Quebec Writers' Federation

Slantwise: Writing the Prose Poem
2026-04-23 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-30 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
For poets, prose writers, and curious in-betweeners. All levels welcome.

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

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

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

Respond to a generative writing prompt meant to inspire new writing

Workshop participants’ pieces in a supportive and inclusive environment

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

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

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2026-04-25 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, April 25, 2026, 10:00 am–12:30 pm ETOnline via Zoom—RSVP below to receive the Zoom link

Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

Register below to do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25-minute bursts, with 5-minute breaks in between.

This event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.

The Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the session.

Please note that these sessions are designed for silent writing, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work.

10:00–10:25: Writing 110:25–10:30: Break10:30–10:55: Writing 210:55–11:00: Break11:00–11:25: Writing 311:25–11:30: Break11:30–11:55: Writing 411:55–12:00: Break12:00–12:25: Writing 5

To receive the Zoom link, RSVP below. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the session.

Note: RSVPs for virtual Shut Up & Write! sessions close 24 hours before the session 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.

The Ears Have It: A One-Day Intensive on Narrative Podcasting
2026-04-25 10:30 - 16:30 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Please note that this workshop does not cover technical production skills such as audio engineering, editing software, or equipment training.

The Ears Have It is a one-day immersive workshop designed to introduce participants to the art and craft of narrative podcasting, with a special focus on story development and writing for the ear. Whether you’re an aspiring podcaster, educator, journalist, or creative storyteller, this workshop offers a practical, energizing foundation for building audio stories that resonate.

We begin with a guided tour of the narrative podcast landscape. We ask what makes a compelling story, how audio differs from other media, and why structure is the backbone of every strong episode. From there, we break down core building blocks of story: character, stakes, arc, and theme. Through case studies, listening exercises, and discussion, participants will explore how acclaimed podcasts like Radiolab, Heavyweight, and Wind of Change use writing to create intimacy, tension, and emotional depth.

A major focus of the day is writing for audio. Participants will learn how to craft narration that sounds natural when spoken, how to weave tape and narration together, and how to revise with rhythm, clarity, and listener experience in mind. Hands-on writing prompts and group feedback help emerging storytellers develop their voice, sharpen dialogue, and strengthen narrative instincts.

We will also cover outlining strategies, interview preparation from a narrative perspective, and scripting approaches for a range of podcast formats. To round out the day, participants will receive a brief overview of what comes after the script, including recording best practices and how to position a new podcast for launch and audience discovery.

By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with a rough outline or script excerpt, a deeper understanding of story mechanics, and a practical set of tools to elevate their next episode.

Participant Preparation:Please come with a podcast idea—anything from a loose concept to a story you’ve already begun developing. Advance listening: one episode each of Heavyweight, Radiolab, or Wind of Change.

Affair with China – The Dragon Through Gabriel Safdie’s Lens
2026-04-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Hôtel 10 – Salle JAG, 10 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 4C9, Canada
A Blue Metropolis Festival Event
In Affair with China, Gabriel Safdie’s photography and narrative cover over four transformative decades in his extensive travels throughout the entire country from the 1980s to 2020s while working in trade and in the arts. As he wrote, “China’s one-eyed dragon rose, learned to fly, spread its wings and soared. Will this country, so driven to extremes, learn to find balance and a sense of proportion between the forces of yin and yang, resolving those always contrary tendencies?” Gabriel Safdie answers questions from writer Charlie Foran (Butterfly Lovers; Mordecai: The Life & Times; Just Once, No More).
Book signing after the event at the Festival’s official bookstore at Salle JAG.
Participants: Gabriel Safdie
Interview: Charlie Foran
Language(s): English

