What Is a Personal Essay?Theme: Truth, memory, and the boundaries of nonfiction.Readings:Sarah Manguso, The Two Kinds of Decay (selections)Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”In-Class:Introductions & course goalsDiscuss “truth” vs. “fact” in essayPrompt: Write a short scene from memory, then annotate where memory failsHomework: Write a 600–800-word vignette about a formative memory.

Week 2 — Memory and FragmentTheme: Shaping nonlinear memory.Readings:Sheila Heti, Motherhood (fragmented passages)Maggie Nelson, Bluets (selections)In-Class:Discussion: how fragment builds resonanceExercise: Write three fragmentary takes on the same memoryHomework: Develop a mosaic-style essay (1,000 words).

Week 3 — Intimacy and ConfessionTheme: The essayist’s voice and vulnerability.Readings:Alicia Elliott, “A Mind Spread Out on the Ground” (title essay)Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams (title essay excerpt)In-Class:Confessional vs. performative honestyPrompt: Write a letter to someone you cannot send it toHomework: Expand into a 1,200-word letter-essay.

Week 4 — Deepening Voice, Tone & Emotional RegisterTheme: How voice, tone, and emotional distance shape the personal essay.Readings:Zadie Smith, “Fail Better”Katherena Vermette, selected interviews on writing community, trauma, and point of viewIn-Class:Discuss tonal shifts: intimacy, distance, authority, hesitanceExercise: Rewrite a paragraph in three distinct tonal registers (tender, analytical, ironic)Homework: Revise your Week 3 letter-essay with purposeful tonal modulation.

Week 5 — Structure and FormTheme: Chronology, braiding, and experimentation.Readings:Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation (fragmented passages on structure)Eula Biss, “Time and Distance Overcome”In-Class:Discuss braiding personal + cultural historyExercise: Write a short braided passage (memory + outside text/reference)Homework: Draft a braided essay (1,200–1,500 words).

Week 6 — The Self as CharacterTheme: Distance between narrator and narrated self.Readings:Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be? (essayistic passages)James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son” (opening sections)In-Class:Compare Baldwin’s authority with Heti’s uncertaintyPrompt: Write a scene twice — once from the past self’s POV, once from the present self’s POVHomework: Develop one version into a polished essay draft.

Week 7 — Risk, Ethics, and ResponsibilityTheme: Writing what feels dangerous; truth vs. harm.Readings:Katherena Vermette, interview excerpts on writing community, family, traumaAlexander Chee, “The Autobiography of My Novel”In-Class:Debate: what’s “too much” to share?Workshop 2–3 student essaysHomework: Revise draft based on feedback.

Week 8 — Revision and CompressionTheme: Re-seeing, cutting, deepening.Readings:Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation (compression and brevity passages)Joan Didion, “Goodbye to All That”In-Class:Revision strategies (How to “write coldly”)Prompt: Take a draft and cut it to 70% length without losing essenceHomework: Prepare a near-final essay draft (1,500–2,000 words).

Week 9 — Workshop Intensive & Thematic ExcavationTheme: Deep structural and thematic revision.Readings:None — focus on student manuscripts.In-Class:Half-class workshopIdentifying the essay’s “governing question”Discuss strategies for expansion vs. contractionHomework: Revise based on workshop + draft your artistic statement.

Week 10 — Final Workshop & Publication PathsTheme: Reflection and sharing.Readings:None — focus on participant work.In-Class:Final peer workshopDiscuss venues for publishing personal essays (journals, anthologies, online mags)Closing: Write a brief artistic statement on your personal essay practiceHomework: Submit final essay + artistic statement.

By the end, students will have:

A stronger sense of their essayistic voice and relationship to truth.

A good command of how to craft a compelling personal essay.

Experience with both traditional and experimental essay forms.

