WGA regional rep Vivan Hansen is hosting a series of writing workshops at the Airdrie Public Library in the coming months. Registration will be available through the Airdire Public Library website.
Small Words With Muscle: Working your Poetry with Vivian Hansen
Saturday, March 28, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
FREE, register through Airdrie Public Library’s registration form
In this workshop, you will discover how you are poets in all aspects of writing. We will work closely with sound, structure, imagery, meaning and prose poems to expose the elements of how poetry works. We will do close readings of our own work and come away with new ideas and collections of poetry.
Bio: Vivian Hansen has published poetry, essays and memoir in Canadian journals and anthologies. She has four poetry books: Leylines of My Flesh (2002), A Bitter Mood of Clouds, and A Tincture of Sunlight (Frontenac 2013 and 2017). Vivian teaches creative writing with Mount Royal University, the University of Calgary, and Alexandra Writers Centre. She is currently Writer in Residence with the Canadian Authors Association – Alberta Branch, and she is the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Events Coordinator for Airdrie. Website: vhansen.ca
Breaking Into Traditional Publishing with Philip Vernon
Saturday April 18, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Securing
literary representation is a hell of a marathon. It’s rigorous, emotionally
draining, and 99% interminable waiting. But here’s the good news: the only
requirement is your own stubborn tenacity. Talent’s entirely learnable, and in
this biz? You only fail if you quit.
So if inking a traditional book deal is your writerly goal, join us for an
unflinching deep dive into the process of becoming agented. Knowing when you’re
“ready” to pitch, query letters, synopses, strategies — we’re
tackling all your questions, critiquing materials, and separating realistic
expectations from discouraging myths.
Bio: P. J. Vernon is “a name to watch in the thriller genre” (Booklist). Library Journal and Book Riot compare his critically-acclaimed Gothic debut When You Find Me to Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects. Vernon’s next thriller, Bath Haus, pitched as “Gone Girl with gays and Grindr” is forthcoming from Doubleday US (2021). Vernon is represented by CookeMcDermid and United Talent Agency (film). He and his husband live in Canada. Website: pjvernonbooks.com
Short Fiction with Lee Kvern
Monday May 25, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Story telling in the short form. This mini workshop will look at what’s necessary to write/craft a short story along with crucial writing practices to get your story pistons started. Bring your questions, your pens, your creative engines.
Bio: Lee Kvern is an award-winning author of short stories and novels. Her stories in 7 Ways To Sunday have garnered the national CBC Literary Award, Western Magazine Award, Hazel Hilles Memorial Short Fiction Prize, and the Howard ‘O’ Hagan Award, Lush Triumphant (finalist), Best of the Net (nominated). Afterallselected for Canada Reads (Regional) and shortlisted for Alberta Books Awards. The Matter of Sylvie contender for Alberta Book Awards and the Ottawa Relit Award. Her work has been produced for CBC Radio, published in Grain, Event, Descant, Air Canada enRoute, Tishman Review, Globe&Mail, subTerrain. Online:Joyland.ca, Foundpress.com, LittleFiction.com Website: www.leekvern.com
Structuring the Novel with Lori Hahnel
Saturday, June 13, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Structure is what gives your novel backbone. In this workshop, we’ll discuss ways to figure out what approach to storytelling works best for you. We’ll also talk about methods of story structure such as The Hero’s Journey and the Three Act Structure. Whether you’re working on your first draft or your fourteenth, novel structure is something you need to consider.
Bio: Lori Hahnel is the author of the novels Love Minus Zero and After You’ve Gone as well as a story collection, Nothing Sacred, which shortlisted for an Alberta Literary Award. Her work has been published widely in journals in North America, Australia and the U.K.; her credits include CBC Radio, The Fiddlehead, Joyland and The Saturday Evening Post. Lori teaches creative writing in Calgary. Website: lorihahnel.ca
Plotting for Pantsers, Intuits and the Totally Lost with Ali Bryan
Saturday, June 20, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Are you mid-way through a manuscript and have caught yourself asking, “what should happen next?” Or maybe you’ve finished a complete draft but have no idea how to begin the next. Where do you even start? Or maybe you want to start writing but you get hung up on the expectation and rules of an outline. If any of these scenarios resonate, this workshop is for you.
Using the theory character as plot and elements of plot structure, we will uncover tangible ways to bring cohesion and clarity to a work in progress. Learn to write, re-write and revise with intention even if you wrote the entire manuscript with no idea where you were going. Expect a combination of lecture, in-class exercises and discussion
Bio: Ali Bryan is an award-winning novelist and creative nonfiction writer based in Calgary, Canada. Her first novel Roost (Freehand, 2013) won the Alberta Literary Awards Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and was the official selection of One Book Nova Scotia 2014. Her second novel, The Figgs, was released in May 2018 and was short-listed for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. She twice longlisted for the CBC Canada Writes Creative Non-Fiction prize for her essays “Asshole Homemaker” and “Mints After The Meal.” “Mints After The Meal” was also shortlisted for the Alberta Literary Awards Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Award in 2015. “Let’s Talk” was nominated for the same prize in 2016. She is a Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards 2018 Emerging Artist recipient. Website: www.alibryan.com.