Tickets: https://lepointdevente.com/billets/fmb260425006

Belonging: Who Really Belongs in Quebec?
2026-04-25 15:30 - 17:00 | Hotel 10 – Salle Saint-Laurent, 10 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 4C9, Canada
This event is held in partnership between the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival and the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
In keeping with the theme of this edition of the Festival, ‘Words to Understand Each Other,’ two gripping and passionate discussions about Québécois identity and who can claim it. Two consecutive and uninterrupted discussions in English and French.
First discussion: What does it mean to be a Québécois? Is being born here enough? Whatever success you may have here, however many generations you are removed from those who arrived here, are you ever fully accepted as l’un des nôtres? Last year, author Kim Thúy suffered dramatic backlash after speaking out about the injustice she has witnessed—and experienced—in spite of being widely lauded as an iconic author in francophone Quebec. Award-winning journalist Toula Drimonis has written movingly about the challenges for immigrants and their descendants in Quebec, both in her column in The Gazette and in her 2023 book We, the Others (Nous, les autres, translated to French by Mellisa Verreault). Be a fly on the wall as they share their ideas about where Quebec is on this issue, and where it might be going.
Second discussion: Immigrants or those who are considered “outsiders” have had to face the different challenges of trying to make Quebec their home. Over time, they have begun to experience a strong sense of belonging and become fully integrated into their adoptive chez nous. They have subsequently seen changes in Quebec that have made them question that sense of belonging. Writer and director Guy Rex Rodgers transformed Quebec’s linguistic landscape with his book, What We Choose to Forget, an account of a three-year tour of his film What We Choose to Remember. Journalist Francine Pelletier has reflected on the question of who Québécois in her book Dream Interrupted: The Rise and Fall of Quebec Nationalism.
Discussions in English and French.
Participants: Discussion 1: Kim Thúy, Toula Drimonis; Discussion 2: Guy Rex Rodgers, Francine Pelletier
Moderator: Anne Lagacé Dowson
The Participants
Photo by John Kenney
Toula Drimonis is a Montreal-based journalist, opinion columnist, and writer. A former news director for TC Media, her byline appears in national and international publications, with a focus on politics, social justice, immigration, and women’s issues. She currently writes a weekly column for the Montreal Gazette and Cult MTL, and a monthly for The Walrus. She’s worked in television, radio, and print in English, French and Greek. She was on the advisory board for Use the Right Words, a national media guide on how to report on sexual violence. In 2022 she published her first book, We, the Others: Allophones, Immigrants, and Belonging in Canada. Her second book, Seeking Asylum: Building a Shareable World was published in 2024.

Kim Thúy a quitté le Vietnam avec les boat people à l’âge de dix ans et s’est installée avec sa famille au Québec. Diplômée en traduction et en droit, l’écrivaine a travaillé comme couturière, interprète, avocate et propriétaire de restaurant. Kim Thúy a reçu plusieurs prix, dont le Prix littéraire du Gouverneur général 2010, et a été l’une des quatre finalistes du Nobel Alternatif en 2018. Ses livres, dont les ventes montent à plus de un million de copies partout dans le monde, sont traduits en 31 langues et 43 pays et territoires. Kim Thúy vit à Montréal et se consacre à l’écriture.

Anne Lagacé Dowson is a bilingual Montrealer by choice, born in Toronto with a Québécoise mother and an Ontarian dad. A long-time aficionado of the arts, libraries and everything connected to them, she is an avid reader with an MA in Social and Women’s History. Anne was a reporter, editor, researcher, host and commentator at CBC, BellMedia and Radio-Canada for over 25 years, prioritising authors, libraries, education, public interest issues, and literacy in her on-air work. She is very proud of her two daughters, who are bilingual products of Québec’s public school system.

Francine Pelletier is a journalist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and former co-host of CBC’s Fifth Estate (1995-2000). She is the co-founder of a feminist magazine, La Vie en Rose, and has written for La Presse, Le Devoir, and the Montreal Gazette.

Photo by Pantea Pezeshkan
Guy Rex Rodgers arrived in Quebec as a young adult to study at the National Theatre School. He has been a writer, columnist, interviewer, translator, filmmaker and community activist: founder of the English Language Arts Network (ELAN). In 2015, he was appointed a companion in l’Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec. In 2020, Rodgers began filming a series of eight documentaries about waves of immigration, and how immigrants successfully adapted to Quebec since it adopted the first language laws half a century earlier. His three-year tour of Quebec with We Choose To Remember, as the government imposed harsh new language laws, is the story of What We Choose To Forget.

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Imagination Writers' Festival: Valentine in Montreal with Heather O'Neill and Arizona O'Neill
2026-04-25 20:00 - 21:00 | Morrin Centre, 44 Chaussée des Écossais, Quebec City, Quebec, G1R 4H3, Canada
Meet Heather O’Neill and Arizona O’Neill, the writer and illustrator of the novel Valentine in Montreal, during this live interview followed by a Q&A!
Host: Julia Caron, CBC journalist
This activity is presented with the collaboration of the Writers Out Loud program of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, and CBC Radio.