Book Launch: And Then Again Begin by H. Nigel Thomas
2026-05-07 18:30 - 20:30 | UNIA Liberty Hall, 2741 Notre Dame Street West, 2741 Notre Dame Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3J 1N9, Canada
Join H. Nigel Thomas for the launch of his new novel, And Then Again Begin, the fourth and final book of his No Safeguards Quartet.
Q&A with Chanel Sutherland, author of Layaway Child and laureate 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Reading and book signing
Info: jandickthom@yahoo.ca
Refreshments served

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2026-05-09 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-05-23 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Free, open to QWF members
Register for the session by filling out the RSVP form below.
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 begins. If there is no option to RSVP, RSVPs are closed.

If you are registered but can no longer attend, please email john@qwf.org.

Book Launch—On Occasion: Poems for the People
2026-05-12 19:00 | De Stiil Booksellers, 351 Avenue Duluth, Montreal, Quebec, H2W1J3, Canada
A book launch on the occasion of On Occasion: Poems for the People’s official release!
Join editor Sina Queyras at 7 PM on Tuesday, May 12, on the pub day of On Occasion, at Librairie De Stiil Bookstore (351 Duluth Ave. E., Montreal). Queyras will be joined by Misha Solomon, Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Chanel Sutherland, Lena Palacios, Valerie Free, Constantina Gicopoulous, Ethel Meilleur, and Paisley Conrad reading Angie Conrad. A lineup not to miss.

About the Book
A twenty-first-century reconsideration of the occasional poem by contemporary writers.
On Occasion is a collection rooted in the tradition of the poem as an act of love, an act of protest, an act of visionary incantation, of remembrance, of a call to arms, and a much-needed balm.
The traditional ‘occasional poem’ has a bad rap: a tedious rhyming poem at a wedding or a dreary verse at a funeral. This is not that. These are poems for a tumultuous and complicated world, for occasions that may be celebrations or mournings, or anything in between; from life cycles, to earth cycles, to social cycles, editor Sina Queyras brings together a collection of poetry that speaks to moments of upheaval, revolution, and challenge. Poetry that people can turn to.
On Occasion contains over a hundred poems for different occasions, including writing by Suzanne Buffam, Heather Christle, CAConrad, Sue Goyette, Canisia Lubrin, bpNichol, Michael Ondaatje, Lisa Robertson, Sue Sinclair, and A. E. Stallings.

2026 Queer Reading Series
2026-05-14 19:30 - 2026-05-15 21:00 | Centaur Theatre, 453 St. Francois-Xavier, Montreal, Quebec, HZY 2T1, Canada
JOIN US IN CELEBRATING QUEER THEATRE AT THE 2026 QUEER READING SERIES.
PWM, in partnership with Centaur theatre, invites you to join us for two readings of dynamic new works-in-progress by Queer artists. The Queer Reading Series continues for its 6th year amplifying the voices of early-career 2SLGBTQIA+ playwrights.
On May 14 and 15 at 7:30PM, Centaur Theatre will host Not Just Empty Space by Sarah Danielle Pitman and Dylan’s Song by Anna Morreale. Each performance will be followed by a conversation with the creative team.
The Queer Reading Series is a FREE event. Donations help us keep our programming free to artists, and will be gratefully accepted at the door.
Both readings will be presented with English captions, and the conversations will be presented with auto-generated captioning, for accessibility purposes.
Join us to uplift exciting new works-in-progress and support Queer voices exploring the intersections of queerness and artistic practice.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2026-05-15 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Free, open to QWF members
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.

If you registered for the session but can no longer attend, please email john@qwf.org.
If the session is full, email john@qwf.org to be placed on the waitlist.

Writers' Retreat: Doolin, Ireland May 2026
2026-05-16 11:00 - 2026-05-25 12:00 | Quebec
Join a small group of writers in various genres for our second retreat to Doolin, Ireland. 10 days, 9 nights with writing workshops with memoir and prose writer Kerri Ní Dochartaigh, poet Nikki Griffin, poet Grace Wells, and creative nonfiction writer Ryan Dennis; field trips to the largest Aran Island, the Burren, and the cliffs of Moher. Depending on room type, prices range from $2400USD-$2900USD (and USD are not as far off from CAD as they used to be). Includes lodging, 2 meals per day (except first day (welcome dinner) and last day (breakfast); and all activities. Does not include alcohol, or airfare. Limited to 10 participants at any stage of their writing career.

