Quebec Writers' Federation

Crafting a Compelling Personal Essay (Thursdays)
2026-03-26 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-04-02 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-04-09 17:45 - 19:45 (America/New_York) | Quebec
The personal essay sits at the crossroads of memory, imagination, and reflection. It is a form that invites vulnerability and experimentation, asking writers to turn the lens inward while reaching outward toward readers. This ten-week workshop explores the craft of creative nonfiction through readings, discussion, and guided writing exercises. Together, we’ll study a wide range of contemporary essayists and thinkers such as Sheila Heti, Alicia Elliott, Maggie Nelson, James Baldwin, Leslie Jamison, and Joan Didion, whose work challenges and expands our understanding of form, voice, structure, and truth-telling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By the end, students will have:

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

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

Experience with both traditional and experimental essay forms.

Slantwise: Writing the Prose Poem
2026-03-26 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-02 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-09 20:00 - 22:00 | 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)
2026-03-28 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Saturday, March 28, 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.

Illuminated Grant-Writing
2026-03-28 10:30 - 14:30, 2026-04-04 10:30 - 16:30 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This workshop will examine how writers with projects for print, spoken word, or storytelling can compose a strong literary arts grant application. From drafting a project description to balancing a budget, we will also discuss artistic risk, impact, and cultural appropriation among many other topics. Focus will be on funding programs at the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and an arts council program officer will join us to answer questions. This series is intended for Quebec-based writers at all stages of their practice: emerging, mid-career, or established. There will be tasks to complete between sessions, and participants must arrive with an original literary arts project in mind. Three half-day workshops will be followed by a one-on-one 30-minute mentoring session for each participant.

Access to MS Word or similar writing software will be necessary as well as a willingness to share work and give and receive feedback in a workshop setting.

Important: Right after registering for the workshop, participants must provide a short, one-sentence description of their envisioned literary arts project. This sentence should be sent to Riley@qwf.org with “Illuminated Grant-Writing” in the subject line.

Les auteurs s'expriment sur: l'amour et la résilience § Authors Talk On: Love & Resilience
2026-03-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Phoenix Books, 5928 Sherbrooke Street West, 5928 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC, H4A 1X7, Canada
This event is an invitation for Author’s to read passages from their published works, speak to and participate in question & answer on the subject of love & resilience. Author’s can confirm their attendance and willingness to read and speak from 6pm-7pm, March 28th, 2026. Reading and discussion to commence at 7pm, March 28th. Reading and discussion can be in French or English. All are welcome to read, support or just listen.
Les auteurs liront des extraits de leurs ouvrages publiés et participeront à une séance de questions-réponses sur le thème de l’amour et de la résilience. Les auteurs sont invités à confirmer leur présence et leur disponibilité pour lire et intervenir entre 18 h et 19 h le 28 mars 2026. La lecture et la discussion débuteront à 19 h le 28 mars. La lecture et la discussion pourront se dérouler en français ou en anglais. Tout le monde est le bienvenu, que ce soit pour lire, apporter son soutien ou simplement écouter.

The Pit Periodical Issue 7 launch
2026-03-28 19:00 - 22:00 | 4710 St Ambroise #343, 4710 St Ambroise #343, Montreal, QC, H4C 2C7, Canada
The Pit is back~ after a much needed hibernation, their winter issue is finally ready to hit the newsstands!
Join them on Saturday March 28th for poetry, music, and sooo many margaritas! Give us $20, buy a cocktail, and peruse the glossy pages full of this season’s fabulous contributors 🏹💌
With a soulful live performance by @hanorahmusic, a new wave and rock en español DJ set by Carla Oteiza from @ater.deathcrust, and a TBA selection of this issue’s poets, come celebrate the end of this killer winter with The Pit at @avenuepublic in st Henri!
Send an e-transfer of $20 to thepitperiodical@gmail.com or get your tix at the door 🍒

