Quebec Writers' Federation

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (In Person)
2026-08-21 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-08-07 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-07-24 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-07-10 12:30 - 15:00, 2026-06-26 12:30 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Free, open to QWF members
Register for the session by filling out the RSVP form below.

Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

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

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

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

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

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

To register, RSVP below.

Getting to the QWF Office

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

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

Closest Metro: Atwater Station

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

Accessibility:

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

Learn more about the office location and accessibility.

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

Shut Up & Write! with QWF (Virtual)
2026-08-15 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-08-01 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-07-18 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-07-04 10:00 - 12:30, 2026-06-20 10:00 - 12:30 | Online – Please RSVP to receive a Zoom link
Free, open to QWF members
Register for the session by filling out the RSVP form below.
Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note: RSVPs for virtual Shut Up & Write! sessions close 24 hours before the session begins. If there is no option to RSVP, RSVPs are closed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Join us for a Lunch & Learn with QWF!

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

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

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

John Wickham (Communications Manager) will provide a brief tour of the website, highlighting sections and resources that are particularly useful to QWF members.
Zac Remple, QWF’s new Operations Manager, will also be in attendance.

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

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

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

Lunch & Learn with QWF is our quarterly orientation series to welcome new members and provide an overview of QWF’s activities. The next one after July 14 will be in October. Learn more about our Lunch & Learn series.

Register for Zoom link

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

Book Launch: No Brainer by Lea Beddia
2026-06-28 14:00 | Livres Babar Books, 46 Avenue Ste Anne, Pointe-Claire, Quebec, H9S 4P8, Canada
Join Lea Beddia for the launch of her new book, No Brainer (Orca Book Publishers).
About the Book
Liv is happy in her joggers, sports T-shirts and no bra.
She doesn’t like tight jeans and doesn’t feel comfortable in a bra. But one boy in her gym class, Jerry, harasses Liv with rude comments about her breasts. When she stands up to him, Liv is the one who finds herself in trouble. Even though her clothes fit the dress code, her principal insists that Liv wear a bra to gym class. It’s unfair and Liv refuses to give in to the demand.
Gossip flies around the school as Liv stands up to Jerry and the school administration. Then a “free the boobs” campaign is started to demean Liv, and she and her friend Mia decide to take a stand. They create a poster to encourage girls to wear what they want without shame, but Liv is sent to the principal’s office once again and is told that her poster will be taken down before the school’s open house. But Liv isn’t going to stand down. There are no school rules that dictate girls must wear bras. Why can’t girls wear what they want without being shamed?
This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading-level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read.

Tattered Covers: 60+ Reading and Open Mic
2026-06-27 14:00 - 15:00 | Online via Zoom
Don’t miss Tattered Covers, a reading and open mic featuring writers aged 60+.
After a film screening and discussion on ageism that we held in November 2025, we realized it was high time for us to shine a spotlight on some of the wonderful older writers in our community. Hosted by Jim Olwell, Tattered Covers will feature short readings by four writers aged 60+. Afterwards, five open-mic readers will have four minutes each to read or perform their work. Free and open to all. Open-mic slots are reserved for QWF members aged 60+, but all are welcome to attend.
Requests for the open mic slots will be taken during the Zoom meeting once the event starts. They will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis or, if there are too many sign-ups all at once, by lottery. Show up right at 2:00 p.m. for the best chance of getting a slot!
Whether you’re looking to hear from some of QWF’s most experienced writers or you’re hoping to share your own work with a live audience, we look forward to seeing you.
Online via Zoom. Register to get the Zoom link.
The Host
Photo: Paule Morency
Jim Olwell was born and raised in New York City, where he organized The Irish Arts Center from 1972 to 1978, which was the subject of his memoir, The Art of Being Irish in Hell’s Kitchen, published in 2024 with FriesenPress. He worked professionally for 23 years at the CLSC NDG/Benny Farm as Community Organizer and was made a member of La Societe des Grands Citoyens by the CDN/NDG Borough in 2013. He worked as well with the McGill Middle East Program in Peace Building and Civil Society. He has published two chapbooks of poetry—Crossings in 2016 (Iron Rabbitt Bindery) and Pensions in 2019 (Snow Press)—with a third, Long Time Coming, due in 2027. In 2015, he co-founded and ran Speakup: The Montreal Interactive Poetry Exchange until 2022, and he co-founded The 2 Susans Poetry Circle, now in its eleventh year.