Retreat website: https://www.nature-culture.net/ireland-retreat-2026

We had a great time this year; see photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/X2E2ATaUNz4EQ2Zw6

Hope you can join us!

Start:May 16, 2026, 4:00 pm UTC/London Time

End:May 25, 2026, 10:00 am UTC/London Time

Event Category: Festival, Reading

Venue: Doolin, Ireland — Doolin, County Clare Ireland, View Venue Website

Embodied Writing - Wellspring Edition
2026-05-16 14:30 - 17:30 | Studio 414, 10 Avenue des Pins West #414, Montreal
The wellspring is that which precedes effort: the body before interpretation, breath before direction, knowing before language takes shape. It is not made; it is met.
Writing begins here, where what has been gathering beneath the surface starts to rise—no longer hidden, not fully formed, but already moving through us like the ecstasy of sunlight in our veins.
This workshop invites you to write, attuning to the source beneath thought, and letting language surge through the body as it takes its rightful place in the world.
Our practice will interweave:

Kundalini breathwork
Stretches & light movement
Creative writing prompts & exercises
Meditation
An optional sharing & discussion circle
Homemade chai & a sweet treat

What to bring:
Your journal, a pen, comfy clothes, and a willing heart.
What to know:
Pens & paper will be available. Seating options will include chairs, mats, and back jacks. There will be space to move, shift, and settle as needed.
Accessibility:
The space is on the 4th floor. There are a few steps leading up into the lobby where there is an elevator accessible.
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 collaborated with visual artists, and worked as a freelance copywriter and editor. She has a shiny little MA in Creative Writing to list among her credentials, and is an emerging novelist. Maya has an extensive background in feminist, anti-racist, climate justice and Indigenous solidarity movements—work that has deeply informed the way she wields words. Aside from being a writer, she is also a Kundalini Yoga teacher and Embodied Writing facilitator. She got into Kundalini as a way of healing from childhood 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 just breathe.
All are welcome. Limited spots.

Sign up: https://heartfirekundalini.com/#events

Smaller Animals Book Launch
2026-05-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Quebec
Join us for an evening of discussion on Smaller Animals, the debut novel by Canadian author Carter Vance, in conversation with Doug Vidal-Hernandez.
Adam Brinkert was raised a world apart from the lights of Ottawa and the din of politics, in a small city in Northern Ontario. Pursuing justice and a way to make things better for the people he grew up with, he became an assistant to a Member of Parliament, living his youth in the offices and hallways of power. But, as he grows towards his 30s, he begins to doubt what it was all for; were his experiences all merely for self-aggrandizement and not the greater good? Twists of fate and slights of political hand will test Adam’s belief in himself, and what he believes is right, while he navigates the landscape of a country, and a world, that is changing rapidly. All the while, he struggles to define his relationships with the people around him, including his erstwhile friend-cum-political rival Truss and his ex-girlfriend and co-worker Kathleen. Adam’s journey will take him across the county and back to his home, searching for a spark to guide him where he truly belongs. Smaller Animals is a story of living, loving and growing up on Parliament Hill that introduces a powerful new voice in Canadian literature.
Carter Vance is a writer and poet originally from Cobourg, Ontario, currently a resident in Gatineau, Quebec. His work has appeared in such publications as The Smart Set, Contemporary Verse 2 and A Midwestern Review, amongst others. Smaller Animals is his first novel, following two poetry collections. Carter has worked as a researcher and policy analyst with government and non-profit organizations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Dominica and Indonesia. He was a staffer for several members of Parliament, including the Opposition House Leader in 2014 and also worked in the Senate of Canada.
Doug Vidal-Hernández was a political staffer at the National Office of the Liberal Party of Canada and worked through the 2015 national campaign as part of a rapid response team providing local candidates with policy support. He then became part of the caucus services team at the Liberal Research Bureau, supporting parliamentarians and their political staff. Now, as a recovered staffer he works at Code for Canada, a national non profit focused on creating strong digital public services, accessible and inclusive design and responsible AI use.

