Relational Innovations: Creative Writing as Social Practice

Event Description: Innovative writing and socially-oriented writing are often imagined as incompatible practices. This collaboratively organized one-day symposium at The Insurgent Architects’ House for Creative Writing at the University of Calgary queries how social questions can be taken up innovatively. Topics for discussion include: urban poetic practices, visibility and invisibility, representation, identity, writing beyond “what you know”, writing from conflict zones, cultural appropriation, cultural responsibility, what it means to be a good ally in writing communities, accountability, safe spaces, the place of creative writing in the academy, the role of the public intellectual, and more.

This program is free and open to University of Calgary students and faculty, Calgary writers, and the general public.

Featuring: Angie Abdou, Lillian Allen, Rob Budde, Peter Forestell, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, Jill Yonit Goldberg, Aritha Van Herk, Jani Krulc, Larissa Lai, David Leach, Shannon Maguire, Suzette Mayr, Nikki Reimer, Janet Rogers, Natalie Simpson, Joshua Whitehead.

Opening Welcome: Elder Doreen Spence

Organized by: Larissa Lai, Rob Budde, Lillian Allen and Tom Sewel

In collaboration with: Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs