Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2026-07-10 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-07-24 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-08-07 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-08-21 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-09-04 12:30 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | 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.

Book Launch: It Happened On Harvard Avenue by Cherie Hart
2026-07-11 17:00 - 19:00 | Chez Nick, 1377 Greene Avenue, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
Join Cherie Hart for the launch of her new novel, It Happened On Harvard Avenue, Canadian romp of a romance/mystery that ends in NDG.
The event will have food and wine and music.
Free and open to all. Copies of the book will be available for purchase ($25 each).

Lunch & Learn with QWF
2026-07-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
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 a Lunch & Learn with QWF!

In this quarterly online orientation session, we 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 Manager) will provide a brief tour of the website, highlighting sections and resources that are particularly useful to QWF members.
Zac Remple, QWF’s new Operations Manager, will also be in attendance.

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

Register now to get the Zoom link. You’ll receive the link by email shortly after registering.

If you have trouble registering or joining the meeting, contact John Wickham 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 July 14 will be in October. Learn more about our Lunch & Learn series.

Register for Zoom link

Beyond Lovecraft: A Weird Fiction Writing Workshop
2026-07-14 17:00 - 19:00 | Phoenix Books, 5928 Sherbrooke Street West, 5928 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC, H4A 1X7, Canada
Have you always wanted to write a strange and dark tale of your own? Whether you’re new to weird fiction or a passionate acolyte, this two-hour creative writing workshop will give you the tools you need to write in a mode usually associated with H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Looking beyond the cosmic horror genre Lovecraft spawned, we will seek inspiration from a range of classic and contemporary writers of the weird, such as Algernon Blackwood, China Miéville, Leena Kohn, and Kelly Link, among others. These authors’ fiction ranges from the Gothic to the surreal and their prose varies from florid and ornate to deceptively simple. While learning how to create a sense of the uncanny, the sublime, and the unknowable, you will leave the workshop with pages of new writing and a seed for your own weird tale.
Workshop offered in English, but participants are welcome to write in the language they are most comfortable with.
Instructor: Matthew Rettino
Please sign up using the Google Form: https://forms.gle/bF3qikV4hZNxvc61A.
$25 fee payment can be made out to Matthew Rettino by Interac etransfer: matthew.rettino@gmail.com.

Book Launch: Nine Bags of Gold
2026-07-16 19:00 | Argo Bookshop, 1841A Ste-Catherine St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Join Argo Bookshop for the Montreal launch of Nine Bags of Gold: The Real-Life Hunt for the Lost Treasure of Acadie by Stéphane LeBlanc-Rainville! This event is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP.
Masks are not required, but will be provided for free at the door.
Please contact us at least a day in advance for elevator access to the store.
Please also note that the street in front of the store is under construction. The store is accessible on foot, but not by car, and parking in the vicinity is consequently limited.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the late 1800s, an elderly man named Simpson travelled from Québec to Moncton, New Brunswick, with a French map from the mid-1700s. The chart, he claimed, pointed to a fortune—nine leather bags of gold—which had been buried in Acadie by mid-eighteenth-century French troops on the run.
Simpson partnered with local excavator Sherman Blakeny. Sponsored by Moncton’s wealthy elite, the two launched a massive search. Dozens of labourers plowed seven acres of land in Irishtown down to a depth of five feet.
What did they find? It’s a question author and skeptic Stéphane LeBlanc-Rainville has spent years researching.
Nine Bags of Gold brings this never-before-told saga of eighteenth-century intrigue to light, excavating age-old legends, furtive protagonists, deathbed confessions, mind-bending plot twists, questionable treasure maps, large-scale digs, and tantalizing cliffhangers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stéphane LeBlanc-Rainville earned his PhD from McGill in 2000. He enjoyed a second career as a consulting neuroscientist—most recently for industry—after years in academia. Lately, he turned his focus on his Acadian and Maritimer roots. His first investigative historical non-fiction, Nine Bags of Gold, dives into an ambitious late-1800s treasure hunt near his native Moncton. Stéphane currently lives in the Montréal area with his wife, Farah, and his two children, Gabrielle and Olivier.
RSVP: https://www.ticketsource.com/argo-bookshop/t-oemydrr

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2026-07-18 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-08-01 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-08-15 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-08-29 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-09-12 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.

Accent Open Mic, Vol. 141
2026-07-19 20:00 | Bar Le Record, 7622 Rue St-Hubert, Montréal, Quebec, H2R 2N6, Canada
Featuring Sena the Queen and David Koloszyc
Theme: Luck
Sign up for the open mic at the door.

