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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250409T190000
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SUMMARY:Don’t Quit Your Day Job…Yet: Freelance Writing for Print and Internet
DESCRIPTION:The Internet has boosted demand for articles\, photo features\, website text\, and niche content for both online and print outlets. The technical skills to post\, blog\, tweet\, and upload are common – especially amongst the younger generation! \n\n\n\nLess common\, however\, is the combination of these skills with the ability to write clear\, concise\, targeted\, interesting\, and well-structured prose suitable for small screens\, short attention spans\, F-pattern skim reading\, and search engines. \n\n\n\nConducted by a professional journalist\, author\, freelance writer and PR lecturer\, this workshop is designed to enhance the communications skills of freelancers\, publicists\, bloggers\, and other writers. It will also help you acquire the business and survival smarts you’ll need if you want to earn money from your writing. \n\n\n\nVariations of this workshop have been delivered online and live\, for credit and non-credit purposes at McGill University\, UCLA\, Shaanxi University\, and various arts groups. \n\n\n\nThrough discussions\, examples\, simulation exercises\, and peer review\, workshop sessions are conducted in a “real-life” context that aims to get participants published after the course. \n\n\n\nExercises are written and reviewed during sessions to mediate feedback and prepare participants to work within time limits. The instructor will set a main homework assignment\, to be reviewed before it’s submitted for publication: \n\n\n\n\nA third-person profile\, based on an interview\, which describes an interesting person\, their occupation and achievements.\n\n\n\n\nor \n\n\n\n\nA researched\, first-person narrative analyzing a subject of topical interest.\n\n\n\n\nSessions will cover all aspects of choosing\, planning\, pitching\, writing\, and editing the article. \n\n\n\nParticipants enrolling in this workshop should have a clear idea why they want to write\, what they want to write\, and for whom. They should also consider whether they intend to sell their writing to external outlets\, give it away\, or use it for personal\, career/business development. \n\n\n\nWorkshop schedule \n\n\n\nWeek 1 \n\n\n\n\nCourse introduction\n\n\n\nOvercoming writer’s block and generating story ideas\n\n\n\nChoosing the right topic at the right time\n\n\n\nDifferences between print and online writing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 2 \n\n\n\n\nAnalysis of techniques\, tone\, and content of publications\n\n\n\nInverted pyramid writing\n\n\n\nResearching and selecting relevant material\n\n\n\nSearch engine optimization\n\n\n\nOnline vs print reading patterns\n\n\n\n\nWeek 3 \n\n\n\n\nWriting catchy leads\, headings\, and subject lines\n\n\n\nBasic writing structures\n\n\n\nShow don’t tell – writing for the senses\n\n\n\nSimiles\, metaphors\, allusions\, and other writing devices\n\n\n\nCutting jargon and superfluous words\n\n\n\n\nWeek 4 \n\n\n\n\nInterviewing techniques and psychology\n\n\n\nTurning an interview into a profile\n\n\n\nUse of quotations\n\n\n\nChoosing a publication for your article\n\n\n\nPitching stories\n\n\n\n\nWeek 5 \n\n\n\n\nWorking with editors\n\n\n\nBuilding your network\n\n\n\nCaption writing\n\n\n\nSourcing\, choosing\, and editing pics\n\n\n\nTravel writing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 7 \n\n\n\n\nWriting as a business\n\n\n\nQuoting for jobs\n\n\n\nTax and invoice issues\n\n\n\nMarketing\n\n\n\nSelf-publishing\, hybrid publishing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 8 \n\n\n\n\nCourse review \n\n\n\nPreparation to submit workshop article for publication
URL:https://qwf.org/event/dont-quit-your-day-jobyet-freelance-writing-for-print-and-internet/2025-04-09/
LOCATION:Online via Zoom
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250409T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250409T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
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SUMMARY:Listening for the Poem
DESCRIPTION:This workshop engages poetry through a listening practice. \n\n\n\nListening shifts attention away from prosaic sense-making and toward poetic meaning-making. Through listening\, we can quiet our inner editorial voice\, make unexpected leaps of thought\, create new patterns of association\, and attune to the fullness—the timbre\, tone\, and sway—of any given moment. \n\n\n\nDeveloping a listening practice also carves out dedicated time\, space\, and attention for writing. Listening permits an encounter between you and your voice\, which emerges when you do not self-consciously construct it. Listening halts self-critical chatter\, allowing you to tune in to your natural rhythms\, embodied knowledge\, and inner language. \n\n\n\nYou will be invited to engage in a directed listening experience\, on your own time\, before each workshop. During this experience\, you will compose the poems that will be brought into workshop\, which will be spent reading new poems aloud and providing feedback on one another’s writing. The idea is that you will bring in new work during each session to share\, with writing taking place on your own time. Consequently\, this is a writing-intensive workshop. Short readings and audio files will be assigned\, and participants will need a recording device for one exercise (phone is OK). \n\n\n\nThe workshop will fully engage the intellect and life experiences of all the writers in the room as we talk shop about craft\, poetics\, and more. New work is privileged to demonstrate the limitless potential we have within us to create poetry—the potential to hear poetry in everyday life. \n\n\n\nJay Ritchie is an English PhD candidate at McGill University and holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of Listening in Many Publics (Invisible Publishing\, 2024)\, which was a finalist for the QWF’s A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry\, and Cheer Up\, Jay Ritchie (Coach House Books\, 2017). He has taught creative writing at UMass and Bishop’s University. His writing and music have appeared in Maisonneuve\, SAND\, on CBC Radio One\, WMUA Amherst\, Frozen Section Radio\, at the PHI Centre\, and he performs expanded poetry readings using portable cassette players and field recordings.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/listening-for-the-poem/2025-04-09/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250408T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250408T220000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
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SUMMARY:Make It Make Sense: Writing Memoir
DESCRIPTION:Writing a story about something that really happened seems like it should be easy: after all\, compared to something like fiction\, a lot of the work is already done for you. You already know what happens! But as anyone who has attempted to make art about their own life and experience can attest\, the practice can feel a lot more complicated when you actually get down to it. Life doesn’t always make sense — but a good story has to. \n\n\n\nLed by Tara McGowan-Ross\, the author of the Hilary Weston Prize-shortlisted memoir Nothing Will Be Different\, Make It Make Sense is a workshop that engages directly with the complicated questions that can impede creativity when writing about real life. What makes memoir different from other kinds of nonfiction? Why does writing about yourself honestly so often feel like lying through your teeth? What are the ethics of writing about other people? And what gives me the right\, in our complicated global environment\, to take up space telling my own story at all? \n\n\n\nThis workshop aims to foster a sense of confidence and capacity in a genre that is both highly marketable arts entertainment and powerful personal reflective practice. Participants will be asked to think critically about memoir from the perspective of both writer and reader in a discussion-based environment that features short lectures\, collaborative dialogue\, peer editing\, and revision to foster a sense of ease in one of the most fraught and risky modes of self-expression. \n\n\n\nMake It Make Sense is designed for writers of all skill levels who feel they are psychologically blocked in their memoir-writing practice. Participants will be encouraged to develop a solid foundation of confidence and understanding so that they can live with the sense of uncertainty (or even danger) that often makes this genre so challenging and exciting. Participants will be required to write a short piece for peer editing and workshop with their cohort and encouraged to revise that same piece based on feedback. Not all revised pieces will be workshopped.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/make-it-make-sense-writing-memoir/2025-04-08/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250408T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250408T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
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SUMMARY:So You’ve Written a Novel – Now What?