Book Launch: Missed Connections with Tall Girls by Gwen Aube
2026-03-29 19:30 - 23:30 | Brasserie Beaubien, 73 rue Beaubien Est, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
TRAIN HOPPING! PILL POPPING! FUR WEARING! SINK PISSING! TRANS PUNK ODES!
Join Montreal poet Gwen Aube at Brasserie Beaubien for the launch of her debut collection, Missed Connections with Tall Girls, featuring readings by Tara McGowan-Ross, Mona Gendron (of Pubertywell), and Rebecca Lawrence-Lynch.
Doors at 7:30, Readings around 8, Party til late.
Copies will be available for purchase and signing.
More on the book:
Tweaking working-class colloquialisms into new forms of elegy and song, Gwen Aube’s hilarious and uncompromising poems chronicle a precarious, debaucherous carnival of trailer-trash divas and Discord autistcs, living and delighting in survival at the edges of technocapital. Missed Connections with Tall Girls establishes Aube as a brash and unstoppable singular voice for a monstrous new world.
“Bold and brazen and full of heart and downright hilarious at times. It rolls like a memory, harkening the greats of street poetry. Gwen is my favourite kind of poet, the kind with clear eyes that truly see other humans, renders them beautiful.”
—katherena vermette, author of procession
“WOW! Gwen Aube makes a speedway for poems, racing up your neck and into the mouth of your surprised, opening face! You think you know what’s coming next? NO! HAHA! There is something incredible waiting for you here.”
—CA Conrad, author of Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return
“Evokes a city of sound and shifting spaces. Here, tears “glonk” on the sidewalk, mattresses are sometimes a chalice, sometimes a bowl, sometimes a god, and one’s own body does not always provide a home. Canny, understated, moving, seeking a passageway for trans lives and lives in transition, the poet’s voice creates a haunting stillness in the noise.”
—PEN Canada New Voices jury citation
Gwen Aube is a working class writer living in Montreal, Quebec. She is a 2026 Al Purdy A-Frame Artist-In-Residence & 2025 AiR with the Ontario Heritage Council. She was a finalist for the 2025 PEN Canada New Voices Award, as well as a Kevin Killian Scholarship recipient for the Jack Kerouac School. Her chapbook pulp necrosis was published by above/ground press.

Poetic Transformations: Revising as Re-Seeing
2026-03-30 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-04-06 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
2026-03-30 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-06 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.

A Crisis of Empathy? Shared Suffering in the Contemporary Moment
2026-03-31 15:00 - 17:00 | 4TH SPACE, McConnell Building, Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Tuesday, March 31, 20263:00–5:00 pm ET

This event brings together two thought leaders who will explore how political polarization erodes our capacity for empathy. As public debates become more conflictual, how do we remain present to one another’s suffering, even when we fundamentally disagree? Rabbi Lisa Grushcow offers a spiritual perspective on empathy and suffering, while anthropologist Samuel Veissière examines the social forces driving deepening division. Together, they invite us to consider how we might listen, connect, and heal in fractured times.Organized by Marc Lafrance, Special Advisor to the Provost on Campus Life, Provost’s Office and Lisa White, Executive Director, Equity Office.

How can you participate? Join us in person by filling out the form or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Speakers

Lisa GrushcowSenior Rabbi, Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Westmount

Samuel VeissièreProfesseur associé, Département de psychologie (section psychodynamique) Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)Clinicien Chercheur, Recherche Action sur les Polarisations Sociales (RAPS)CLSC Parc Extension, CIUSS Centre Ouest de MontrealAdjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, McGill University

Jennifer BourqueChaplain and Coordinator, Multi-faith and Spirituality Centre, Concordia University

View Event on Concordia.ca

Crafting a Compelling Personal Essay
2026-03-31 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-04-07 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)
2026-03-31 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-07 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.

Translating Quebec Fiction
2026-04-01 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-04-08 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.

Sustaining Dramatic Tension in Long-form Fiction (Wednesdays)
2026-04-01 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-08 20:00 - 22:00 | Quebec
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)
2026-04-02 17:45 - 19:45, 2026-04-09 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.

Lunch & Learn with QWF
2026-04-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Tuesday, April 7, 2026, 12:00–1:00 pm ETOpen to all—register for Zoom link

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

Join us for a Lunch & Learn with QWF!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lunch & Learn with QWF is our quarterly orientation series to welcome new members and provide an overview of QWF’s activities. The next one after April 7 will be in July. Learn more about our Lunch & Learn series.

REGISTER NOW

Being There: Research for Writers
2026-04-07 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.

Book Launch: There's Always More to Say by Natalie Southworth
2026-04-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Argo Bookshop, 1841A Ste-Catherine St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Thursday, April 9, 20267:00–9:00 pm ET

Join us for the launch of Natalie Southworth’s short story collection, There’s Always More to Say. The author will be joined for a Q&A with Paige Cooper, author of Zolitude. This event is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP.

Masks are not required but will be provided for free at the door.

For elevator access to the store, please contact Argo Bookshop at least a day in advance.

ABOUT THE BOOKIn the title story of Natalie Southworth’s debut collection, sisters sneak out of their unstable mother’s apartment to find “reality,” an experience with lasting repercussions. Southworth concentrates on moments like this—moments of disconnection, family fragility and unexpected expressions of love.

The stories that make up There’s Always More to Say focus on characters struggling to achieve what they think they should want despite the demands and loneliness of modern life. A puppeteer attempts to reinvent himself as a realtor. Preteen girls strive to become like their absentee fathers. A nanny must decide between her future or that of the family dog. A high-achieving working mother is imprisoned by her antidepressants.

Infused with humour and verve, yet full of warmth, Southworth interrogates the quest for more and what it means when ambition clashes with private reality.

About the Author

Natalie Southworth’s award-winning stories have appeared in literary journals in Canada, the UK and the US, including The Moth Magazine, The North American Review, The Brooklyn Review, The New Quarterly, Grain Magazine, Prairie Fire, Canadian Notes & Queries, Riddle Fence and more. Originally from England, she lives in Montreal.

RSVP at Ticketsource
