Denman Island Readers & Writers Festival

Thursday, July 14, 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Fiction Freefall - High Speed Version with Bernice Friesen

The main emphasis of a class in Fiction Freefall -  High Speed Version, will be learning to use the relaxation technique of the Stanislavski acting method in order to generate fiction. The workshop will begin with a review of the basic elements of fiction, then a communal story will be plotted. There will be a short break, and then we will do the relaxation technique to open our minds to the universe of choices we can make as creative writers, and then we will begin making notes and writing our own stories.

Thursday, July 14, 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Trans/Forming: Playing With Form in Poetry with Kate Braid

Even those used to writing only prose may find that playing with words within strict guidelines can work magic on mundane language. Traditional poetry forms such as the sonnet, glosa and pantoum give guidelines within which poets have utter freedom. Formal poetry also throws an emphasis on sound that has the potential to change how you hear. This brief workshop will include a short talk on “What is form?” (including free verse), some hands-on exercises on writing formal poetry and a bit of work with rhyme and rhythm.

Thursday, July 14, 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Journalistic Writing and Interview Techniques with Daphne Bramham

Join Daphne Bramham, an award winning Vancouver Sun journalist, to learn the techniques for getting the best story our of your interviews. From her work and experience, she will demonstrate how to structure questions, what to look for, what to ask, and when to change directions. Then she will show you how to make that interview into good journalism.

You will also learn how to be on the other side and explore what makes a good interview.

Friday, July 15, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Retro-Speculative Writing Workshop with Wayde Compton

What if the writer who bases his/her work on historical research refuses to be reliable? We are warned not to, but what if we do transplant contemporary notions of politics into the past? When I look at the empty space that once was Vancouver’s black community, what do I wish filled that current space? Would my sense of self be different if these wishes had been reality? Is it possible to reproduce this speculation for others, is there a way to make others feel this sense of absence without narrating it?

In this experimental workshop, participants will be lead through an exercise in writing about the past through the sensibilities and desires of their present imagination.

Friday, July 15, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Working it Out: The Radical Power of Writing Our Work with Kate Braid

This workshop will explore people’s experience of “work” in its widest definition. Whether you’ve done homework, childcare, clerical or professional work or manual labour, you’ve become an “insider”, an expert in that craft - which means you’re highly qualified to write about it. You may be surprised at how much you have to say - and how important it is that you say it, in either prose or poetry.

Saturday, July 16, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

The Heart of the Successful Short Story, with Paul Headrick

Paul Headrick, novelist and short story writer, has many years experience teaching creative writing at Langara College and in workshops from Cortes Island to Mexico. Join him in this three hour workshop on short stories, focusing on the very heart of the successful story: its structure. Paul promises you will leave the workshop with a more confident, practical understanding of how to make your short fiction compelling.

Saturday, July 16, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

From Memoir to Fiction with Gurjinder Basran

Join us for a three hour long workshop that will blur the lines between memoir and fiction. Through a blend of lively group discussion and dynamic hands-on workshop activities we will explore how to use your life and facts from the world around you to inform your fiction and when it may be helpful to employ these strategies.

Saturday, July 16, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Non-fiction Book Writing with Andrew Nikiforuk

Join Canadian journalist, Andrew Nikiforuk, in a workshop focused on how to turn science into artful narratives. Everything from bark beetles to climate change is fair game.

1. ★Please have read at least one of the following for spirited discussion:
   

2. •Richard Rhodes: Deadly Feasts
   

3. •Ed Struzik: The Big Thaw
   

4. •Elizabeth Kolbert: Field Notes from a Catastrophe
   

5. •Diana Beresford-Kroeger: The Global Forest
   

Sunday, July 17, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Write! with Anne Cameron

Often people have the idea that a person has to be touched by the gods in some way in order to write, and many people who have always wanted to write feel they don’t have the education. You have more education than William Shakespeare!

In this workshop, award winning screenwriter and novelist Anne Cameron, will demystify the writing process, encouraging you and showing you how to write.