DESCRIPTION:The first time I typed THE END on a manuscript\, I didn’t know what to do next. There’s a lot of information and encouragement on HOW to write a book\, but not a lot on what to do after you’ve written the thing. And the advice you find online can be woefully misleading\, confusing\, or at its very worst —fraudulent. \n\n\n\nThis 8-week workshop aims to fully lay out the roadmap to traditional publishing for someone who’s finished\, or is close to finishing a fiction manuscript. The journey of getting your story from your laptop to an actual book you can pick up at Indigo follows a very specific series of steps. From landing an agent\, to signing with a publisher\, to contract details\, this course will take you\, in minute detail\, through every step\, with a centerpiece intensive workshop formulating your all-important Query Letter\, along with details on crafting your logline and your pitch kits. \n\n\n\nDesigned for absolute newbies to the world of publishing\, this workshop will offer you tips and tactics to maximize your chances at every step\, and by its end you should have the knowledge and confidence to approach this perilous enterprise knowing exactly what you need to do next. Because typing THE END is only the beginning. \n\n\n\nThere is no submission required prior to the first session\, but participants will be expected to write loglines and query letters and share them with the group as the workshop progresses. They will also be expected to read and critique each other’s work. \n\n\n\nToronto-born\, Montreal-based writer and illustrator Sherwin Sullivan Tjia has written many odd and eclectic books. Their 2005 collection of pseudohaikus\, The World is a Heartbreaker\, was a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s A. M. Klein Award. Their 2010 graphic novel\, The Hipless Boy\, was a finalist for the Doug Wright Award for best emerging talent\, as well as being nominated for 4 Ignatz Awards. Their 2011 Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style book from the POV of a housecat entitled You Are a Cat! won that year’s Expozine Award for best English-language book. Their latest graphic novel entitled Plummet is about a woman who wakes up one day to find herself in literal\, perpetual freefall. It was optioned for animation and named one of CBC Books’ “Top 20 Graphic Novels of 2019.”
URL:https://qwf.org/event/so-youve-written-a-novel-now-what-2/2025-04-08/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250408T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250408T193000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250404T204532Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250404T204536Z
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SUMMARY:"Flying Soulo" Book launch & Workshop
DESCRIPTION:Join us at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts for the exciting book launch and workshop of “Flying SOULO” with Award-Winning Director / TV Host Tracey Erin Smith!\nDive into the world of creativity and inspiration as we celebrate the release of this profound and practical book. Connect with fellow story enthusiasts\, meet the author\, participate in an engaging workshop that will ignite your imagination and you’ll leave with a polished piece of writing.\nTracey will also sign your brand new copy of her book!\nDon’t miss out on this unique event that promises to be a blend of learning and fun!
URL:https://qwf.org/event/flying-soulo-book-launch-workshop/
LOCATION:The Segal Centre for Performing Arts\, 5550 Westbury Avenue\, Montreal\, QC\, H3W 1M7\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250407T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250407T220000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241212T163218Z
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SUMMARY:Craft Meets Magic: The Alchemy of Short Fiction
DESCRIPTION:Is there an art form more maddening than the short story? Demanding the complexity of a novel\, the lyricism of a poem\, and the economy of a joke\, the work is tedious and the rewards  (for most of us) are slim. Still\, for us cursed few\, the short story is an addictive nut to crack. After all\, there’s little more thrilling than the prose of a writer who can do more with a handful of pages than most can do with 300. The complexity of a novel! The lyricism of a poem! The economy of a joke! \n\n\n\nJoin us\, if you dare\, for an 8-week workshop where participants will share and critique each other’s work with an eye towards craft. Specifically\, we will ask ourselves questions like\, “What are characters made of?” “How is a plot built?” “Do I really need to describe everything?” \n\n\n\nEqually important to studying these questions will be putting them aside\, as we celebrate and cultivate the magic that makes art artin the first place–that intangible whatever that defines our passion for fiction. After all\, what else do we have to keep us warm as we trudge through draft to draft? \n\n\n\nAs time allows\, we’ll also read stories by published authors like ZZ Packer\, Donald Barthelme\, Jhumpa Lahiri\, Joy Williams\, and George Saunders. Participants will be asked to read and prepare responses to a short story (distributed from me by email) prior to our first meeting. \n\n\n\nFrankie Barnet is the author of Mood Swings (McClelland & Stewart)\, which was a finalist for the Grand prix du livre de Montréal; Kim: A Novel Idea (Metatron); and An Indoor Kind of Girl (Metatron). Her work has appeared in places such as PRISM International\, EVENT\, Joyland\, The Erotic Review\, and Biblioasis’ Best Canadian Short Stories Anthology. She has an MFA from Syracuse University and lives in Montreal.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/craft-meets-magic-the-alchemy-of-short-fiction/2025-04-07/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250407T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250407T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241212T163158Z
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SUMMARY:Novel Essentials: The Art & Craft of Long-Form Fiction
DESCRIPTION:Have you had an itch to write a novel\, but haven’t known how to tackle such a large project? Now is the perfect time to dust off your ideas! This workshop is a boot camp for budding writers eager to turn their novelistic dream into a reality. From iron-clad structures and story tropes to the ins-and-outs of how character motivation pushes a great plot\, this 10-week intensive workshop will impart professional tips and tricks-of-the-trade essential to bringing long-form fiction to life. \n\n\n\nThe workshop will focus on practical knowledge not covered in a typical writing workshop: initial idea development; a deep dive on novelistic structure; how to build the perfect plot; character development and motivation; scene development; and how to handle secondary and tertiary characters\, to name a few. Each week\, you will learn one or more essential techniques and/or theories\, as well as participate in short\, practical exercises that will help you build your novel. As you master the elements\, you will have opportunities to develop and workshop your original novel concepts. \n\n\n\nWhile an emphasis will be placed on long-form writing\, all writers looking to master essential elements of fiction writing are encouraged to attend. You do not require prior workshop experience or an idea for a novel to take this workshop. Participants interested in developing fiction of all kinds are more than welcome! \n\n\n\nL. E. Sterling (Erin Vollick\, also published under L. E. Vollick) is the author of numerous novels spanning contemporary\, Young Adult\, fantasy\, science-fiction\, dystopian and romance genres. Her hit series\, the True Born Trilogy\, was optioned for television\, and True Born\, the first novel in the trilogy\, was recognized internationally with the 2017 Athena Award® in Young Adult literature. With a B.A. and M.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Literature\, Sterling taught creative writing and literature for many years. She has appeared at BookCon NYC\, the LA Times Festival of Books\, and Ad Astra.  
