FRED STENSON
"The Art and Craft of Historical Fiction"
Saturday, April 4, 2009 1pm - 4pm
Memorial Park Library
Calgary, AB
This three-hour workshop will look at several basics of historical fiction writing, such as creating historical characters and writing historical scenes that readers can watch and listen to, and be engaged by. The question of accuracy will be dealt with, particularly the issues surrounding the fictionalization of actual events and real people. Is historical fiction much different than writing contemporary fiction? Some small exercises will be used, so please bring pen and paper.
FRED STENSON is the author of fifteen books (eight fiction and seven non-fiction). His three most recent novels, The Great Karoo, Lightning, and The Trade, are historical fictions: not a series in the sense of continuing one story, but related through geography, character and theme--and also through their approach to history. The Great Karoo was nominated for the Governor General's Award for Fiction in 2008. Lightning and The Trade both won Alberta's Grant MacEwan Book Prize. The Trade won the WGA's novel award and the Edmonton Book Prize, and was nominated for the Giller Prize. Stenson writes a regular column in Alberta Views Magazine and is director of the Wired Writing Studio at The Banff Centre.
REGISTRATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED
To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 242
"The Art and Craft of Historical Fiction"
Saturday, April 4, 2009 1pm - 4pm
Memorial Park Library
Calgary, AB
This three-hour workshop will look at several basics of historical fiction writing, such as creating historical characters and writing historical scenes that readers can watch and listen to, and be engaged by. The question of accuracy will be dealt with, particularly the issues surrounding the fictionalization of actual events and real people. Is historical fiction much different than writing contemporary fiction? Some small exercises will be used, so please bring pen and paper.
FRED STENSON is the author of fifteen books (eight fiction and seven non-fiction). His three most recent novels, The Great Karoo, Lightning, and The Trade, are historical fictions: not a series in the sense of continuing one story, but related through geography, character and theme--and also through their approach to history. The Great Karoo was nominated for the Governor General's Award for Fiction in 2008. Lightning and The Trade both won Alberta's Grant MacEwan Book Prize. The Trade won the WGA's novel award and the Edmonton Book Prize, and was nominated for the Giller Prize. Stenson writes a regular column in Alberta Views Magazine and is director of the Wired Writing Studio at The Banff Centre.
REGISTRATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED
To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 242
KEN MCGOOGAN“Discovering Creative Non-Fiction”
Saturday, April 18, 2009 1pm – 3pm
Toronto Public Library – Beaches Branch
Toronto, ON
What is Creative Non-fiction? How does it differ from academic writing? From short stories and novels? From journalism? After earning two degrees, working as a journalist for three Canadian dailies, and publishing three novels, author Ken McGoogan discovered Creative Non-Fiction and began winning awards.
Starting with Fatal Passage, a national bestseller that won four prizes, Ken has applied CNF techniques to four acclaimed books. He will take you behind the scenes of his own work with a slide-show presentation that ranges from London, England to Orkney, and from Tasmania to the High Arctic.
Does the non-fiction novel exist? What is immersion reporting? Should we try to distinguish between literary journalism, narrative non-fiction and polemical non-fiction? Ken will explore these questions while leading a dynamic workshop that gets people writing and sharing on the spot.
KEN MCGOOGAN, whose books include Lady Franklin's Revenge and Race to the Polar Sea, teaches Creative Non-Fiction at University of Toronto. A recipient of the Pierre Berton Award for History, Ken is vice-chairman of the Public Lending Right Commission. He lives in the Beaches. For more information visit http://www.kenmcgoogan.com/.
REGISTRATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED
To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 242
MARY NOVIK“Re-imagining the Past”
Mon. Apr. 20, 2009, 6pm – 8pm
Vancouver Public Library - Central Library
Vancouver, BC
Are you writing a short story or novel based on historical people or events? Pitch your story idea to the group (in two minutes or less) and join us in answering these questions: Are you writing for yourself, or for a specific market? Will this be literary fiction or straightforward narrative? How much research is enough? How much is too much? Which has priority in your story, truth or art?
We will also discuss using facts as triggers to jumpstart fiction, seeing through a character's eyes to improve focus, dealing with readers' expectations, developing good work habits, and encouraging the subconscious to play its part.
MARY NOVIK is the author of Conceit, called "a magnificent novel of 17th-century London" by The Globe and Mail, which chose it as a Book of the Year for 2007. Conceit was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller and won BC's Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. For more information visit http://www.marynovik.com/.
REGISTRATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED
To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 242
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