July Readings with Montreal Authors
2026-07-22 17:00 - 18:00 | Catanzaro Café, 2754 Saint-Charles Blvd, Kirkland, Montreal, Quebec, H9H 3B6
The Association of Italian-Canadian Writers (AICW) and Accenti Magazine invite you to a Books & Biscotti Literary Event, July 22 from 5 to 6 p.m. (doors open at 4:30 p.m.).
Catanzaro Café, 2754 St-Charles Blvd, Kirkland, QC H9H 3B6
Featuring Montreal authors and poets:

LIANA CUSMANO
LUCIA DE LUCA
FRANCESCA LO DICO
LICIA CANTON
ANNA MERCURI MAIOLO
HEATHER McGUIRE

Light refreshments will be served.
Register at accenti@accenti.ca or 514-329-3254

Youth Book Club at Pulp! Fahrenheit 451
2026-07-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Librairie Pulp Books & Cafe, 3952 Wellington Street, Montreal, Quebec, H4G1V3, Canada
Join Pulp Books summer reading group for teens! We’re reading 2 classics this summer, starting with Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury on July 22nd, and followed up with The Giver by Lois Lowry on August 26th. Geared towards teens ages 14-17, facilitated by Julia Smith-Brake.
RSVP for FAHRENHEIT 451: https://pulpbooks.ca/events/5770020260722
RSVP for THE GIVER: https://pulpbooks.ca/events/5770220260826

Words & Music—This Is Fine: A Musical Improv Show
2026-08-01 20:00 | Monteal Improv Theatre, 3716 rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, H4C 1P7, Canada
You’re invited to This Is Fine: A Musical Improv Show.
Presented in partnership between Unsinkable and QWF’s Words & Music Series, the show will explore mental health through musical improv, humour, and storytelling—creating space for playfulness, connection, and collective exhale without taking ourselves too seriously.
Join us Saturday, August 1, for an evening hosted by Afreina Noor, featuring five incredible acts:

The Harold Angels
High Key/Low Key
JC No Relation
Le feu qui ne s’éteint pas
The Marmaladies

Accessibility Information:
There is a flight of stairs leading to the basement where the venue is located. There is a railing, and restrooms are on the same level as the venue.
No outside food or drinks allowed.
Get Tickets

Violet Hour Literary Series: Peter Dubé Double Launch
2026-08-05 19:00 | Argo Bookshop, 1841A Ste-Catherine St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Join us for the double launch of reprints of two of Montreal author Peter Dubé’s seminal works: Hovering World (with a new introduction by Daniel Allen Cox) and At the Bottom of the Sky (with a new forward by Trebor Healey). Published by The Library of Homosexual Congress, an imprint of Rebel Satori Press. Hovering World is the October 2026 selection of the Violet Hour Book Club.
This event is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP.
Masks are not required, but will be provided for free at the door.
Please contact us at least a day in advance for elevator access to the store.
Please also note that the street in front of the store is under construction. The store is accessible on foot, but not by car, and parking in the vicinity is consequently limited.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Dubé is a multi-genre writer, translator, and independent scholar. He is the author, co-author, or editor of fourteen books and chapbooks of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. His most recent publication is the work of literary theory and criticism, Desire as Praxis: Towards a Queer Surrealism. His novella, Subtle Bodies, an imagined life of French surrealist René Crevel was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award, and his novel in prose poems entitled The Headless Man, was shortlisted for both the A. M. Klein Prize and the ReLit award. He was a member of the editorial committee of the contemporary art magazine Espace for 18 years and is currently co-editor of The Philosophical Egg, an organ of living surrealism. He lives and works in his hometown of Montreal.

Stage Fright Moment Theatre
2026-08-09 20:00 - 21:30
Moment Theatre Collective is staging seven original short plays at Théâtre VME, with performances on August 8 and 9, curtain at 8 PM.

Be Funny on Paper: Humour Writing Workshop
2026-08-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Phoenix Books, 5928 Sherbrooke Street West, 5928 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC, H4A 1X7, Canada
This workshop will teach you techniques for expressing humour in your writing, from creating a one-liner to mixing genres for unexpected results. Whether you’re writing fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, you’ll get a chance to learn, experiment, and have fun! Every participant will receive a paper outline (digital also upon request).
What to bring: yourself, something to write with, and (optionally) a short example of writing you find funny
The workshop costs $25 and can be paid in cash at Phoenix Bookstore or by e-transfer – info in registration form: https://forms.gle/4kWB1aehhfGhe3xU7
Workshop leader: Kirsten Shute (she/her) is the author of Fanfiction Is for Teenage Girls (Cactus Press, 2025); other poems and stories have appeared in Soliloquies, Twigs and Leaves, and The Claremont Review. She posts about books and local events at @kirsten_shute_writing. You can often find her at the Chimera Open Mic at Phoenix Bookstore and Accent Open Mic at Bar Le Record.

pixie literary magazine Issue 4.2 Launch
2026-08-21 19:00 - 22:00
Coucou! pixie literary magazine is celebrating our latest issue…meaning we’ve got Friday Night planned out for you. All you need to do is show up looking pretty and/or mischievous. Here are the details:
Friday, 21 Aug
At Rockette Bar
From 19-22h
We’ll be there from 7pm, but feel free to tell your always-late friends and lovers that it starts at 6. Tell them we can’t wait for them to join us in our celebration of the 14 talented pixies that make up…Issue 4.2!
We believe poetry is for the people – prose too – so pay what you can for the new issue (we suggest $12). See you soon!