URL:https://qwf.org/event/novel-essentials-the-art-craft-of-long-form-fiction/2025-04-07/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250406T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250406T180000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
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SUMMARY:Montreal launch of Dreams Before Extinction/Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Anthology
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the launch of this stunning anthology compiling ten years of writing and artwork for Montreal-based Dark Matter: Women Witnessing\, whose mandate is to bring vision to these burning times.  Laura Simms has called the journal “the most important literary magazine today.”  Edited by Lise Weil\, Gillian Goslinga\, Kristin Flyntz and Anne Bergeron\, and with a foreword by G.A. Bradshaw\, Dreams Before Extinction collects essays\, poems and artwork by 67 women—all of it responding to the many  forms of devastation we face in these times.  Editors and 3 local contributors—Kim Zombik\, Yehudit Silverman\, Lise Moisan–will read from and converse about the book.\nDeena Metzger: “That this anthology comes into the world at a time when the world is darkening so\, offers us some ease in our hearts…”\nAzul Thomé: “A mycelium \, a human humus forest is born!!! Hallelujah ya allah mabrouk!!!” \n Wine and refreshments.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/montreal-launch-of-dreams-before-extinction-dark-matterwomen-witnessing-anthology/
LOCATION:De Stiil Booksellers 351 Avenue Duluth E\, Montréal\, QC H2W 1J3\, 351 Avenue Duluth\, Montreal\, Quebec\, H2W1J3\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Book Launch
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250405T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250405T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250211T213725Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250213T154627Z
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SUMMARY:Workshop: Embodied Writing with Maya Khamala
DESCRIPTION:All are welcome! Limited spots. \n\n\n\n~Writing\, breathwork\, meditation & optional sharing circle~ \n\n\n\nWriting 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. \n\n\n\nWe contort ourselves into painfully disembodied shapes in order to summon words\, and yet the body remains our deepest source of truth. What if we gave in to our bodies instead? What words might surface? What untapped potential might emerge? \n\n\n\nGet out of your head and into your body so you can write with vital presence. Our bodies hold so many stories that long to be told. Breathing life into those stories has the potential to be a deeply empowering and healing act. \n\n\n\nIf 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 investigate the relationship between body and language. \n\n\n\nOur practice will interweave: \n\n\n\n\nKundalini breathwork\n\n\n\nStretches & movement\n\n\n\nCreative writing prompts & exercises\n\n\n\nMeditation\n\n\n\nAn optional sharing & discussion circle\n\n\n\nHomemade chai & a sweet treat\n\n\n\n\nWhat to bring: \n\n\n\nYour journal\, a pen\, comfy clothes & an open mind. \n\n\n\nWhat to know: \n\n\n\nPens & paper will be available\, as will floor mats/blocks/cushions if needed. Seating options will include: sofas\, chairs\, floor mats\, etc. There will be space to move around and shift positions as needed. \n\n\n\nAbout the facilitator: \n\n\n\nMaya 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 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\, 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 offering regular Montreal classes in NDG and the Plateau. 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 simply breathe. \n\n\n\nCost: $85 ($75 early bird rate for first 5 people)Book here: linktr.ee/heartfire.kundalini
URL:https://qwf.org/event/workshop-embodied-writing-with-maya-khamala-3/
LOCATION:Studio 414\, 10 Avenue des Pins West #414\, Montreal
CATEGORIES:Workshops
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250405T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250405T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T183731Z
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SUMMARY:Systems for Writers
DESCRIPTION:A one-day workshop on time management\, organization\, and goal setting for writers. This workshop is for writers of all genres who struggle to balance writing with busy lives or to stay organized with their time and their projects. Participants should bring their laptops and any current agenda/calendar systems so that these can be used during the workshop. \n\n\n\nThe workshop will begin with self-reflection prompts and exercises to help participants create “goal pyramids” that clarify and prioritize long-term writing and publication goals. We’ll also work to define clear goals for participants’ current projects and break these into small\, realistic action steps. We’ll explore various organizational and time-management tools in both digital and analog formats\, including timers\, spreadsheets\, calendars\, bullet journals\, and project notebooks. Participants will learn practical strategies to boost creativity\, stay on track with writing projects\, and reduce stress\, procrastination\, and perfectionism. Essentially\, this workshop will provide support\, tools\, and strategies to help participants gain more control over their time and their projects. \n\n\n\nRebecca Morris is a Montreal writer\, editor\, and teacher whose debut novel Other Maps was released in September 2024 with Linda Leith Publishing. Rebecca’s short stories have won the Malahat Review Open Season Award for Fiction and the Humber Literary Review’s Emerging Writers Fiction contest\, earned Honourable Mention in Prairie Fire’s Short Fiction contest and been long-listed in Room Magazine‘s fiction contest. A Banff alumna and a reader for the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize\, Rebecca teaches writing workshops at the QWF and the Thomas More Institute as well as schools and communities across Montreal.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/systems-for-writers/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250404T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250404T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250307T200000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250307T191629Z
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SUMMARY:Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
DESCRIPTION:Friday\, April 4\, 2025\, 12:30 pm–3:00 pmFree\, In PersonQWF Office (Room 3\, 1200 Atwater Ave.\, Westmount)\n\n\n\nRegister for the session by filling out the RSVP form below. \n\n\n\nLooking for some dedicated\, quiet writing space? \n\n\n\nJoin us for an in-person Shut Up & Write session at the QWF office! \n\n\n\nDo 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. \n\n\n\nThis event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.  \n\n\n\nPlease note that these sessions are designed for silent writing\, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work. \n\n\n\n12:30–12:55: 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 \n\n\n\nTo register\, RSVP below. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGetting to the QWF Office\n\n\n\nOur office is located on the top floor of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre\, in Room 3. \n\n\n\nAddress: 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3Westmount\, QC H3Z 1X4 \n\n\n\nClosest Metro: Atwater Station \n\n\n\nClosest Bus lines: 24\, 63\, 90\, 104\, 138\, 144\, 150 \n\n\n\nAccessibility:\n\n\n\nThe 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. \n\n\n\nLearn more about the office location and accessibility. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIf you registered and can no longer attend\, please email john@qwf.org to notify us.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/shut-up-write-with-qwf-in-person-34/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Shut Up & Write!