The Readers

Peter Richardson is the author of four collections of poetry. His most recent book is Bit Parts for Fools (Goose Lane Editions, 2013). Sympathy for the Couriers (Véhicule Press, 2007) won QWF’s 2008 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. His poems have been in Poetry, The Sonora Review, The Fiddlehead and The Malahat Review among others. He recently finished a fifth manuscript, titled, Tiara of Fish Heads. A former airport worker at both Mirabel and Trudeau Airports, he lives in Montreal (Tiohtia:ke).

Janet Torge lives in Montreal and is always looking for new adventures. She’s been a television documentary producer, a prenatal teacher, overnight talk-show host at CFCF Radio, traffic reporter and Radio Noon host at CBC Montreal, columnist at the Montreal Gazette, and co-founder of the first rape relief centre in Canada. She recently trained as a Death Doula and is also the author of Dear Sam, a book about the death of her son, and I Can’t Believe I’m Old: Essays on Aging, published in May by Linda Leith Publishing.

Dorothy W. Williams, Ph.D., specializes in Black Canadian history. She has authored books and contributed to scholarly and academic publications. In 2006, she established Blacbiblio.com Inc. to create a comprehensive record of their historical presence in the country. Then in 2016, she launched the bilingual ABC’s of Canadian Black History Kit to facilitate the teaching of Canada’s unknown Black history. With her unique historical knowledge, Dr. Williams has consulted on films, plays, tv documentaries, and radio productions. She has acquired 20+ years of work in community development, and decades as a volunteer archivist within the community. Her Sankofa Archives and Collection is now the foundation of her research in history, identity and race, art history, gender, family, history of medicine, biography, community development, entrepreneurship, and education. Dr. Williams is a retired professor from Concordia University’s Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability.

Photo: Louise Abbott
Alice Zorn has published three novels: Arrhythmia (NeWest Press, 2011), Five Roses (Dundurn Press, 2016), and Colours in Her Hands (Freehand Books, 2024). Five Roses was shortlisted for the 2017 Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award, as well as translated into French as Le rosier de la Pointe. Colours in Her Hands was selected as the featured title for the 2025 One Book, One Community program in Athabasca. Her collection of short stories, Ruins & Relics, was a finalist for the 2009 McAuslan Quebec Writers’ Federation First Book Prize. Her most recent book of short fiction, Mind the Gap, was published by NeWest Press in 2026. She has twice placed first in Prairie Fire’s Fiction Contest and won the 2013 Manitoba Magazine Award for Fiction. She participated in the Banff Writing Studio, and was both a mentee (2004) and a mentor (2015) in the Quebec Writers’ Federation Mentorship Program. Originally from Ontario, she has been living in Montreal since 1986.

Register for Zoom link

Launch of Quist Issue 4
2026-06-25 18:00 | Centre Sanaaq, 1200 Rue du Sussex, Montreal, Quebec, H3H 0E3, Canada
Join us on June 25 at 6pm at Centre Sanaaq, Room 2, in Montreal (1200 Rue du Sussex) for an evening of art, prose and poetry. Some of our incredible contributors from our upcoming issue will be reading excerpts of their work and light refreshments will be served!
Featuring eight contributors from the issue:

Lillian Castor
Charlotte Milton
Seneca McDougall
Winie Colounages
Sonia Kamnitzer
Ella Zambo
Margarita Jones
Cypress Ella

This event is free, universally accessible, and open to all ages!