Arizona O’Neill
Arizona O’Neill is a Montreal author and illustrator. She is the illustrator of Nelly Arcan’s L’enfant dans le miroir and Heather O’Neill’s Valentine in Montreal. Her comics have appeared in Hazlitt, Exclaim!, Canadian Geographic, and The Montreal Gazette. She has created animated videos for many outlets, including CBC. A regular contributor to Radio-Canada’s Il restera toujours la culture, she is one half of the Bookstagram page @ONeillReads. Her graphic novel Opioids and Organs is coming out in May 2026 with Drawn & Quarterly.

Heather O’Neill
Heather O’Neill is a novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Her most recent novel is The Capital of Dreams. Her previous works include When We Lost Our Heads, which was a #1 national bestseller and a finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal; The Lonely Hearts Hotel, which won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads; and Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and Daydreams of Angels, which were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize two years in a row. O’Neill has also won CBC’s Canada Reads and the Danuta Gleed Award. Born and raised in Montreal, she still lives there today.

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Launch: Linda Leith Publishing
2026-04-26 12:00 - 13:30 | Hotel 10, 10 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 4C9, Canada
The Blue Metropolis Literary Festival presents the launch of English and French language books from Linda Leith Publishing, including titles from Fall 2024 to Spring 2025.
Authors and translators will be present.
Location: Hôtel 10 — Suite 10
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Linda Leith Publishing lance les titres publiés entre l’automne 2024 et le printemps 2025. Présenté en partenariat avec le Festival Metropolis Bleu.
En présence des auteurs et traducteurs.
Lieu : Hôtel 10 — Suite 10

Poetic Transformations: Revising as Re-Seeing
2026-04-27 17:45 - 19:45 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Most poets move through a process of honing our work. We draft, workshop, revise, and polish our poems. But what possibilities await if we reframe revision as transformation?

This workshop will build a new toolkit for revising poetry—one that valorizes artistic possibility over the idea of a single finished draft. Together, we will embrace each poem’s power to contain and reveal multiple versions of itself—versions that can stand alone or in conversation.

Through generative exercises, craft wisdom, and workshop-style feedback, we will inhabit poet and composition scholar Wendy Bishop’s idea of radical revision. Each week, we will enact experiments on our work to shake us out of the poems we thought we knew and into new stylistic territory. By embracing revision as an act of re-seeing, we will confound our own expectations, deepen into the inherent promise of our work, and slough off stale writerly habits. A delightful, productive defamiliarization may result.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, not known how to revise, or felt too attached to a draft to change it, this workshop is for you. If you’ve ever wanted to create an inventive sequence of poems stemming from a single impulse, this workshop is for you. If you’ve ever wanted to turn your linguistic sandcastle into a lexical dragon or syllabic shore bird, this workshop is for you.

The strategies you will learn are designed to serve you both within and beyond the workshop. You can expect to leave the workshop with a newly articulated, personalized philosophy of revision. You might leave with 8 radically different versions of a single poem. You might leave with a whole new sequence of poems that could scaffold a collection. Regardless, you will leave with some substantially revised poetry along with the concrete tools and feedback to make future revision a process of expansive growth.

The workshop is open to practicing poets of all levels — with the following caveats:

1) you must already be writing and revising poems;

2) you must be willing to abandon the idea of single finished version of any given poem; and

3) you must bring 3 to 5 of your own poems that you are willing to revise beyond recognition.

Sustaining Dramatic Tension in Long-form Fiction
2026-04-27 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
The feeling of losing an audience is one of the most terrifying experiences a theatre actor can have. With fiction writing, the relationship to the reader is far less immediate but, I would argue, no less important. The energy created in the first pages of a novel begins a relationship between an author and her reader and must be tended throughout for the relationship to flourish.

Stories were spoken aloud long before they were written down. The ability to convey information in compelling packets is innate to all of us, as important to human survival as hunting or farming. From the 911 call to a teen’s excuse for why their homework is late, we are in a near constant state of story-making. But how to hold your reader’s attention for 300+ pages?

This workshop proposes to look at long-form fiction’s rules of craft through the lens of theatre to breathe new and exciting life into familiar concepts. It is open to writers at all levels; all aspects will be explained and explored in depth. Writing exercises and selected reading will supplement in-class discussions.

1. Week #1: Dramatic Tension – What is it? How is it created? How is it sustained? From the actor’s toolkit: actions, objectives, obstacles, tactics, and super-objectives.

Week #2: Unity of Action – We will look at Aristotle’s definition of action and Shakespeare’s use of verbs to see how every action in every chapter of your novel is contributing to the larger overarching action of the novel.

Week #3: Causality – How to discern if a chapter or scene is following the scene before it out of necessity. When a novel is propulsive, you can be sure the author understands causality.

Week #4: Character and the importance of contrast of characters.

Week #5: Show Don’t Tell and the actor’s version of this famous writing rule: acting is visual first.

Week #6: Language, Diction, and Tone – Style choices, syntax, and the nitty gritty at the line level.

Week #7: Writing Constraints as maps. How writing constraints allow you to access the buried treasures of your subconscious and still find your way back to your core ideas.

Week #8: Know Your Writing– Michael Crummey, Toni Morrison, and Louise Erdrich are three very different writers, but they are each completely and consistently themselves. Who are you as a writer? Participants will be asked to bring in a longer sample of writing than for previous workshops. Through positive constructive feedback, we will use the elements we have learned as a guideline to get a sense of where each writer’s strengths lie, and what in their voice or style makes them uniquely themselves.

Excerpts (2-4 pages) from the following works will be provided: The Poetics by Aristotle, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Self-Help by Lorrie Moore, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich, True Grit by Charles Portis, Foster by Claire Keegan, Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Room by Emma Donahue, Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout, All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, and several Shakespearean monologues.

Book Launch: Mind the Gap by Alice Zorn
2026-04-28 17:00 - 19:00 | Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 3P9, Canada
Book launch for Alice Zorn‘s new collection of travel fiction, Mind the Gap, published by NeWest Press.
Alice Zorn will be in conversation with Cora Siré at the Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 Av. McGill College, Montréal from 5 to 7 pm.
Admission is free.
Refreshments will be served.
About the Book
A beautifully crafted second short story collection from award-winning writer Alice Zorn.
With an uncompromising and relatable voice, Zorn travels through Mexico, Morocco, Texas, England, Austria, Tunisia, and northeastern Quebec in these seven short stories and one novella, each following a compelling narrator on a quest — to find someone who does not wish to be found, to discover the truth behind family secrets, to expiate guilt, to make new bonds, to realize a dream. Far from home, facing new mirrors, characters leave old selves behind and discover new ones. Alice Zorn shines once again in this exploration of friendship, love, art, work, gender, and cultural identity in this spectacular collection of travel fiction.
About the Author
Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, Alice Zorn has now lived for many years in Montréal. Her writing has won or been shortlisted for awards across Canada. Mind the Gap is her fifth book of fiction.
Praise for Alice Zorn
“Zorn’s precise, compelling descriptions and unusual storylines linger long after the book is finished.”—Anita Anand, award-winning author of A Convergence of Solitudes
“ Zorn’s characters travel the world in search of something or someone but end up finding themselves. An absorbing, lyrical, and bewitching collection.”—Theresa Shea, bestselling author of The Shade Tree
“Zorn is a compelling storyteller, deft in the art of leaving us wanting more.” — Katia Grubisic, Governor General’s Award-winning author of What if red ran out

Being There: Research for Writers
2026-04-28 17:45 - 19:45 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
How do you get that “being there” feeling? How much do you need to know about a particular time and place you’re after before launching yourself into a writing project? And what are the differing needs for fiction and nonfiction writers?

The objective in this workshop is two-fold: finding out what you need to bring your project to completion, and listening to what you are discovering and letting your discoveries guide you. The art of the accident, the coincidence, changing on the fly, is very much part of the research process.

A quick note for potential participants: Is this workshop for fiction or nonfiction writers? Both. I have reported as a journalist from the same zones of conflict I later used in a novel, and getting the necessary information on events there was the same for both types of writing. As a novelist, I was free to mix and match and fantasize about what I had found, whereas as a journalist, I was bound by the facts.

This is how the workshop will proceed, respecting the needs of the participants, of course. We will bring in our research issues, resolved or not, pending or not, real or imagined (“what if I wanted to know this?”). We’ll then turn to the work of learning what we want to know, and how. Always with the question in mind: why? Why do we want to know such-and-such? How will it fit into the story we need to tell? How can we avoid over-researching, or failing to assimilate our research into our writing?

We’ll pay special attention to the moral aspects of turning over stones when writing about friends, family, people we are or have been intimate with. We’ll look into topics very much on page 1 of people’s work, like PTSD, family violence, etc. And no workshop can be carried out without looking at the technological advances (such as the Global Investigative Journalism Network) that allow us to gaze upon a landscape or a battlefield from the comfort of our living rooms.

Participants should bring in their own work to the group, but also examples from other books and articles they feel provided the “being there” feeling. As a group, we will create a community of fellow writers that will hopefully outlive this short workshop.

Crafting a Compelling Personal Essay
2026-04-28 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-05-05 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-05-12 17:45 - 19:45 | Online via Zoom
The personal essay sits at the crossroads of memory, imagination, and reflection. It is a form that invites vulnerability and experimentation, asking writers to turn the lens inward while reaching outward toward readers. This ten-week workshop explores the craft of creative nonfiction through readings, discussion, and guided writing exercises. Together, we’ll study a wide range of contemporary essayists and thinkers such as Sheila Heti, Alicia Elliott, Maggie Nelson, James Baldwin, Leslie Jamison, and Joan Didion, whose work challenges and expands our understanding of form, voice, structure, and truth-telling.

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

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

Week 1 — What Is a Personal Essay?

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

Sarah Manguso, The Two Kinds of Decay (selections)

Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”

In-Class:

Introductions & course goals

Discuss “truth” vs. “fact” in essay

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

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

Week 2 — Memory and Fragment

Theme: Shaping nonlinear memory.Readings:

Sheila Heti, Motherhood (fragmented passages)

Maggie Nelson, Bluets (selections)

In-Class:

Discussion: how fragment builds resonance

Exercise: Write three fragmentary takes on the same memory

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

Week 3 — Intimacy and Confession

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

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

Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams (title essay excerpt)

In-Class:

Confessional vs. performative honesty

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

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

Week 4 — Deepening Voice, Tone & Emotional Register

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

Zadie Smith, “Fail Better”

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

In-Class:

Discuss tonal shifts: intimacy, distance, authority, hesitance

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

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

Week 5 — Structure and Form

Theme: Chronology, braiding, and experimentation.Readings:

Sarah Manguso replaced here to avoid repetition →NEW reading:

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

Eula Biss, “Time and Distance Overcome”

In-Class:

Discuss braiding personal + cultural history

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

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

Week 6 — The Self as Character

Theme: Distance between narrator and narrated self.Readings:

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

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

In-Class:

Compare Baldwin’s authority with Heti’s uncertainty

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

Homework: Develop one version into a polished essay draft.

Week 7 — Risk, Ethics, and Responsibility

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

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

Alexander Chee, “The Autobiography of My Novel”

In-Class:

Debate: what’s “too much” to share?

Workshop 2–3 student essays

Homework: Revise draft based on feedback.

Week 8 — Revision and Compression

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

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

Joan Didion, “Goodbye to All That”

In-Class:

Revision strategies (How to “write coldly”)

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

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

Week 9 — Workshop Intensive & Thematic Excavation

Theme: Deep structural and thematic revision.Readings:

None — focus on student manuscripts.

In-Class:

Half-class workshop

Identifying the essay’s “governing question”

Discuss strategies for expansion vs. contraction

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

Week 10 — Final Workshop & Publication Paths

Theme: Reflection and sharing.Readings:

None — focus on participant work.

In-Class:

Final peer workshop

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

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

Homework: Submit final essay + artistic statement.

By the end, students will have:

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

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

Experience with both traditional and experimental essay forms.

Creative Play for Writers (Online)
2026-04-28 20:00 - 22:00 | Online via Zoom
This workshop is designed for writers from any genre but artists from other mediums are welcome to join.

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.~ Maya Angelou

Many writers have other creative outlets. Maya Angelou danced. D.H. Lawrence painted. Miranda July makes films. Creativity thrives across disciplines and when writers tap into other art forms, surprising things can happen on the page.

Creative Play for Writers is an online exploratory workshop that uses visual art, music, movement, film, and more to spark new writing. Each session invites you to engage with a different form of creative expression—not to master it, but to play with it—and discover how it can fuel your storytelling.

You’ll respond to rich, sensory prompts, collaborate with others, and experiment freely, both during the Zoom sessions and with set exercises in between classes. Whether you’re feeling stuck, looking for new inspiration, or simply aiming to reconnect with the joy of making things, this workshop offers a playful and supportive online space to expand your creative practice.

We will explore exercises and readings from Syllabus by Lynda Barry, Workbook by Steven Heighton, and The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad. We will also touch on the ideas and art of Rebecca Belmore and Elizabeth Zvonar, among others, as inspiration. Weekly exercises and homework will be given.

