Upcoming Workshops in Toronto for Fall 2007

The Writers' Trust of Canada has announced a series of writing workshops for Fall 2007 in Toronto.

MICHEL BASILIÈRES
"Grant Writing for Writers"
Saturday, September 15, 2007 | 1pm – 3pm
North York Central Library

For both professional and emerging writers, a step-by step walk through of how to prepare your application for literature grants. Michel will guide you through the process, showing you how to avoid the most common mistakes, You'll learn what jurors want to see, and what will make them reject an application on sight. We will cover all levels of Government funding (Toronto, Ontario, and Canada councils), using their official forms. By the end of the workshop, you will understand what happens to your application once it leaves your hands until the letters of acceptance are mailed out.

RANDY BOYAGODA
"A Writer’s Search for Voice"
Saturday, September 22, 2007 | 1pm – 3pm
Toronto Public Library – Beaches Branch

All good writing proceeds from the distinctiveness and strength of the writer's voice. What does it mean to have a distinctive and strong writer's voice? Read the greats and you'll know. A distinctive voice comes from a constant engagement with great writing combined with a lively eye and ear for the world around you. One of these elements, without the other, cannot sustain a story for very long. We find such integration in the greats: you'll never mistake Hemingway for Faulkner, Tolstoy for Dostoevsky, Munro for Gallant. In this workshop, we will read and discuss a series of great writers on the common topic of childhood, with the ambition of determining what goes into revealing the world in a fresh and disarming way. We'll focus on what choices each writer makes in the act of storytelling, and why or why not these choices appeal to your own emerging sensibility as a writer.

JUDITH THOMPSON
"Dramatic Monologues"
Saturday,October 27, 2007 | 1pm – 3pm
Toronto Public Library – Forest Hill Branch

In this two-hour workshop, two-time Governor General's Award winning playwright Judith Thompson will explore the writing and performance of a dramatic monologue with discussion and writing exercises. At the end of the session, participants will have the opportunity to read from their day's work.

CORDELIA STRUBE
"Fiction Exploration"
Saturday, November 17, 2007 | 1pm – 4pm
Toronto Public Library – Beaches Branch

To write is to learn. We extract information, absorb it, allow it to ferment then use it as our own and in so doing learn something about ourselves. In a world of media bombardment, the stillness of writing - actually taking time to think about words and formulate sentences - to complete thought - has become an archaic past time. Join Cordelia Strube in an exploration of the wonder and release of fiction writing.