Langues minorisées, langues vivantes
2026-08-25 08:00 - 17:00
Le romani, l’innu-aimun, le yiddish
Afin de célébrer les 100 ans du PEN Québec et de souligner les 50 ans de la Déclaration universelle des droits linguistiques signée à Barcelone, le Comité de traduction et de droits linguistiques du PEN Québec vous invite à un événement mettant en valeur la créativité et la vitalité des langues minorisées du Québec.
Quand : le jeudi 17 septembre 2026, de 16 h à 18 h . OUVERT À TOUTES ET À TOUS. GRATUIT.
Où : le 4e espace (4th Space) de l’Université Concordia
1400, boul. De Maisonneuve Ouest (station de métro Guy-Concordia)
Avec la participation de Debbie Folaron (Chaire Jean-Monnet, Concordia), Dafina Savić (fondatrice, Romanipe-Montréal), René Lemieux (Observatoire de la traduction autochtone, Concordia) et Chantal Ringuet (poète, traductrice, spécialiste de la littérature yiddish). Animation : Sherry Simon (PEN-Québec)
Seront présentées des vidéos-poèmes créées dans le contexte du projet PEN « Rendre visibles les langues muettes », dont des poèmes de Joséphine Bacon (en innu-aimun) et de Marie-Célie Agnant (en kreyòl ayisyen).

Re/writing Connection
2026-08-25 17:00 - 18:30 | McLennan-Redpath Humanities and Social Sciences Library
Save the date for Re/writing Connection, a spoken word event featuring magnificent stories from the Writers Collective of Canada (WCC) community.

Youth Book Club at Pulp! The Giver
2026-08-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Librairie Pulp Books & Cafe, 3952 Wellington Street, Montreal, Quebec, H4G1V3, Canada
Join Pulp Books summer reading group for teens! We’re reading 2 classics this summer, starting with Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury on July 22nd, and followed up with The Giver by Lois Lowry on August 26th. Geared towards teens ages 14-17, facilitated by Julia Smith-Brake.
RSVP for FAHRENHEIT 451 (July 22, 7:00–8:30 p.m.): https://pulpbooks.ca/events/5770020260722
RSVP for THE GIVER (August 26, 7:00–8:30 p.m.): https://pulpbooks.ca/events/5770220260826

21st Annual Lac Café Retreat, August 28–30, 2026, Rawdon, QC
2026-08-28 18:00 - 2026-08-30 15:00
This event has been rescheduled from September 11–13 to August 28–30.
A women’s writing weekend (non-binary writers welcome), open to experienced writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and all in-between genres. The retreat is designed to help you bring what you are writing into alignment with what wants to be written, for the sake of all creation. In a quiet natural setting by a pristine lake, we will open ourselves to whatever wants to speak through us, in conscious alliance with both nonhuman and human intelligences. As our deepest knowing often shows up in our dreams, we will begin each day with dreamwork.
We’ll be staying in chalets beside a small lake in a quiet wooded area ten minutes north of Rawdon, which is just over an hour north of Montreal. There will be time off in the afternoon for hiking, boating, swimming. Vegetarian meals will be shared in the main cabin. Cost for the weekend is $300 Can which includes a single room and meals. Cost is lower for shared rooms and tenting.
If interested please send statement of interest and writing sample (no more than 10 pages) to lweil22@gmail.com
Lise Weil has over forty years’ experience teaching writing in both academic and alternative settings. www.liseweil.com.

AMÉLIE: The Musical
2026-08-28 20:00 - 22:30, 2026-08-29 20:00 - 22:30, 2026-08-30 15:00 - 17:30 | Centaur Theatre, 453 St. Francois-Xavier, Montreal, Quebec, HZY 2T1, Canada
Amélie Poulain is an extraordinary young woman who lives quietly in the world but loudly in her mind. She covertly improvises small but surprising acts of kindness that bring joy and mayhem. But when a chance at love comes her way, Amélie realizes that to find happiness she’ll have to risk everything and say what’s in her heart. Be inspired by this imaginative dreamer who finds her voice, discovers the power of connection, and sees possibility around every corner.
The three-time META-nominated production of AMÉLIE returns! Come be swept away to Paris in this musical adaptation of beloved French film, Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. The cafe awaits…

Book Launch of Carrying War, a memoir-in-essays
2026-08-29 14:00 - 17:00 | Gillygooly Gallery
Everyone is welcome!
Live Music and munchies
Guest reading by novelist Brent Van Staalduinen, author of Peace Thieves (Thistledown Press, 2026).