Book Launch: Reading with Jane Austen by Elaine Bander
2026-04-29 17:00 - 19:00 | Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 3P9, Canada
Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore and Bucknell University Press present a launch for Reading with Jane Austen by Elaine Bander.
Join us as Dr. Elaine Bander discusses and signs her new book Reading with Jane Austen.
Admission is free.
Refreshements will be served.
About the Book
Jane Austen has more readers today than at any time in history. Many of Austen’s legions of fans, however, came to her novels after first seeing films or other adaptations made for twenty-first-century audiences. Austen herself conversely spent her literary career undermining romantic clichés and rethinking novel conventions. Confident that she and her contemporaries shared a common reading culture, Austen deliberately constructed her novels to set readerly expectations, only to disrupt or confound those expectations by challenging her readers’ assumptions and values. In Reading with Jane Austen, Elaine Bander carefully rereads the great author’s novels—beginning with her late work of juvenilia, “Catharine, or The Bower,” and ending with her final fragment, “Sanditon”—against the rich context of late Georgian literary and intellectual culture. In doing so, Bander invites us into the transformative experience that Austen intentionally designed for her earliest readers, adding new layers of appreciation for those who love her work.
About the Author
Elaine Bander is retired from Dawson College in Montreal, Canada, where she taught English for three decades. She is the author of dozens of essays and several book chapters on Austen and other writers and served as president of the Jane Austen Society of North America (Canada) as well as of the Burney Society (North America).
Praise for Elaine Bander
“Reading with Jane Austen sets out to help us re-see the great novelist’s aims and achievements by carefully, clearly, and productively describing them alongside the significant writings of her best-loved contemporaries. Elaine Bander’s fine book will have you rereading Austen in engaging, surprising, and powerful new ways.” —Devoney Looser, author of Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane
“Reading with Elaine Bander is a delicious and rewarding experience. She introduces us to the authors and the books that Jane Austen and her readers loved and admired, tracing the ways Austen both subverts conventions and clichés and reimagines what the novel can be. Reading with Jane Austen is a gift.” —Susan Allen Ford, author of What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why)
“Light, bright, and sparkling, Bander’s account of her own life of teaching and writing under the sign of Austen brought me enormous delight and deserves a place in every Austen fan’s library.” —Jenny Davidson, author of Reading Jane Austen
“Reading with Jane Austen is a meticulous and innovative study illuminating the literary culture that shaped Austen’s art. With scholarly precision and fresh insights, Elaine Bander draws on a lifetime spent with Austen and her precursors to reconstruct what Austen read and might have read—revealing new dimensions of her taste, intelligence, and creative engagement.” —Peter Sabor, coeditor of Jane Austen’s Manuscript Works
“A long-awaited manuscript from a respected Austen scholar, Elaine Bander’s Reading with Jane Austen offers significant insights into Austen’s creative process.” —Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey, author of Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness

Translating Quebec Fiction
2026-04-29 17:45 - 19:45 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Curious about literary translation? This eight-week workshop is an opportunity to experiment with translating contemporary French-language fiction from Quebec in a supportive setting where we will discuss the challenges and possibilities of different texts in translation together as a group.

Each week, participants will take home a short excerpt from a work of fiction to translate from French to English. We will then discuss and workshop our translations together during the following session. We’ll work on texts that pose a variety of different challenges in translation, such as cultural references; jokes; regional slang and Québécismes; the inclusion of other dialects, accents, or languages; period-specific dialogue in historical fiction; experimental prose; and rendering voice in a first-person narrative.

Throughout the workshop, we will also think together about audience, adaptation, research, and the role and responsibility of the translator, and we’ll look at examples of existing translations to see what we can learn from different approaches. In our final session, we’ll take a look at the process of translating a book for publication, from choosing a project to writing a pitch to working with a reviser.

No previous translation experience is necessary for this workshop, but participants should be comfortable reading and analyzing texts in French in order to write their own English translations.

2026 Annual General Meeting
2026-04-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Adair Auditorium, Atwater Library, 1200 Atwater Avenue, top floor, Montreal, Quebec, H3Z 1T4, Canada
The 2026 Quebec Writers’ Federation Annual General Meeting will be held

Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 7:00 pm ETatAdair Auditorium, Atwater Library1200 Atwater Avenue (top floor)and online via Zoom

At the meeting, the President will review the year’s activities, and the Executive Director will present the financial report. An election will be held for the Board of Directors for the coming year, April 2026 to April 2027.

If you wish to nominate someone for a position on the Board, or to put your own name forward, please contact Riley Palanca (riley@qwf.org) and request the Introduction for Potential Board Members document and a nomination form. Completed nomination forms, including the signatures of two other QWF members, must be submitted to Riley by Friday, April 17, 2026.

Please note that you must be a member in good standing to be eligible to run for the board, nominate someone for the board, or vote at the AGM.