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250403T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250403T203000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250318T161623Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250318T161709Z
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SUMMARY:WestmountLittéraire | WestmountLit
DESCRIPTION:Thursday\, April 3\, 2025\, 7:00 pm ET\n\n\n\nMeet three acclaimed authors for a literary soirée of readings and discussion. \n\n\n\nFeaturing authors Megan Durnford\, H Nigel Thomas\, and Sivan Slapak.  \n\n\n\nRegister for free on Eventbrite to reserve your spot.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/westmountlit/
LOCATION:Westmount Public Library\, 4626 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest\, Westmount\, Quebec\, H3Z 1G1\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Panel
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250403T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250403T190000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250307T163423Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250402T181757Z
UID:10004245-1743699600-1743706800@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Book Launch: One in Six Million by Amy Fish
DESCRIPTION:Thursday\, April 3\, 2025\, 5:00–7:00 pmGelber Conference Centre (5151 Côte Ste Catherine Rd)\n\n\n\nMeet Montreal author Amy Fish and receive a signed copy of the book. \n\n\n\nDiscover the remarkable journey behind One in Six Million\, a true story about genealogist Stanley Diamond Z”L and how he traced a Holocaust Survivor’s lost identity. \n\n\n\nMontreal author Amy Fish will share the heartfelt experiences and extensive research that went into crafting her latest book. In conversation with Montreal broadcaster Natasha Hall\, the event will bring history to life in ways that promise to inspire and resonate with our guests.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/book-launch-one-in-six-million/
LOCATION:QC
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Community Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250402T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250402T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T174534Z
UID:10004100-1743620400-1743627600@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Don’t Quit Your Day Job…Yet: Freelance Writing for Print and Internet
DESCRIPTION:The Internet has boosted demand for articles\, photo features\, website text\, and niche content for both online and print outlets. The technical skills to post\, blog\, tweet\, and upload are common – especially amongst the younger generation! \n\n\n\nLess common\, however\, is the combination of these skills with the ability to write clear\, concise\, targeted\, interesting\, and well-structured prose suitable for small screens\, short attention spans\, F-pattern skim reading\, and search engines. \n\n\n\nConducted by a professional journalist\, author\, freelance writer and PR lecturer\, this workshop is designed to enhance the communications skills of freelancers\, publicists\, bloggers\, and other writers. It will also help you acquire the business and survival smarts you’ll need if you want to earn money from your writing. \n\n\n\nVariations of this workshop have been delivered online and live\, for credit and non-credit purposes at McGill University\, UCLA\, Shaanxi University\, and various arts groups. \n\n\n\nThrough discussions\, examples\, simulation exercises\, and peer review\, workshop sessions are conducted in a “real-life” context that aims to get participants published after the course. \n\n\n\nExercises are written and reviewed during sessions to mediate feedback and prepare participants to work within time limits. The instructor will set a main homework assignment\, to be reviewed before it’s submitted for publication: \n\n\n\n\nA third-person profile\, based on an interview\, which describes an interesting person\, their occupation and achievements.\n\n\n\n\nor \n\n\n\n\nA researched\, first-person narrative analyzing a subject of topical interest.\n\n\n\n\nSessions will cover all aspects of choosing\, planning\, pitching\, writing\, and editing the article. \n\n\n\nParticipants enrolling in this workshop should have a clear idea why they want to write\, what they want to write\, and for whom. They should also consider whether they intend to sell their writing to external outlets\, give it away\, or use it for personal\, career/business development. \n\n\n\nWorkshop schedule \n\n\n\nWeek 1 \n\n\n\n\nCourse introduction\n\n\n\nOvercoming writer’s block and generating story ideas\n\n\n\nChoosing the right topic at the right time\n\n\n\nDifferences between print and online writing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 2 \n\n\n\n\nAnalysis of techniques\, tone\, and content of publications\n\n\n\nInverted pyramid writing\n\n\n\nResearching and selecting relevant material\n\n\n\nSearch engine optimization\n\n\n\nOnline vs print reading patterns\n\n\n\n\nWeek 3 \n\n\n\n\nWriting catchy leads\, headings\, and subject lines\n\n\n\nBasic writing structures\n\n\n\nShow don’t tell – writing for the senses\n\n\n\nSimiles\, metaphors\, allusions\, and other writing devices\n\n\n\nCutting jargon and superfluous words\n\n\n\n\nWeek 4 \n\n\n\n\nInterviewing techniques and psychology\n\n\n\nTurning an interview into a profile\n\n\n\nUse of quotations\n\n\n\nChoosing a publication for your article\n\n\n\nPitching stories\n\n\n\n\nWeek 5 \n\n\n\n\nWorking with editors\n\n\n\nBuilding your network\n\n\n\nCaption writing\n\n\n\nSourcing\, choosing\, and editing pics\n\n\n\nTravel writing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 7 \n\n\n\n\nWriting as a business\n\n\n\nQuoting for jobs\n\n\n\nTax and invoice issues\n\n\n\nMarketing\n\n\n\nSelf-publishing\, hybrid publishing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 8 \n\n\n\n\nCourse review \n\n\n\nPreparation to submit workshop article for publication
URL:https://qwf.org/event/dont-quit-your-day-jobyet-freelance-writing-for-print-and-internet/2025-04-02/
LOCATION:Online via Zoom
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250402T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250402T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T184729Z
UID:10004124-1743616800-1743624000@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Listening for the Poem
DESCRIPTION:This workshop engages poetry through a listening practice. \n\n\n\nListening shifts attention away from prosaic sense-making and toward poetic meaning-making. Through listening\, we can quiet our inner editorial voice\, make unexpected leaps of thought\, create new patterns of association\, and attune to the fullness—the timbre\, tone\, and sway—of any given moment. \n\n\n\nDeveloping a listening practice also carves out dedicated time\, space\, and attention for writing. Listening permits an encounter between you and your voice\, which emerges when you do not self-consciously construct it. Listening halts self-critical chatter\, allowing you to tune in to your natural rhythms\, embodied knowledge\, and inner language. \n\n\n\nYou will be invited to engage in a directed listening experience\, on your own time\, before each workshop. During this experience\, you will compose the poems that will be brought into workshop\, which will be spent reading new poems aloud and providing feedback on one another’s writing. The idea is that you will bring in new work during each session to share\, with writing taking place on your own time. Consequently\, this is a writing-intensive workshop. Short readings and audio files will be assigned\, and participants will need a recording device for one exercise (phone is OK). \n\n\n\nThe workshop will fully engage the intellect and life experiences of all the writers in the room as we talk shop about craft\, poetics\, and more. New work is privileged to demonstrate the limitless potential we have within us to create poetry—the potential to hear poetry in everyday life. \n\n\n\nJay Ritchie is an English PhD candidate at McGill University and holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of Listening in Many Publics (Invisible Publishing\, 2024)\, which was a finalist for the QWF’s A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry\, and Cheer Up\, Jay Ritchie (Coach House Books\, 2017). He has taught creative writing at UMass and Bishop’s University. His writing and music have appeared in Maisonneuve\, SAND\, on CBC Radio One\, WMUA Amherst\, Frozen Section Radio\, at the PHI Centre\, and he performs expanded poetry readings using portable cassette players and field recordings.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/listening-for-the-poem/2025-04-02/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250401T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250401T220000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T180200Z
UID:10004108-1743537600-1743544800@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Make It Make Sense: Writing Memoir
DESCRIPTION:Writing a story about something that really happened seems like it should be easy: after all\, compared to something like fiction\, a lot of the work is already done for you. You already know what happens! But as anyone who has attempted to make art about their own life and experience can attest\, the practice can feel a lot more complicated when you actually get down to it. Life doesn’t always make sense — but a good story has to. \n\n\n\nLed by Tara McGowan-Ross\, the author of the Hilary Weston Prize-shortlisted memoir Nothing Will Be Different\, Make It Make Sense is a workshop that engages directly with the complicated questions that can impede creativity when writing about real life. What makes memoir different from other kinds of nonfiction? Why does writing about yourself honestly so often feel like lying through your teeth? What are the ethics of writing about other people? And what gives me the right\, in our complicated global environment\, to take up space telling my own story at all? \n\n\n\nThis workshop aims to foster a sense of confidence and capacity in a genre that is both highly marketable arts entertainment and powerful personal reflective practice. Participants will be asked to think critically about memoir from the perspective of both writer and reader in a discussion-based environment that features short lectures\, collaborative dialogue\, peer editing\, and revision to foster a sense of ease in one of the most fraught and risky modes of self-expression. \n\n\n\nMake It Make Sense is designed for writers of all skill levels who feel they are psychologically blocked in their memoir-writing practice. Participants will be encouraged to develop a solid foundation of confidence and understanding so that they can live with the sense of uncertainty (or even danger) that often makes this genre so challenging and exciting. Participants will be required to write a short piece for peer editing and workshop with their cohort and encouraged to revise that same piece based on feedback. Not all revised pieces will be workshopped.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/make-it-make-sense-writing-memoir/2025-04-01/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250401T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250401T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T185048Z
UID:10004132-1743530400-1743537600@qwf.org
SUMMARY:So You’ve Written a Novel – Now What?