Cloud Circuit album launch
2026-06-20 19:30 - 23:30 | La Sotteranea, 4848 Boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec, H2T 1R5, Canada
Join poet Deanna Radford and musician Jeremy Young, aka Cloud Circuit, on Saturday, June 20, for the launch of their debut full-length album of spoken word and sound on Watch That Ends the Night Records. The duo will be marking the vinyl release of the album and performing as part of this year’s Watch That Ends the Night Records showcase at Montréal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo festival. The event will include performances by labelmates: Lacopo, pinksnail, aniqa dear, and Michael Cloud Duguay with Andrew Mackelvie. Cloud Circuit’s album will be available digitally on Bandcamp as of Friday, June 12.
Saturday, June 2o, 2026
Doors: 7:30 pm, performances start: 8:00 pm
Tickets: $15+ fees & taxes advance, $22 at the door. 18+.
La Sotterenea, 4848 boul St-Laurent, Montreal, QC (basement of La Sala Rossa)
https://cloudcircuit.ca
https://cloudcircuit.bandcamp.com/album/cloud-circuit
https://watchthatendsthenight.bandcamp.com/music

STORIES FROM CANADA’S NORTH / A LA RENCONTRE DU NORD CANADIEN
2026-06-20 14:00 - 15:30 | 5434 avenue du Parc, Bibliotheque Mordecai-Richler, 5434, avenue du Parc, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
In 2006, author Hélèna Katz left her familiar Mile End neighbourhood for life on a small alpaca farm in the Northwest Territories. New experiences such as learning to scrape a moosehide from a group of Dene women captivated her. Dealing with bears on her lawn was more challenging. Shopping that requires a 10-hour drive to pick up both the mundane and the unusual – such as little frozen mice for a community member’s pet snake – amused her.
Hélèna’s latest book, Dispatches from Canada’s North, shares more than 40 stories about the joys and challenges of living in the North. Her bilingual Montreal launch at Bibliothèque Mordecai-Richler in Mile End will include stories from the book and photos of some of the places to which she has travelled in the North.

Book Launch: Spying on America
2026-06-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Argo Bookshop, 1841A Ste-Catherine St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Join us in store for the Montreal launch of Spying on America! We will be welcoming Bill Gaston and his son, Vaughn Gaston, for a reading and discussion. This event is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP on TicketSource.
Masks are not required, but will be provided for free at the door.
Please contact us at least a day in advance for elevator access to the store.
Please also note that the street in front of the store is under construction. The store is accessible on foot, but not by car, and parking in the vicinity is consequently limited.
ABOUT THE BOOK
On a June morning in 2022, Bill Gaston drives off the Victoria–Port Angeles ferry in a rented Dodge Charger with his two sons. Born in the USA but “Canadian through and through,” Gaston is on a road trip to Tabor, Iowa, the town founded by his great, great, great-grandparents as the westernmost hub of the Underground Railroad.
The Gastons’ eleven-day trip to Tabor and back takes them up and down and across a swathe of rural red states. Motivated equally by a curiosity to find out what really makes Americans tick and the motto ya gotta stop, the Gastons explore the American west, navigate unmapped dirt roads, eat too many French fries, overnight in clapped-out motels, visit a Buddhist mountain monastery, marvel at spectacular landforms, and enjoy unlikely conversations with real Americans.
Both a sideways glance at contemporary American culture and a mordant yet tender account of the true meaning of ancestry, Spying on America is an unpredictably insightful exploration of family, Canada’s neighbour, and the “American bald ego.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill Gaston was born in Tacoma, Washington, and grew up in Canada, becoming a Canadian citizen as a teenager to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War. He has lived and worked, mostly as an itinerant scholar, all across Canada, in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Toronto, Vancouver and, finally, Victoria. Gaston is the author of numerous books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, including The World, winner of the Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction; Gargoyles, winner of the Victoria Book Prize and finalist for a Governor General’s Award; Mount Appetite, finalist for the Giller Prize; and the memoir Just Let Me Look at You, finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize. He lives, grows food, and writes, with the writer Dede Crane, on Gabriola Island, in the Salish Sea.

Digital Roundtable: Find Belonging in the Quebec English Arts World
2026-06-16 12:00 - 13:00 | Online via Zoom
With Louise Abbott, Rob Lutes, and Lori Schubert

Are you looking for a way to get further involved in creating opportunities, resources, and change in the Quebec Arts & Culture community? ELAN runs several arts and culture round tables – important members from across Quebec and across disciplines come together to address key problems we face as artists. These round tables have been the launch pad for projects such as the Community Digital Arts Hub, the Trellis Micro-Grants program, and much more. Come hear about ELAN’s various roundtables and the important work they do in the community.
Leaders of our three roundtables, Regional, Arts and Culture, and Skills, will be present. Louise Abbott, Rob Lutes, and Lori Schubert will walk you through how they got these initiatives started and how you can benefit by joining!
Register at the following webpage: https://www.quebec-elan.org/en/events-calendar/#!event/register/2026/6/16/digital-roundtable

This project is part of The Community Opportunity Fund, an initiative of YES Employment + Entrepreneurship, funded by the Government of Canada’s Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities.

Book Launch: The ABCs of Black Stories in Canada by Dr. Dorothy Williams
2026-06-14 14:00 | Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 3P9, Canada
Join Dr. Dorothy W. Williams for the launch her of latest two-volume series, The ABCs of Black Stories in Canada, illustrated by Joseph Osei Bonsu.
Readings. Books on sale. Book signings.
Bring your family, bring your friends, and come celebrate the stories, history, and culture that continue to shape Canada.

2026 QWF Mentorship Reading
2026-06-13 14:00 - 16:00 | Adair Auditorium, Atwater Library, 1200 Atwater Avenue (top floor), Montreal, Quebec, H3Z 1T4, Canada
In Person and Online
Get Tickets

For four months, seven emerging writers and one emerging translator have worked to hone their craft through the QWF Mentorship Program. Each has received one-on-one guidance from a professional mentor to help them make the transition to the next stage of their career. Now, their journey culminates in a public reading, at which the mentees will present an excerpt from their work in progress.
In addition to the 2026 QWF Mentorship Program cohort, this year’s reading will feature the first full cohort from QWF’s new Youth Mentorship Program, a Big Sibling–style partnership designed to help young writers gain confidence and develop their writing skills. With twelve readers, this will be our largest mentorship reading yet. Don’t miss it!
Join us in person at the Adair Auditorium or online via Zoom.
Featuring:

Sally Cunningham, mentored by Cecil Castellucci in Fiction
Claire Dooley, mentored by Tawhida Tanya Evanson in Fiction
Zakir Jamal, mentored by Elise Moser in Fiction
Elena Molinari, mentored by Eva Crocker in Fiction
Jessica Bakar, mentored by Annabel Howard in Nonfiction
Avryl Bender, mentored by Todd Meyers in Poetry
tina thư lê, mentored by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch in Poetry (Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship)
Valerie Amyot, mentored by Jonathan Kaplansky in Literary Translation (Karin L. Montin LTAC/QWF Mentorship)
Aisha Nyerere, mentored by Emily T. Jones (Youth Mentorship)
Lily Jolie Hausknost, mentored by Liana Cusmano (Youth Mentorship)
Asbesteous, mentored by Su J Sokol (Youth Mentorship)
Zoey Morin, mentored by Raquel Rivera (Youth Mentorship)

Cost:

$10 general
$5 QWF members and students
$5 online

Tickets may be purchased in advance online, or at the door by card or cash (exact change only). Buy your tickets online.
Accessibility: The Atwater Library is wheelchair accessible. To reach the auditorium by elevator, approach the building from Tupper Street, where you will see painted blue lines leading from the sidewalk down to the accessible entrance. Press the buzzer to open the door, then proceed to the elevator to reach the top floor (Floor 1). To learn more, visit our Accessibility Policy. For any accessibility-related questions, email John Wickham at john@qwf.org.
About the QWF Mentorship Program

The QWF Mentorships are designed to help promising emerging writers make the transition to the next stage of their careers. Over a period of four months, each mentee received one-on-one guidance and support from a professional writing mentor. Now, their journey culminates in a public reading where the mentees present an excerpt of their works-in-progress. Learn more about the QWF Mentorship Program.

Get Tickets