Colors in the Night
2026-05-20 19:00 - 2026-05-24 21:00, 2026-05-21 19:00 - 2026-05-25 21:00, 2026-05-22 19:00 - 2026-05-26 21:00, 2026-05-23 19:00 - 2026-05-27 21:00, 2026-05-24 19:00 - 2026-05-28 21:00, 2026-05-25 19:00 - 2026-05-29 21:00, 2026-05-26 19:00 - 2026-05-30 21:00 | Salle Paul Buissonneau, 3819 Av. Calixa-Lavallée, Montreal, Quebec, H2L 3A7, Canada
Colours in the Night: A Living Tapestry of Stories
Step into a world where stories don’t just unfold… they are chosen.
Colours in the Night is a mesmerizing 90-minute theatrical experience inspired by the timeless storytelling tradition of Nezami, where fate shifts nightly and with it the performances themselves.
Guided by five enigmatic storytellers, the Ladies of White, Red, Blue, Gold, and Green, the audience becomes part of the magic. Each night, you help decide which three of the five tales will be brought to life. To witness them all, you’ll have to return… again and again.
Come once, and you’ll glimpse a story. Come again… and you’ll uncover the whole night.
For any questions don’t hesitate to email us at Therisetheatre@gmail.com
This show is inappropriate for children under the age of 10

Book Launch: Affair with China by Gabriel Safdie
2026-05-22 13:00 - 16:00 | Haskell Free Library, 1 Church Street, Stanstead, Quebec, J0B 3E2, Canada
Join us for a special book launch and conversation with Gabriel Safdie.
A powerful journey through four decades of transformation, Affair with China blends striking photography and personal narrative to capture the beauty, complexity, and contradictions of a nation in motion.

Book Launch: The ABCs of Black Stories in Canada by Dr. Dorothy Williams
2026-05-23 14:00 | Union United Church, 3007 Rue Delisle, Montreal, Quebec, H4C 1M8, Canada
Join Dr. Dorothy W. Williams for the launch her of latest two-volume series, The ABCs of Black Stories in Canada, illustrated by Joseph Osei Bonsu.
Readings. Books on sale. Book signings.
Bring your family, bring your friends, and come celebrate the stories, history, and culture that continue to shape Canada.

Writers Out Loud: Writing the Eastern Townships
2026-05-24 16:00 - 17:30 | Brome Lake Books, 45 Lakeside, Knowlton (Lac-Brome), QC, J0E1V0, Canada
The Quebec Writers’ Federation invites you to Writers Out Loud: Writing the Eastern Townships.
Join us May 24th at 4:00 pm for a Sunday afternoon conversation at Brome Lake Books in Knowlton. Authors Brenda Hartwell (No Wrong Seasons) and Josh Quirion (Homebound) sit down with moderator Louise Abbott to discuss their books, life in the Townships, and how the region inspires their writing.
With words of welcome from Louise Penny.
Books by the authors will be available for purchase.
Part of QWF’s Writers Out Loud series of author interviews and panel discussions.
RSVP on Facebook
About the Participants
Photo: Ellen Goldfinch
Brenda Hartwell is a writer, proofreader, and editor who lives in Baldwin’s Mills, Quebec, in a home she and her husband built with their own hands and power tools. An active community volunteer, she served for many years as Townshippers’ Association’s Chair of Community and Culture and has sat on the boards of The Townships Sun, The Lennoxville & District Women’s Centre, and Townshippers Foundation. She was editor-in-chief of Taproot: Poetry, Prose, and Images from the Eastern Townships, five literary anthologies featuring the work of regional creatives. Her writing has appeared in local, regional, and national magazines, newsletters and newspapers, online, and in Quebec-based anthologies. Her debut novel, No Wrong Seasons, was published by Inanna Publications in Toronto in 2025.

Josh Quirion is a French-Canadian writer from the Eastern Townships of Quebec. He holds an M.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from Concordia University. He is the co-founder and first editor-in-chief of yolk literary magazine. He is the author of two short story collections, Towners & Other Stories (Shoreline Press, 2020) and Homebound (Shoreline Press, 2025), which is longlisted for the 2026 Leacock Medal for Humour. Quirion’s writing has also appeared in The Malahat Review, Prairie Fire, The Antigonish Review, Funicular Magazine, Guernica Editions’ anthology Chronicling the Days, and others. He currently lives in Montreal, Quebec, but is strategically plotting a return to his beloved Townships.

Photo: Vito DeFilippo
Louise Abbott is a non-fiction writer, photographer, and documentary filmmaker in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. She has published seven books of text and photos: The Coast Way, The French Shore, The Heart of the Farm, Eeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree, Memphremagog: An Illustrated History (2 volumes), and Islands of History. She has directed numerous documentaries, including the award-winning Nunaaluk: A Forgotten Story and her latest, Dreamers and Steamers: The Steamboat Era on Lake Memphremagog. Three of her Townships films—The Sugarmakers, Ayer’s Cliff Fair, and Niels Jensen, Cabinetmaker—were broadcast on WNED PBS in recent years. https://www.louiseabbott.ca/

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Book Launch: The ABCs of Black Stories in Canada by Dr. Dorothy Williams
2026-05-26 16:30 | Black Healing Centre, 449-2100 Marlowe Ave, Montreal, Quebec, H4A 3L5, Canada

Book Launch: YOU x ME by Ayla Vejdani
2026-05-26 18:00 - 19:30 | 1426 Rue Beaudry, Montréal, QC H2L 3E5, 1426 Rue Beaudry, Montréal, QC, H2L 3E5, Canada
Join us at L’Euguélionne for an evening of conversation, connection and community celebrating the launch of: YOU x ME. Author, Ayla Vejdani will be in conversation with award-winning author, francesca ekwuyasi to talk about all things queer romance. The evening will include: a reading, conversation, Q&A and book signing, along with special sweet treats. You don’t want to miss it!
Don’t forget to pre-order a copy of the book! youxmebook.com
May 26, 2026, 6 PM, at L’Euguélionne
About the Author:
Ayla Vejdani (she/her) is a storyteller, holder of space and curator of experience. Raised and educated all over the world, she has a master’s in human rights, is an inclusive leadership consultant, and the co-host of The SHIFT podcast. She speaks four languages and laughs in all. Ayla is a queer Iranian-Canadian from Tkaronto/Toronto living in Tiohtia:ke/Montréal, raising her two young children. She is an insatiably creative, romantic realist who believes in magic. Her forthcoming novel YOU x ME is a series of queer, BIPOC love stories. These modern entanglements are the kind of romances that make us lose sleep, love letters to the friendships we can’t live without, and a celebration of our endless journeys of self-discovery. @ayla.author
About the Moderator:
francesca ekwuyasi is the author of Butter Honey Pig Bread and co-author of Curious Sounds: A Dialogue in Three Movements. She won the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQIA2S+ writers, and has been short and Longlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Governor General Award, the Amazon First Novel Prize, the Giller Prize, and the Dublin International Literary Award and others. She lives between Montreal and Halifax. @f.ekwuyasi

