Writers Studio

4. Words Out Loud with Lara Bozabalian Y

Thursday, September 23
9:00 - 10:30 am

Some say language evolved from music. This connection comes alive in spoken–word poetry, among the oldest of the arts—and the newest, too. Written to be said, not read, performance poems find their roots in medieval ballads as well as contemporary rap, hip–hop, dub, and slam, drawing on the power of voice and gesture to give words meaning. Join Lara Bozabalian, spoken–word artist, published poet, and English teacher with the York Region District School Board, as she guides young writers from the page to the stage.

12. Writing the Teenage Mind with Cordelia Strube

Thursday, September 23
1:30 - 3:00 pm

For centuries writers have been trying to get inside the minds of troubled, rebellious youth. Shakespeare, Voltaire and Salinger, to name a few, have all dared to navigate these unpredictable waters. Is your inner teen struggling to be heard? Do you need tips on how to create a convincing teen–age voice? Has the adolescent world changed since you were skipping class or are there universal truths that can be explored in fiction? Whether writing adult, young adult, or crossover fiction, if your protagonist is a teen, novelist Cordelia Strube will help you get inside your character to create authentic dialogue, gesture, and vision.

14. The Shape of Memory with Judy Fong Bates

Thursday, September 23
3:30 - 5:00 pm

Life is an ongoing stream of memories, but how do you capture the myriad anecdotes, the bits and pieces of recollection, all the flotsam and jetsam of experience and shape them into a cohesive whole? The essential question for every writer is: do you have a story? Novelist and memoirist Judy Fong Bates can’t give you a definitive answer, but she’ll share her writing experience and her own process for drawing the fragments together into a powerfully moving tale.

16. Book Promotion for Luddites with Sandra Gulland

Thursday, September 23
6:00 - 7:30 pm

Writers today have to promote their books on–line—everyone says so—but what if you don’t know where to begin? What if you’ve never seen a Facebook page, or if you have, you only have a handful of friends (your family), so what’s the point? And where are you supposed to find the time? You’re a writer, not a blogger, much less a Twitterer. Novelist Sandra Gulland will show you a simple way to build your on–line following with a minimum of time and effort. She doesn’t make any promises, but you might even begin to enjoy it!

23. Poetry Beyond the Page with Jill Battson

Friday, September 24
10:30 am - 12:00 noon

How do poets—whose work is normally limited to esoteric literary journals and small–run poetry books—move beyond the page, past the stage to reach a wider audience? Join Jill Battson, who has let her poetry run with the cultural “big boys” in an attempt to infuse theatre, opera and visual art with poetry, as she gives pointers on how to break out of the print ghetto, expand your craft and audience and perhaps even use poetry for social change.

26. Whose Story Is It? with Joan Thomas

Friday, September 24
1:00 - 2:30 pm

You have a story in mind, but who is going to tell it? Having chosen a narrative point of view, how do you negotiate its vocabulary and style? Novelist Joan Thomas focuses on the Third Person Limited, specifically the free indirect style, as a way of capturing the subjective reality of your character and subtly moving beyond it. Whether your fiction is set in the past, present, or future, discover techniques for transforming the “limited” into the “particular” and fully exploiting the third–person voice.

29. Reading Pictures with Marie–Louise Gay

Friday, September 24
3:00 - 4:30 pm

The creation of a picture book for children is deceptively simple. In order to pare down a story to its essentials while retaining rhythm, poetic images, humor, plot and a child’s vision of the world, writers need a rich visual counterpoint. Images in a picture book add multi–layered dimensions to a story by contributing details and sub–plots, and revealing the characters’ emotions through body language and facial expression. Marie–Louise Gay, creator of the Stella and Sam picture books, explores how images can offer an enriched visual vocabulary that enhances a child’s appreciation of a story.

32. The Words in Their Mouths with Deborah Kimmett

Friday, September 24
4:45 - 6:15 pm

Good dialogue can make or break a piece of writing. It can reveal back story, illuminate character, move the narrative forward. With the monologue, all attention is focused on one character who may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud, directly addressing another character, or speaking to the audience. Originally a poetic device, the monologue is now a standard of standup comedy routines. Join Deborah Kimmett for tips on how to write effective monologue that evokes an entire story through the words a character speaks.

36. Novel Architecture with Lisa Moore

Saturday, September 25
9:00 - 10:30 am

What is structure in a novel? Pacing, dipping back and forth between memory and action, leaping from dialogue to description, unspooling or snagging time, every movement creating new meaning. In this session, novelist and short–fiction writer Lisa Moore looks at suspense on the level of the sentence, the paragraph, the page, and over the trajectory of a story. Explore with her how the unfurling of time and action together can provoke an emotional reaction in our readers and build to revelation.

SOLD OUT

41. Found Fiction with Michael Winter

Saturday, September 25
11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Truman Capote called it a nonfiction novel. Michael Winter calls it documentary fiction. Whatever it’s called, adapting found material to fictional forms is fraught with challenges. What’s appropriate? What’s allowed? Is everything up for grabs? Michael Winter traces the use of the real in his novels and reveals the techniques he’s discovered for converting experience and factual documents into engaging, dramatic story.