DESCRIPTION:The first time I typed THE END on a manuscript\, I didn’t know what to do next. There’s a lot of information and encouragement on HOW to write a book\, but not a lot on what to do after you’ve written the thing. And the advice you find online can be woefully misleading\, confusing\, or at its very worst —fraudulent. \n\n\n\nThis 8-week workshop aims to fully lay out the roadmap to traditional publishing for someone who’s finished\, or is close to finishing a fiction manuscript. The journey of getting your story from your laptop to an actual book you can pick up at Indigo follows a very specific series of steps. From landing an agent\, to signing with a publisher\, to contract details\, this course will take you\, in minute detail\, through every step\, with a centerpiece intensive workshop formulating your all-important Query Letter\, along with details on crafting your logline and your pitch kits. \n\n\n\nDesigned for absolute newbies to the world of publishing\, this workshop will offer you tips and tactics to maximize your chances at every step\, and by its end you should have the knowledge and confidence to approach this perilous enterprise knowing exactly what you need to do next. Because typing THE END is only the beginning. \n\n\n\nThere is no submission required prior to the first session\, but participants will be expected to write loglines and query letters and share them with the group as the workshop progresses. They will also be expected to read and critique each other’s work. \n\n\n\nToronto-born\, Montreal-based writer and illustrator Sherwin Sullivan Tjia has written many odd and eclectic books. Their 2005 collection of pseudohaikus\, The World is a Heartbreaker\, was a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s A. M. Klein Award. Their 2010 graphic novel\, The Hipless Boy\, was a finalist for the Doug Wright Award for best emerging talent\, as well as being nominated for 4 Ignatz Awards. Their 2011 Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style book from the POV of a housecat entitled You Are a Cat! won that year’s Expozine Award for best English-language book. Their latest graphic novel entitled Plummet is about a woman who wakes up one day to find herself in literal\, perpetual freefall. It was optioned for animation and named one of CBC Books’ “Top 20 Graphic Novels of 2019.”
URL:https://qwf.org/event/so-youve-written-a-novel-now-what-2/2025-04-01/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250331T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250331T220000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241212T163218Z
UID:10004140-1743451200-1743458400@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Craft Meets Magic: The Alchemy of Short Fiction
DESCRIPTION:Is there an art form more maddening than the short story? Demanding the complexity of a novel\, the lyricism of a poem\, and the economy of a joke\, the work is tedious and the rewards  (for most of us) are slim. Still\, for us cursed few\, the short story is an addictive nut to crack. After all\, there’s little more thrilling than the prose of a writer who can do more with a handful of pages than most can do with 300. The complexity of a novel! The lyricism of a poem! The economy of a joke! \n\n\n\nJoin us\, if you dare\, for an 8-week workshop where participants will share and critique each other’s work with an eye towards craft. Specifically\, we will ask ourselves questions like\, “What are characters made of?” “How is a plot built?” “Do I really need to describe everything?” \n\n\n\nEqually important to studying these questions will be putting them aside\, as we celebrate and cultivate the magic that makes art artin the first place–that intangible whatever that defines our passion for fiction. After all\, what else do we have to keep us warm as we trudge through draft to draft? \n\n\n\nAs time allows\, we’ll also read stories by published authors like ZZ Packer\, Donald Barthelme\, Jhumpa Lahiri\, Joy Williams\, and George Saunders. Participants will be asked to read and prepare responses to a short story (distributed from me by email) prior to our first meeting. \n\n\n\nFrankie Barnet is the author of Mood Swings (McClelland & Stewart)\, which was a finalist for the Grand prix du livre de Montréal; Kim: A Novel Idea (Metatron); and An Indoor Kind of Girl (Metatron). Her work has appeared in places such as PRISM International\, EVENT\, Joyland\, The Erotic Review\, and Biblioasis’ Best Canadian Short Stories Anthology. She has an MFA from Syracuse University and lives in Montreal.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/craft-meets-magic-the-alchemy-of-short-fiction/2025-03-31/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250331T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250331T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250319T155138Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250319T155141Z
UID:10004262-1743445800-1743456600@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Over 25 Years of Headlight Anthology
DESCRIPTION:In tandem with celebrating 50 years of Concordia University\, join us Monday\, March 31st from 6:30pm-9:30pm in Concordia’s John Molson Building\, Room 9D to toast to over 25 years of Headlight Anthology\, Concordia’s graduate literary magazine. We will hear from past Headlight contributors Sarah Burgoyne\, Aaron Kreuter\, Neil Smith\, Misha Solomon\, Gillian Sze\, and Headlight’s founder Josh Knelman. Food and drinks will be served and there will be the chance to mingle. \nThis event is open to everyone\, however\, signing up is mandatory to attend: https://forms.gle/eouXFAHJLr1XiTJs7  \nRegistration immediately gives you 2 drink tickets!
URL:https://qwf.org/event/over-25-years-of-headlight-anthology/
LOCATION:Concordia University\, John Molson Building\, Room 9D\, 1600 Rue de Maisonneuve Ouest\, Montreal\, Quebec\, H3H 1J5\, Canada
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250331T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250331T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241212T163158Z
UID:10004148-1743444000-1743451200@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Novel Essentials: The Art & Craft of Long-Form Fiction
DESCRIPTION:Have you had an itch to write a novel\, but haven’t known how to tackle such a large project? Now is the perfect time to dust off your ideas! This workshop is a boot camp for budding writers eager to turn their novelistic dream into a reality. From iron-clad structures and story tropes to the ins-and-outs of how character motivation pushes a great plot\, this 10-week intensive workshop will impart professional tips and tricks-of-the-trade essential to bringing long-form fiction to life. \n\n\n\nThe workshop will focus on practical knowledge not covered in a typical writing workshop: initial idea development; a deep dive on novelistic structure; how to build the perfect plot; character development and motivation; scene development; and how to handle secondary and tertiary characters\, to name a few. Each week\, you will learn one or more essential techniques and/or theories\, as well as participate in short\, practical exercises that will help you build your novel. As you master the elements\, you will have opportunities to develop and workshop your original novel concepts. \n\n\n\nWhile an emphasis will be placed on long-form writing\, all writers looking to master essential elements of fiction writing are encouraged to attend. You do not require prior workshop experience or an idea for a novel to take this workshop. Participants interested in developing fiction of all kinds are more than welcome! \n\n\n\nL. E. Sterling (Erin Vollick\, also published under L. E. Vollick) is the author of numerous novels spanning contemporary\, Young Adult\, fantasy\, science-fiction\, dystopian and romance genres. Her hit series\, the True Born Trilogy\, was optioned for television\, and True Born\, the first novel in the trilogy\, was recognized internationally with the 2017 Athena Award® in Young Adult literature. With a B.A. and M.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Literature\, Sterling taught creative writing and literature for many years. She has appeared at BookCon NYC\, the LA Times Festival of Books\, and Ad Astra.  
URL:https://qwf.org/event/novel-essentials-the-art-craft-of-long-form-fiction/2025-03-31/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250329T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250329T123000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250303T222036Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250303T222039Z
UID:10004237-1743242400-1743251400@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
DESCRIPTION:Saturday\, March 29\, 2025\, 10:00 am–12:30 pm ETOnline via Zoom—RSVP below to receive the Zoom link\n\n\n\nLooking for some dedicated\, quiet writing space? \n\n\n\nRegister 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. \n\n\n\nThis event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.  \n\n\n\nThe Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the session. \n\n\n\nPlease note that these sessions are designed for silent writing\, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work. \n\n\n\n10:00–10:25: 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 \n\n\n\nTo receive the Zoom link\, RSVP below. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the session. \n\n\n\nNote: RSVPs for virtual Shut Up & Write! sessions close 24 hours before the session begins. If there is no option to RSVP\, RSVPs are closed.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/shut-up-write-with-qwf-virtual-31/
LOCATION:Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
CATEGORIES:Shut Up & Write!
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250326T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250326T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T174534Z
UID:10004099-1743015600-1743022800@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Don’t Quit Your Day Job…Yet: Freelance Writing for Print and Internet
DESCRIPTION:The Internet has boosted demand for articles\, photo features\, website text\, and niche content for both online and print outlets. The technical skills to post\, blog\, tweet\, and upload are common – especially amongst the younger generation! \n\n\n\nLess common\, however\, is the combination of these skills with the ability to write clear\, concise\, targeted\, interesting\, and well-structured prose suitable for small screens\, short attention spans\, F-pattern skim reading\, and search engines. \n\n\n\nConducted by a professional journalist\, author\, freelance writer and PR lecturer\, this workshop is designed to enhance the communications skills of freelancers\, publicists\, bloggers\, and other writers. It will also help you acquire the business and survival smarts you’ll need if you want to earn money from your writing. \n\n\n\nVariations of this workshop have been delivered online and live\, for credit and non-credit purposes at McGill University\, UCLA\, Shaanxi University\, and various arts groups. \n\n\n\nThrough discussions\, examples\, simulation exercises\, and peer review\, workshop sessions are conducted in a “real-life” context that aims to get participants published after the course. \n\n\n\nExercises are written and reviewed during sessions to mediate feedback and prepare participants to work within time limits. The instructor will set a main homework assignment\, to be reviewed before it’s submitted for publication: \n\n\n\n\nA third-person profile\, based on an interview\, which describes an interesting person\, their occupation and achievements.\n\n\n\n\nor \n\n\n\n\nA researched\, first-person narrative analyzing a subject of topical interest.\n\n\n\n\nSessions will cover all aspects of choosing\, planning\, pitching\, writing\, and editing the article. \n\n\n\nParticipants enrolling in this workshop should have a clear idea why they want to write\, what they want to write\, and for whom. They should also consider whether they intend to sell their writing to external outlets\, give it away\, or use it for personal\, career/business development. \n\n\n\nWorkshop schedule \n\n\n\nWeek 1 \n\n\n\n\nCourse introduction\n\n\n\nOvercoming writer’s block and generating story ideas\n\n\n\nChoosing the right topic at the right time\n\n\n\nDifferences between print and online writing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 2 \n\n\n\n\nAnalysis of techniques\, tone\, and content of publications\n\n\n\nInverted pyramid writing\n\n\n\nResearching and selecting relevant material\n\n\n\nSearch engine optimization\n\n\n\nOnline vs print reading patterns\n\n\n\n\nWeek 3 \n\n\n\n\nWriting catchy leads\, headings\, and subject lines\n\n\n\nBasic writing structures\n\n\n\nShow don’t tell – writing for the senses\n\n\n\nSimiles\, metaphors\, allusions\, and other writing devices\n\n\n\nCutting jargon and superfluous words\n\n\n\n\nWeek 4 \n\n\n\n\nInterviewing techniques and psychology\n\n\n\nTurning an interview into a profile\n\n\n\nUse of quotations\n\n\n\nChoosing a publication for your article\n\n\n\nPitching stories\n\n\n\n\nWeek 5 \n\n\n\n\nWorking with editors\n\n\n\nBuilding your network\n\n\n\nCaption writing\n\n\n\nSourcing\, choosing\, and editing pics\n\n\n\nTravel writing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 7 \n\n\n\n\nWriting as a business\n\n\n\nQuoting for jobs\n\n\n\nTax and invoice issues\n\n\n\nMarketing\n\n\n\nSelf-publishing\, hybrid publishing\n\n\n\n\nWeek 8 \n\n\n\n\nCourse review \n\n\n\nPreparation to submit workshop article for publication
URL:https://qwf.org/event/dont-quit-your-day-jobyet-freelance-writing-for-print-and-internet/2025-03-26/
LOCATION:Online via Zoom
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250326T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250326T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T184729Z
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SUMMARY:Listening for the Poem
DESCRIPTION:This workshop engages poetry through a listening practice. \n\n\n\nListening shifts attention away from prosaic sense-making and toward poetic meaning-making. Through listening\, we can quiet our inner editorial voice\, make unexpected leaps of thought\, create new patterns of association\, and attune to the fullness—the timbre\, tone\, and sway—of any given moment. \n\n\n\nDeveloping a listening practice also carves out dedicated time\, space\, and attention for writing. Listening permits an encounter between you and your voice\, which emerges when you do not self-consciously construct it. Listening halts self-critical chatter\, allowing you to tune in to your natural rhythms\, embodied knowledge\, and inner language. \n\n\n\nYou will be invited to engage in a directed listening experience\, on your own time\, before each workshop. During this experience\, you will compose the poems that will be brought into workshop\, which will be spent reading new poems aloud and providing feedback on one another’s writing. The idea is that you will bring in new work during each session to share\, with writing taking place on your own time. Consequently\, this is a writing-intensive workshop. Short readings and audio files will be assigned\, and participants will need a recording device for one exercise (phone is OK). \n\n\n\nThe workshop will fully engage the intellect and life experiences of all the writers in the room as we talk shop about craft\, poetics\, and more. New work is privileged to demonstrate the limitless potential we have within us to create poetry—the potential to hear poetry in everyday life. \n\n\n\nJay Ritchie is an English PhD candidate at McGill University and holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of Listening in Many Publics (Invisible Publishing\, 2024)\, which was a finalist for the QWF’s A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry\, and Cheer Up\, Jay Ritchie (Coach House Books\, 2017). He has taught creative writing at UMass and Bishop’s University. His writing and music have appeared in Maisonneuve\, SAND\, on CBC Radio One\, WMUA Amherst\, Frozen Section Radio\, at the PHI Centre\, and he performs expanded poetry readings using portable cassette players and field recordings.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/listening-for-the-poem/2025-03-26/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T220000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T180200Z
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SUMMARY:Make It Make Sense: Writing Memoir