Writers Out Loud: Chanel Sutherland and H. Nigel Thomas
2026-05-26 19:00 - 20:30 | De Stiil Booksellers, 351 Avenue Duluth, Montreal, Quebec, H2W1J3, Canada
The Quebec Writers’ Federation invites you to Writers Out Loud: Chanel Sutherland and H. Nigel Thomas.
CBC Radio’s Nantali Indongo sits down with two Vincentian-Canadian authors—H. Nigel Thomas, the winner of the 2022 Canada Council John Molson Prize for the Arts, and Chanel Sutherland, the winner of the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize, the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize, and the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize—to discuss their recent books.
Thomas’s And Then Again Begin, the fourth and final novel in his No Safeguards Quartet, was published by Guernica Editions this April. Sutherland’s debut book, Layaway Child, a collection of short stories exploring Caribbean immigrant experiences, releases with House of Anansi this month.
Join us as we hear from these two esteemed Quebec-based authors.
Books by the authors will be available for purchase.
Part of QWF’s Writers Out Loud series of author interviews and panel discussions.
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About the Participants
Photo: Wojtek Jakubiec
Chanel Sutherland is a Vincentian Canadian writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. She won the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, which she was also longlisted for in 2022. Chanel is also the winner of the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize and the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize, was named one of CBC Books 30 Writers to Watch in 2022, and was the recipient of QWF’s 2022 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship. Layaway Child (House of Anansi)—a short story collection exploring Caribbean immigrant experiences, especially those of girlhood—is her first book. Chanel lives in Montreal.

Photo: J.A .Tony Hadley
H. Nigel Thomas is a Vincentian-Canadian, a retired professor of United States literature, and the coordinator and a co-founder of Lectures Logos Readings. He’s also the author of numerous essays and fifteen books. His novel A Different Hurricane was shortlisted for the 2026 OCM Bocas Prize for fiction. Spirits in the Dark (1993) and No Safeguards (2015) were shortlisted for the Hugh MacLennan Fiction Prize. His short story collection Des vies cases was shortlisted for the Carbet des lycéens award. His awards include the Canada Council John Molson Prize for the Arts (2022) and the Quebec Writers’ Federation Judy Mappin Community Award (2021).

Photo: Tim Chin
Nantali Indongo is the host-producer of The Bridge on CBC Radio One, which airs across the province from 3-4 p.m. on Saturdays and is also available on demand on CBC Listen and on SIRIUS XM. The one-hour program profiles the dreamers shaping arts and culture; delving into personal stories, and hot topics in the milieu with a guest’s curated selection of music. Born and raised in Montreal, Nantali started her career at CBC Quebec in 2010 as a writer-broadcaster and researcher with all of the current affairs programs, eventually becoming a radio producer. In March 2016, she produced the multi-platform series Real Talk on Race, which won local and national awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association. In 2019, Nantali won the Best Radio Host award at the Dynastie Gala. Her growth as a broadcaster led to opportunities to host other National Radio One and CBC Music programs as well as contribute to various Radio-Canada programs. Most recently, Nantali produced an internal 5 episode podcast series about inclusive work in journalism. After 17 years, she ended her journey as an emcee and vocalist with hip hop band, Nomadic Massive.

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Lunch & Learn: EnRoute
2026-05-27 12:00 - 13:00 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Are you a writer or artist from an English-speaking regional community in Quebec? Are you looking for a way to share your work with a wider audience?
Join us for this Lunch & Learn about EnRoute, a bilingual storytelling app developed by the Regional Development Network (RDN) to connect locals and tourists with the artists, places, and landmarks at the heart of Quebec’s cultural heritage.
EnRoute is currently accepting submissions from writers and artists who wish to showcase their stories from the regions of Quebec on the app. This is an opportunity for you to promote your work while also highlighting your connections to Quebec’s English-speaking community.
In this hour-long session, RDN’s Culture and Tourism Agent Walter Willett will provide an overview of EnRoute, including a tour of the app. He will also explain how artists and writers can contribute their stories to it. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
Free and open to all. Discover this exciting new project that will showcase artists contributing to Quebec’s flourishing cultural landscape.
Presented in partnership between the Quebec Writers’ Federation, the English Language Arts Network, and the Regional Development Network
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