Agenda

7:00–7:15: Schmoozing
7:15: Call to order
Approval of Agenda
Adoption of Minutes of the AGM held on April 22, 2025
Report from the outgoing QWF President, Crystal Chan
Financial report, presented by QWF Executive Director, Lori Schubert
Appointment of accountant for 2026 audit
Election or acclamation of Board of Directors for 2026–2027
Parting words from the incoming President, Rachel McCrum
Adjournment

Registration

To register, fill out the RSVP form at the bottom of this page. Please indicate whether you will be attending in person or online via Zoom. If attending online, you’ll receive the Zoom link a day or two before the meeting takes place.

Registration will close on Wednesday, April 29, at 5:00 pm ET. If you would like to register to attend after registration has closed, please contact John Wickham at john@qwf.org to be put on the attendance list. Please also indicate whether you will attend in person or on Zoom.

Online attendees will receive the Zoom link 1–2 days before the meeting is scheduled to take place.

Sustaining Dramatic Tension in Long-form Fiction (Wednesdays)
2026-04-29 20:00 - 22:00 | QC
The feeling of losing an audience is one of the most terrifying experiences a theatre actor can have. With fiction writing, the relationship to the reader is far less immediate but, I would argue, no less important. The energy created in the first pages of a novel begins a relationship between an author and her reader and must be tended throughout for the relationship to flourish.

Stories were spoken aloud long before they were written down. The ability to convey information in compelling packets is innate to all of us, as important to human survival as hunting or farming. From the 911 call to a teen’s excuse for why their homework is late, we are in a near constant state of story-making. But how to hold your reader’s attention for 300+ pages?

This workshop proposes to look at long-form fiction’s rules of craft through the lens of theatre to breathe new and exciting life into familiar concepts. It is open to writers at all levels; all aspects will be explained and explored in depth. Writing exercises and selected reading will supplement in-class discussions.

Week #1: Dramatic Tension – What is it? How is it created? How is it sustained? From the actor’s toolkit: actions, objectives, obstacles, tactics, and super-objectives.

Week #2: Unity of Action – We will look at Aristotle’s definition of action and Shakespeare’s use of verbs to see how every action in every chapter of your novel is contributing to the larger overarching action of the novel.

Week #3: Causality – How to discern if a chapter or scene is following the scene before it out of necessity. When a novel is propulsive, you can be sure the author understands causality.

Week #4: Character and the importance of contrast of characters.

Week #5: Show Don’t Tell and the actor’s version of this famous writing rule: acting is visual first.

Week #6: Language, Diction, and Tone – Style choices, syntax, and the nitty gritty at the line level.

Week #7: Writing Constraints as maps. How writing constraints allow you to access the buried treasures of your subconscious and still find your way back to your core ideas.

Week #8: Know Your Writing– Michael Crummey, Toni Morrison, and Louise Erdrich are three very different writers, but they are each completely and consistently themselves. Who are you as a writer? Participants will be asked to bring in a longer sample of writing than for previous workshops. Through positive constructive feedback, we will use the elements we have learned as a guideline to get a sense of where each writer’s strengths lie, and what in their voice or style makes them uniquely themselves.

Excerpts (2-4 pages) from the following works will be provided: The Poetics by Aristotle, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Self-Help by Lorrie Moore, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich, True Grit by Charles Portis, Foster by Claire Keegan, Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Room by Emma Donahue, Tell Me Everythi

Creative Play for Writers (In Person)
2026-04-30 17:45 - 19:45 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This workshop is designed for writers from any genre but artists from other mediums are welcome to join.

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

~ Maya Angelou

Many writers have other creative outlets. Maya Angelou danced. D.H. Lawrence painted. Miranda July makes films. Creativity thrives across disciplines; when writers tap into other art forms, surprising things can happen on the page.

Creative Play for Writers is a hands-on, exploratory workshop that uses visual art, music, movement, film, and more to spark new writing. Each session invites you to engage with a different form of creative expression—not to master it, but to play with it—and discover how it can fuel your storytelling.

You’ll respond to rich, sensory prompts, collaborate with others, and experiment freely. Whether you’re feeling stuck, looking for new inspiration, or simply aiming to reconnect with the joy of making things, this workshop offers a playful and supportive space to expand your creative practice.

We will explore exercises and readings from Syllabus by Lynda Barry, Workbook by Steven Heighton, and The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad. We will also touch on the ideas and art of Rebecca Belmore and Elizabeth Zvonar, among others, as inspiration. Weekly exercises and homework will be given.