DESCRIPTION:Writing a story about something that really happened seems like it should be easy: after all\, compared to something like fiction\, a lot of the work is already done for you. You already know what happens! But as anyone who has attempted to make art about their own life and experience can attest\, the practice can feel a lot more complicated when you actually get down to it. Life doesn’t always make sense — but a good story has to. \n\n\n\nLed by Tara McGowan-Ross\, the author of the Hilary Weston Prize-shortlisted memoir Nothing Will Be Different\, Make It Make Sense is a workshop that engages directly with the complicated questions that can impede creativity when writing about real life. What makes memoir different from other kinds of nonfiction? Why does writing about yourself honestly so often feel like lying through your teeth? What are the ethics of writing about other people? And what gives me the right\, in our complicated global environment\, to take up space telling my own story at all? \n\n\n\nThis workshop aims to foster a sense of confidence and capacity in a genre that is both highly marketable arts entertainment and powerful personal reflective practice. Participants will be asked to think critically about memoir from the perspective of both writer and reader in a discussion-based environment that features short lectures\, collaborative dialogue\, peer editing\, and revision to foster a sense of ease in one of the most fraught and risky modes of self-expression. \n\n\n\nMake It Make Sense is designed for writers of all skill levels who feel they are psychologically blocked in their memoir-writing practice. Participants will be encouraged to develop a solid foundation of confidence and understanding so that they can live with the sense of uncertainty (or even danger) that often makes this genre so challenging and exciting. Participants will be required to write a short piece for peer editing and workshop with their cohort and encouraged to revise that same piece based on feedback. Not all revised pieces will be workshopped.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/make-it-make-sense-writing-memoir/2025-03-25/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T185048Z
UID:10004131-1742925600-1742932800@qwf.org
SUMMARY:So You’ve Written a Novel – Now What?
DESCRIPTION:The first time I typed THE END on a manuscript\, I didn’t know what to do next. There’s a lot of information and encouragement on HOW to write a book\, but not a lot on what to do after you’ve written the thing. And the advice you find online can be woefully misleading\, confusing\, or at its very worst —fraudulent. \n\n\n\nThis 8-week workshop aims to fully lay out the roadmap to traditional publishing for someone who’s finished\, or is close to finishing a fiction manuscript. The journey of getting your story from your laptop to an actual book you can pick up at Indigo follows a very specific series of steps. From landing an agent\, to signing with a publisher\, to contract details\, this course will take you\, in minute detail\, through every step\, with a centerpiece intensive workshop formulating your all-important Query Letter\, along with details on crafting your logline and your pitch kits. \n\n\n\nDesigned for absolute newbies to the world of publishing\, this workshop will offer you tips and tactics to maximize your chances at every step\, and by its end you should have the knowledge and confidence to approach this perilous enterprise knowing exactly what you need to do next. Because typing THE END is only the beginning. \n\n\n\nThere is no submission required prior to the first session\, but participants will be expected to write loglines and query letters and share them with the group as the workshop progresses. They will also be expected to read and critique each other’s work. \n\n\n\nToronto-born\, Montreal-based writer and illustrator Sherwin Sullivan Tjia has written many odd and eclectic books. Their 2005 collection of pseudohaikus\, The World is a Heartbreaker\, was a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s A. M. Klein Award. Their 2010 graphic novel\, The Hipless Boy\, was a finalist for the Doug Wright Award for best emerging talent\, as well as being nominated for 4 Ignatz Awards. Their 2011 Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style book from the POV of a housecat entitled You Are a Cat! won that year’s Expozine Award for best English-language book. Their latest graphic novel entitled Plummet is about a woman who wakes up one day to find herself in literal\, perpetual freefall. It was optioned for animation and named one of CBC Books’ “Top 20 Graphic Novels of 2019.”
URL:https://qwf.org/event/so-youve-written-a-novel-now-what-2/2025-03-25/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20250318T165518Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250318T205419Z
UID:10004259-1742904000-1742907600@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Lunch and Learn with the English Language Arts Network (ELAN)
DESCRIPTION:Tuesday\, March 25\, 2025\, 12:00–1:00 pm ETFree\, Open to AllOnline—Register for Zoom Link\n\n\n\nPresenting the English Language Arts Network (ELAN)! \n\n\n\nELAN is a not-for-profit organization that connects\, supports\, and creates opportunities for Quebec’s English-speaking artists and arts communities. ELAN members are individuals and organizations from a wide array of artistic disciplines\, cultural and geographic backgrounds\, and linguistic and cultural communities. Together this network reflects an evolving Quebec identity and celebrates the province’s cultural\, artistic\, and social diversity. \n\n\n\nOur invited guest is Nick Maturo\, ELAN’s Director of Programming\, who will be going over the various programs and services ELAN offers for professional writers. Learn more about the benefits of an ELAN membership\, from funding consultation to monthly schmoozers to microgrants\, in this 60-minute online session. \n\n\n\nEveryone is invited\, and we particularly encourage professional writers who are not part of or are unfamiliar with ELAN to attend this session.  \n\n\n\nThis session will be recorded and made available on QWF’s YouTube channel.  \n\n\n\nAbout the Presenter\n\n\n\n\nNick Maturo (he/him/his) holds an M.A. in Communications Studies from McGill University and a B.F.A. in Electroacoustic Studies from Concordia University. His ongoing research considers musician labour and the role of institutions within the rapidly evolving field of online music distribution. As an artist\, Nick has been active in Montréal’s experimental music community for over ten years and has performed at the Suoni Per Il Popolo and MUTEK festivals. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFill out the registration form to get the Zoom link. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister
URL:https://qwf.org/event/lunch-and-learn-with-the-english-language-arts-network-elan/
LOCATION:Online via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Lunch & Learn,Webinar
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250324T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250324T220000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241212T163218Z
UID:10004139-1742846400-1742853600@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Craft Meets Magic: The Alchemy of Short Fiction
DESCRIPTION:Is there an art form more maddening than the short story? Demanding the complexity of a novel\, the lyricism of a poem\, and the economy of a joke\, the work is tedious and the rewards  (for most of us) are slim. Still\, for us cursed few\, the short story is an addictive nut to crack. After all\, there’s little more thrilling than the prose of a writer who can do more with a handful of pages than most can do with 300. The complexity of a novel! The lyricism of a poem! The economy of a joke! \n\n\n\nJoin us\, if you dare\, for an 8-week workshop where participants will share and critique each other’s work with an eye towards craft. Specifically\, we will ask ourselves questions like\, “What are characters made of?” “How is a plot built?” “Do I really need to describe everything?” \n\n\n\nEqually important to studying these questions will be putting them aside\, as we celebrate and cultivate the magic that makes art artin the first place–that intangible whatever that defines our passion for fiction. After all\, what else do we have to keep us warm as we trudge through draft to draft? \n\n\n\nAs time allows\, we’ll also read stories by published authors like ZZ Packer\, Donald Barthelme\, Jhumpa Lahiri\, Joy Williams\, and George Saunders. Participants will be asked to read and prepare responses to a short story (distributed from me by email) prior to our first meeting. \n\n\n\nFrankie Barnet is the author of Mood Swings (McClelland & Stewart)\, which was a finalist for the Grand prix du livre de Montréal; Kim: A Novel Idea (Metatron); and An Indoor Kind of Girl (Metatron). Her work has appeared in places such as PRISM International\, EVENT\, Joyland\, The Erotic Review\, and Biblioasis’ Best Canadian Short Stories Anthology. She has an MFA from Syracuse University and lives in Montreal.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/craft-meets-magic-the-alchemy-of-short-fiction/2025-03-24/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250324T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250324T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241212T163158Z
UID:10004147-1742839200-1742846400@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Novel Essentials: The Art & Craft of Long-Form Fiction
DESCRIPTION:Have you had an itch to write a novel\, but haven’t known how to tackle such a large project? Now is the perfect time to dust off your ideas! This workshop is a boot camp for budding writers eager to turn their novelistic dream into a reality. From iron-clad structures and story tropes to the ins-and-outs of how character motivation pushes a great plot\, this 10-week intensive workshop will impart professional tips and tricks-of-the-trade essential to bringing long-form fiction to life. \n\n\n\nThe workshop will focus on practical knowledge not covered in a typical writing workshop: initial idea development; a deep dive on novelistic structure; how to build the perfect plot; character development and motivation; scene development; and how to handle secondary and tertiary characters\, to name a few. Each week\, you will learn one or more essential techniques and/or theories\, as well as participate in short\, practical exercises that will help you build your novel. As you master the elements\, you will have opportunities to develop and workshop your original novel concepts. \n\n\n\nWhile an emphasis will be placed on long-form writing\, all writers looking to master essential elements of fiction writing are encouraged to attend. You do not require prior workshop experience or an idea for a novel to take this workshop. Participants interested in developing fiction of all kinds are more than welcome! \n\n\n\nL. E. Sterling (Erin Vollick\, also published under L. E. Vollick) is the author of numerous novels spanning contemporary\, Young Adult\, fantasy\, science-fiction\, dystopian and romance genres. Her hit series\, the True Born Trilogy\, was optioned for television\, and True Born\, the first novel in the trilogy\, was recognized internationally with the 2017 Athena Award® in Young Adult literature. With a B.A. and M.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Literature\, Sterling taught creative writing and literature for many years. She has appeared at BookCon NYC\, the LA Times Festival of Books\, and Ad Astra.  
URL:https://qwf.org/event/novel-essentials-the-art-craft-of-long-form-fiction/2025-03-24/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250323T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250323T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
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UID:10004089-1742734800-1742745600@qwf.org
SUMMARY:Risk Management: Writing the Scene That Will Make or Break Your Story
DESCRIPTION:The late great author Dorothy Allison famously advised us all to “write to our fear.” Often\, though\, that brave act results in scenes and lines that reveal ourselves in ways that may make us cringe. We are tempted to cut or sanitize those moments\, but I’m here to ask if our stories and poems can be great – or even very good – if they don’t take some sort of calculated risk\, whether that risk be such a revealing scene or a disruptive image\, turn\, or shift in style. Furthermore\, once the text does take that risk\, can it ultimately be about anything else? How do we identify the “points of no return” in our work\, and how do we maximize their impact? We will begin by defining different types of risks fiction writers and poets take in their work and then discuss how the authors of various texts have managed and mitigated them. The goal is help us assess not only whether to take big chances in our work\, but when and how. Over the course of the hour\, we will discuss work by authors up and down the “risk” spectrum: Hanya Yanagihara\, Andre Aciman\, Sharon Olds\, Albert Goldbarth\, and Lucia Berlin\, among others. \n\n\n\nThere is no advance reading for this workshop\, but please come prepared to talk about a scene or “move” in one of your works of fiction or poetry that you consider “risky” or at least about which you have some anxiety or uncertainty. If nothing comes to mind\, please come prepared to discuss a work-in-progress that might benefit from a shake-up as a way of raising the stakes. \n\n\n\nChristopher Castellani is the author of four novels\, most recently Leading Men\, for which he received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation\, MacDowell\, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council\, among others. His book of essays on narration\, The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story\, is taught in many writing workshops. Christopher is a longtime member of the faculty of the Warren Wilson MFA program and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and a recent Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University. For his forthcoming novel\, Last Seen\, he was awarded a 2024 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Boston and Provincetown\, MA.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/risk-management-writing-the-scene-that-will-make-or-break-your-story/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250322T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250322T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T161318
CREATED:20241212T160000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241210T183752Z
UID:10004088-1742648400-1742659200@qwf.org
SUMMARY:More or Less: Minimalist & Maximalist Approaches to Fiction and Poetry
DESCRIPTION:Most aspiring writers are taught that\, when it comes to everything from descriptions to dialogue to interiority\, less is always more. But what if your instinctive sensibility is more expansive or discursive? Conversely\, what if you’re a naturally economical writer who sometimes feels strangled by this bias toward restraint and subtlety? In this craft workshop\, we will start with a brief overview of minimalist and maximalist approaches to fiction and poetry in history\, asking ourselves how and why these approaches have gone in and out of style. We will then look at a few texts by writers of literary fiction and poetry who have taken these approaches –  Susan Sontag\, Wayne Corbitt\, Rebecca Makkai\, and Octavia Butler\, among others – and used them to achieve deep emotional impact. Some of the questions we’ll explore: are the terms “minimalist” and “maximalist” even useful descriptors anymore and\, if not\, how can we make them so? How do we know which approaches are right for our own work?  \n\n\n\nThere is no advance reading necessary\, but please come with a hard copy or an electronic copy of the first page (300 words or so) of one of your own works of fiction\, or one poem\, and be willing to share them either with a partner or with the entire class. \n\n\n\nChristopher Castellani is the author of four novels\, most recently Leading Men\, for which he received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation\, MacDowell\, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council\, among others. His book of essays on narration\, The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story\, is taught in many writing workshops. Christopher is a longtime member of the faculty of the Warren Wilson MFA program and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and a recent Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University. For his forthcoming novel\, Last Seen\, he was awarded a 2024 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Boston and Provincetown\, MA.
URL:https://qwf.org/event/more-or-less-minimalist-maximalist-approaches-to-fiction-and-poetry/
LOCATION:QWF Office\, 1200 Atwater Avenue\, Room 3\, Westmount\, QC\, H3Z 1X4\, Canada
CATEGORIES:QWF Workshops,Workshops
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END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR