Writing Workshop Series
We are very pleased to announce an intriguing lineup of opportunities to hear from, and work with, Andrea Routley the 2022/23 Writer in Residence at Haig-Brown House. Andrea will be hosting a series of workshops exploring the role of curiosity in storytelling, our environment, and the use of bodies as metaphor in writing. She will also be leading a Masterclass in Manuscript Evaluation in partnership with the Library.
Workshop #1: Writing as an Orientation to Curiosity
Saturday, February 18, 2023
10:30am – 3:00pm
Location: Museum at Campbell River, Boardroom
Cost: $45
Description:
Every story asks a question. In this workshop, we examine the role of curiosity in deepening both our stories and our understanding of the world. Drawing on the work of writers such as Alice Munro, we investigate approaches to dialogue, description and point of view that facilitate curiosity and lead us to richer stories and greater compassion. The workshop includes short presentations, writing exercises/prompts and discussion. Please bring a lunch.
Workshop #2: Environment and the Body
Saturday, March 4, 2023
10:30am – 3:00pm
Location: Museum at Campbell River, Boardroom
Cost: $45
Description:
“We are the Earth being conscious of itself.” –Henryk Skolimowski, Eco-Philosophy: Designing New Tactics for Living (1981)
Much literature in English reinforces colonial conceptions of humans as separate from the natural world, using the environment only as symbolic backdrop. But the environments we inhabit also inhabit us. How do our environments—and the stories we tell about them—shape us and our writing? How do we write this relationship? In this workshop, we draw on the work of Toni Morrison, Joshua Whitehead, and Chen Ran to explore approaches to writing about land and ourselves/characters in relationship with that land. The workshop includes short presentations, writing exercises/prompts and discussion. Open to both poets and prose writers. Please bring a lunch.
Workshop #3: What Disability in Fairy Tale Can Teach Us (not to do)
Saturday, March 18, 2023
10:30am – 3:00pm
Location: Museum at Campbell River, Boardroom
Cost: $45
Description:
What is the function of disability in literature? What is the impact of this on our understanding of disability? How can we write about bodies in a way that does not perpetuate these notions? In this workshop, we look at the use of a variety of bodies as metaphor, the ways this use can perpetuate physiognomy and disability tropes, and how we can instead write bodies with care and nuance. Following this lecture/discussion, participants will be guided through individual and group writing exercises that present strategies for generating surprising stories/plots through this examination of expected functions and metaphors. Please bring a lunch.
Masterclass with Andrea Routley
Sunday, April 2, 2023
1:00pm – 3:30pm
Location: to be determined
Cost: Free, pre-registration required.
Description:
What do we need from our first readers? Prose writers (fiction and non-fiction) are invited to submit stories of up to 5000 words for feedback. A selection of submitted stories will be read by both the instructor and other participants before the class. During the class, the instructor will discuss the work with the author, and a conversation about different approaches for effectively giving and receiving feedback will follow.
Registration details will be published shortly.