Crafting a Compelling Personal Essay (Thursdays)
2026-04-30 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-05-07 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-05-14 17:45 - 19:45 | QC
The personal essay sits at the crossroads of memory, imagination, and reflection. It is a form that invites vulnerability and experimentation, asking writers to turn the lens inward while reaching outward toward readers. This ten-week workshop explores the craft of creative nonfiction through readings, discussion, and guided writing exercises. Together, we’ll study a wide range of contemporary essayists and thinkers such as Sheila Heti, Alicia Elliott, Maggie Nelson, James Baldwin, Leslie Jamison, and Joan Didion, whose work challenges and expands our understanding of form, voice, structure, and truth-telling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By the end, students will have:

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

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

Experience with both traditional and experimental essay forms.

Soliloquies Anthology 30.2 LAUNCH Party!
2026-04-30 18:00 - 21:00 | Bar Le Record, 7622 Rue St-Hubert, Montréal, Quebec, H2R 2N6, Canada
Soliloquies Anthology, Concordia’s undergraduate journal in its 30th iteration, is launching our final issue of the year on April 30th.
Event will take place at Bar Le Record (near Jean-Talon metro) from 6pm-9pm. Reading will begin promptly, so don’t be late!
Issue 30.2 is filled with impressive poetry and prose submitted by writers of all ages and backgrounds from across Canada (not just students).
The launch will include speeches from our Co-Editors-in-Chief, readings from contributing authors and introductions from members of our masthead.
Come on out to support and engage with the community. All are welcome!
PWYC (5$ recommended donation), no one turned away for lack of funds.
Issues will be on sale. Drinks and food available at the bar.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2026-05-01 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Friday, May 1, 2026, 12:30 pm–3:00 pmFree, In PersonQWF Office (Room 3, 1200 Atwater Ave., Westmount)

Register for the session by filling out the RSVP form below.

Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

Join us for an in-person Shut Up & Write session at the QWF office!

Do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do, and meet a few of your fellow QWF members. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25-minute bursts, with 5-minute breaks in between.

This event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.

Please note that these sessions are designed for silent writing, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work.

12:30–12:55: Writing 112:55–1:00: Break1:00–1:25: Writing 21:25–1:30: Break1:30–1:55: Writing 31:55–2:00: Break2:00–2:25: Writing 42:25–2:30: Break2:30–2:55: Writing 5

To register, RSVP below.

Getting to the QWF Office

Our office is located on the top floor of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre, in Room 3.

Address: 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3Westmount, QC H3Z 1X4

Closest Metro: Atwater Station

Closest Bus lines: 24, 63, 90, 104, 138, 144, 150

Accessibility:

The QWF Office is fully accessible by wheelchair from the side entrance on Tupper Street. Once inside, there is an elevator to the second floor, where the QWF office is.

Learn more about the office location and accessibility.

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

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

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

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2026-05-09 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

Register below to do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25-minute bursts, with 5-minute breaks in between.

This event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.

The Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the session.

Please note that these sessions are designed for silent writing, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work.

10:00–10:25: Writing 110:25–10:30: Break10:30–10:55: Writing 210:55–11:00: Break11:00–11:25: Writing 311:25–11:30: Break11:30–11:55: Writing 411:55–12:00: Break12:00–12:25: Writing 5

To receive the Zoom link, RSVP below. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the session.

Note: RSVPs for virtual Shut Up & Write! sessions close 24 hours before the session 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.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2026-05-15 12:30 - 15:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Free, open to QWF members
Register for the session by filling out the RSVP form below.

Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

Join us for an in-person Shut Up & Write session at the QWF office!

Do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do, and meet a few of your fellow QWF members. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25-minute bursts, with 5-minute breaks in between.

This event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.

Please note that these sessions are designed for silent writing, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work.

12:30–12:55: Writing 112:55–1:00: Break1:00–1:25: Writing 21:25–1:30: Break1:30–1:55: Writing 31:55–2:00: Break2:00–2:25: Writing 42:25–2:30: Break2:30–2:55: Writing 5

To register, RSVP below.

Getting to the QWF Office

Our office is located on the top floor of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre, in Room 3.

Address: 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3Westmount, QC H3Z 1X4

Closest Metro: Atwater Station

Closest Bus lines: 24, 63, 90, 104, 138, 144, 150

Accessibility:

The QWF Office is fully accessible by wheelchair from the side entrance on Tupper Street. Once inside, there is an elevator to the second floor, where the QWF office is.

Learn more about the office location and accessibility.

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