TIA House Guide to the Canadian Writers’ Summit

TIA HOUSE GUIDE TO THE CANADIAN WRITERS’ SUMMIT
Harbourfront Toronto
June 15 – 19, 2016

Attempting to navigate the 68-page program for this year’s Writers’ Summit can be a challenge. TIA House has to make some hard choices about where to go and what to do. Here are the events we hope to catch, knowing that we can’t catch even all those listed here, and that still doesn’t even mean there aren’t many other worthy choices. TIA House reserves to the right change its mind. But still, here’s a rough guide to ease the path through this truly massive conference. Happy Writers’ Summit, TIA House friends!

JUNE 15

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: LAWRENCE HILL

Wednesday, June 15, 2016
8:00pm-9:00pm

Lawrence Hill is the award-winning and internationally bestselling author of The Book of Negroes, which was made into a six-part TV mini-series. His previous novels, Some Great Thing and Any Known Blood, became national bestsellers. Hill’s non-fiction work includes Blood: The Stuff of Life, the subject of his 2013 Massey Lectures, and Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada. His fourth novel, The Illegal, was published by HarperCollins Canada (September, 2015) and by WW Norton in the USA (January, 2016). Hill volunteers with Crossroads International, the Black Loyalist Heritage Society, and Project Bookmark Canada. He lives with his family in Hamilton, Ontario, and Woody Point, Newfoundland.

This event also features the presentation of The Writers’ Union of Canada’s Freedom to Read Award to Mohamed Fahmy.

A reception for this event will take place 7:00pm – 7:45pm.

Venue: Fleck Dance Theatre

JUNE 17

THAT ELUSIVE WRITING GRANT– NOT SO ELUSIVE ANYMORE?

Friday, June 17, 2016
9:30-10:30AM

Writers and publishers have been hit hard by our new economy and the forces of digital technology. The Canada Council for the Arts recognizes this and has launched a large-scale transformation to address these serious challenges. Director and CEO Simon Brault will speak about the Council’s new funding model, its directions for next five years, the historic re-investment in the arts announced in the Federal Budget – and their impact on the future of writing in Canada.

Simon Brault began his five-year term as Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts on June 26, 2014. His first non-fiction book, Le facteur C : l’avenir passe par la culture (La Presse / Éditions Voix parallèles, 2009), explained the dramatic rise of cultural concerns in the public agenda. This lively, highly-acclaimed work was published in English as No Culture, No Future (Cormorant Books, 2010).

Simon Brault has received numerous distinctions for his commitment to the social recognition of the arts and culture. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, Officier de l’Ordre national du Québec, a Fellow of the CGA Order and the CPA Order, and is a recipient of the 2009 Keith Kelly Award for Cultural Leadership. In 2015, he received the Quebec CPA Order’s prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award for bringing together “two worlds that were once disparate – the arts and business – an alliance that significantly benefits society at large.”

Participants:
Simon Brault
Francis Farley-Chevrier (Moderator)
Venue: Harbourfront Centre Theatre

* * *

Les écrivains et les éditeurs ont été durement touchés par notre nouvelle économie et la montée des technologies numériques. Le Conseil des arts du Canada, conscient de cette situation, a entrepris une transformation d’envergure pour aborder ces grands défis. Le directeur et chef de la direction Simon Brault parlera du nouveau modèle de financement du Conseil, de ses orientations pour les cinq prochaines années, du nouvel investissement historique dans les arts annoncé dans le budget fédéral – et de leur impact sur l’avenir des lettres au Canada.

Simon Brault assume la direction générale du Conseil des arts du Canada pour un mandat de cinq ans, depuis le 26 juin 2014. En 2009, son premier essai intitulé Le facteur C : l’avenir passe par la culture (La Presse / Éditions Voix parallèles) explique l’émergence spectaculaire des préoccupations culturelles dans l’arène publique. Le vibrant argumentaire du Facteur C connait un vif succès, et, en 2010, Cormorant Books publie la traduction anglaise de ce livre sous le titre No Culture, No Future.

Simon Brault a reçu plusieurs distinctions pour son engagement envers la reconnaissance sociale des arts et de la culture. Officier de l’Ordre du Canada, Officier de l’Ordre national du Québec, « Fellow » de l’ordre des CGA et de l’ordre des CPA, il a reçu le Prix Keith-Kelly 2009 pour le leadership culturel. En 2015, l’Ordre des CPA du Québec lui remettait le prestigieux hommage pour avoir réussi « à réunir deux univers que tout opposait auparavant, les arts et le milieu des affaires, une union des plus profitables pour l’ensemble de la société ».

EQUITY NOW

Larissa will be here because this is an issue near and dear to her heart, and also because she organized this event.

Friday, June 17, 2016
10:00am-11:15am

Curated by Larissa Lai and sponsored by The Insurgent Architects’ House for Creative Writing at the University of Calgary, this panel interrogates the history of anti-racist cultural movements in Canada to ask not “Where is here?” but “When is now?” Other questions include: How have the writing and working conditions for racialized writers moved and shifted over time, and what are they like now? Does a politics of the body still matter? Where do we sit in relation to the terms that were so powerful in the 80s and 90s: representation, appropriation, affirmative action, speaking truth to power, and more?

Participants:
• Lillian Allen
• Farzana Doctor
• Jill Yonit Goldberg
• Larissa Lai (Moderator)
• Waubgeshig Rice

Venue: Miss Lou’s Room

COMMUNITY OR COTERIE: WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE ANYWAY?

Colin will be here because he is part of this panel. Yes, TIA House can be in two places at once.

Friday, June 17, 2016
10:00am-11:15am

“Community” has transformed into a political buzzword for inclusivity, collectivity, harmony, and growth. However, the processes of community development are oftentimes overlooked and, worse still, marred by unexamined bias and factionalism. The myriad difficulties of cultivating and sustaining positive, generative communities lead us to wonder: What are the limits of community? Does successful creative practice require community? Do the best writers transcend community? Five multi-genre writers who participate in diverse literary communities address these questions through a blend of creative readings, critical papers, and open discussions, designed to generate dialogue on the topic of positive community development.

Participants:
• Jani Krulc
• Marc Herman Lynch (Moderator)
• Colin Martin
• Nikki Sheppy
• Natalie Simpson

Venue: Market Tent A

WHITE PEOPLE LISTENING: BECOMING AND EFFECTIVE ALLY IN THE PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION

Sadly, TIA House can’t attend this one because of obligations on other panels. But we wish we could. We also wonder about Asian people listening. Allies– please come to the TWUC sponsored “Equity Now Lively Lunch and Learn” at 12:30pm in the Architecture Gallery!

Friday, June 17, 2016
10:00am-11:15am

Reconciliation is a word on everyone’s lips as of late, and many non-indigenous writers and artists are eager to join the discussion. There are many ways to be an ally, but this panel will be focused on listening. It’s a deceptively simple, but utterly vital component of effective communication, one that must be mastered by non-indigenous people if they wish to become allies to reconciliation. Two of the panelists are Métis, and with the humour, empathy, and spirit of inclusiveness the Métis people are known for, this panel will offer strategies for cross-cultural listening.

Participants:
• Carleigh Baker (Moderator)
• Jónína Kirton
• Nathan Medd

Venue: Market Tent D

RE:WILDING: HOW CAN WE USE STORIES TO RE-IMAGINE OUR RELATIONSHIP TO NATURE?

Gosh darn it, this one looks good too. TIA House will send a Larissa clone. Tough choices, friends…

Friday, June 17, 2016
10:00am-11:15am

Five writers gather to consider how, in an era of incipient climate catastrophe, we can use narrative to re-imagine our relation to nature. We’ll discuss how stories, both fiction and creative nonfiction, can be a way to engage in radical acts of bio-empathy, expanding our sense of the imagined other to include not only animals, but birds, plants, the earth itself, and the air. Rather than telling disaster narratives, we’ll move our focus from the exclusively human and attempt to re-wild ourselves, possibly the most essential literary task of our time.
Participants:
• Catherine Bush (Moderator)
• Sharon English
• Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
• Kyo Maclear
• Alissa York

Venue: Market Tent E

FIRST PAGE CHALLENGE: GETTING TO PAGE TWO (Adult Fiction)

TIA House hopes at least to drop in here, on it’s way to Equity Now Lively Lunch ant Learn at 12:30.

Friday, June 17, 2016
12:00pm-2:00pm

First Page Challenge is a fun, interactive event where a panel of judges will share their on-the-spot expertise in a high-energy environment. Participants submit the first page of a novel or short story piece in the Adult Fiction category. These texts will be viewed anonymously on an overhead display while the judges give their impressions of strengths and weaknesses as it is being read aloud. This is a risk-free chance to see why editors put down manuscripts and why they read on, what agents look for in a potential client’s work, and what creative instructors really like.

Venue: Fleck Dance Theatre

EQUITY NOW LIVELY LUNCH AND LEARN

Organized by the most excellent Equity Committee of The Writers’ Union of Canada and sponsored by TWUC as a whole.

Friday, June 17, 2016
12:30pm-1:30pm

Featuring readings and lively open discussion, this session builds on themes raised during the Equity Now panel earlier in the day and asks, What do equity and diversity mean for you? Bring your lunch and join the discussion.

Participants:
Farzana Doctor (Moderator)
Shauntay Grant
Larissa Lai
Waubgeshig Rice

Venue: Architecture Gallery

ARTISTS ON TRIAL

TIA House loves the concept of this one, and its political commitment too. We’ll drop in after the Equity Now lunch and learn.

Friday, June 17, 2016
1:00pm-2:00pm

Naturally, writers espousing political ideas or policies that are distinctly opposed to the governments of the day have found themselves in tense situations, despite the widespread belief that Canadians have full freedom of expression. A mock trial created by playwright Amiel Gladstone will put three notable Canadian writers on trial. You, the audience, will play the role of the jury and decide their fate.

Writers on trial:
• George Elliott Clarke
• Kat Sandler
• Richard Scrimger

Venue: Miss Lou’s Room

CHANGING BUSINESS, CHANGING CONTRACTS: THE GLOBAL FAIR CONTRACT INITIATIVE FOR AUTHORS

TIA House is committed to the rights of writers both inside and outside the academy. We are also a big fan of the illustrious John Degan.

Friday, June 17, 2016
2:00pm-3:00pm

Not only are standard book contracts a bit of a mystery to many authors, they no longer reflect the reality of the business. The language of author contracts has not changed much in a century, while the business of publishing has seen a seismic shift. E-books, print-on-demand, online booksellers, and deep discounting have all altered the landscape. Time to update the terms and conditions under which we agree to a publishing deal. At the beginning of 2016, author groups from around the world announced the Fair Contract Initiative, a movement to bring publishers back to the negotiating table for talks around new, more equitable terms.

Participants:
• John Degen, Executive Director, The Writers’ Union of Canada (Moderator)
• Francis Farley-Chevrier, Executive Director, Union des Ecrivains Québecois
• María Fernanda Mendoza, International Consultant and former General Manager, Mexican Center for the Protection and Promotion of Authors’ Rights (CeMPro)
• Mary Rasenberger, Executive Director, Authors Guild
• Nicola Solomon, Chief Executive, Society of Authors
• Katie Webb, Administrator, International Authors Forum

Venue: Harbourfront Centre Theatre

WRITING HARD TRUTHS

It’s going to be a hard choice between this one and the one on changing contracts. This one features the University of Calgary’s very own Clem Martini.

Friday, June 17, 2016
2:00pm-3:15pm

Difficult knowledge poses challenges for writers and readers chronicling hard truths including trauma, loss, injustice, mental illness, and the complex problems of care. This three-person panel includes brief presentations and a dialogue about confronting hard truths and distilling them on the page. How does one accurately chronicle struggles such as family trauma and still honour the multiple points of view and perspectives? What change can result from writing hard truths? The discussion concludes with 5-minute readings from authors Kim Pittaway, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and Clem Martini.

Participants:
• Lorri Neilsen Glenn (Moderator)
• Clem Martini
• Kim Pittaway

INDIGENOUS WRITERS PANEL

A no-brainer. You’ll find TIA House here.

Friday, June 17, 2016
3:00pm-4:00pm

Renowned storytellers from different nations across Canada discuss how their writing relates to the ongoing discussions around reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. While their work has helped bridge that gap, it has also been crucial in revitalizing and immortalizing culture and stories in their families and communities as a personal act of reconciliation.

Participants:
• Tracey Lindberg
• Lee Maracle
• Waubgeshig Rice (Moderator)
• Kenneth Williams

Venue: Studio Theatre

This panel is generously sponsored by the National Reading Campaign and TD Bank Group.

EXPLORATION OF HUMAN/MACHINE COLLABORATIVE PLAY

What’s not to love about this?

Friday, June 17, 2016
4:00pm-5:15pm

Focusing on developing paradigms for understanding the creative collaborations among digital technology and humans, this double-panel showcases writers demonstrating their own machine-human writing projects alongside discussion of: the possibilities for non-anthropocentric articulations of playful relations; the nature of authorship in machine-human writing collaborations; how changes in technology affect the ways in which writers and readers interact with a text; the fit between machine-human texts and the practice of conceptual poetics; and the nature of reading and translation in machine-human collaboration and play.

Participants:
• Graham Maclean
• Sachiko Murakami
• Eric Schmaltz
• Aaron Tucker (Moderator)

Venue: Boulevard Tent

MEASURES OF ASTONISHMENT: POETS ON POETRY — ANNE SZUMILGALSKI LECTURE SERIES ANTHOLOGY LAUNCH

Friday, June 17, 2016
5:00pm-6:00pm

The League of Canadian Poets and the University of Regina Press are thrilled to announce the launch our legacy project, the Anne Szumigalski Lecture Series anthology entitled Measures of Astonishment: Poets on Poetry.
This delightful wine reception will feature many of the poets from the collection. Each will share a poem that has inspired a “measure of astonishment.” Our launch is one of the highlights of the Canadian Writers’ Summit.
The anthology includes the lectures delivered annually by some of Canada’s most revered poets — Tim Lilburn, Anne Carson, George Elliott Clarke, Margaret Atwood, Mark Abley, Don McKay, Marilyn Bowering, Anne Simpson, Glen Sorestad, Robert Currie, A.F. Moritz, Lillian Allen, and Gregory Scofield.

This book will also launch the University of Regina Press’s new Oscana Poetry and Poetics Series.

FREE EVENT. Cash bar. All are welcome.

Venue: Lakeside Terrace

THE MARGARET LAURENCE LECTURE SERIES: JEAN LITTLE

Friday, June 17, 2016
8:00pm-9:00pm

For 30 years, The Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Margaret Laurence Lecture Series has invited Canada’s most prominent authors to discuss the theme of “A Writer’s Life.” Margaret Atwood, Alistair MacLeod, Dionne Brand, Guy Vanderhaeghe, and Mavis Gallant, among others, have all shared candid stories of how they became writers.
Intimate in tone, frank, and revealing, these lectures give us unprecedented access to the heroes and heroines of Canadian literature, insights into their work, the profession of writing, and chart the development of our country’s literary community.
Jean Little, a pioneer in the writing of Canadian children’s literature, will deliver this year’s lecture.

A reception for this event will take place 9:00pm – 10:00pm.

Jean Little is a successful contemporary writer of children’s fiction. She has won acclaim in Canada and abroad, having written more than 50 books. She was educated at the University of Toronto and was a special-education teacher before turning to writing full time, following the publication of her first book, Mine for Keeps, in 1962. Almost blind since birth, she uses much of her real-life experience as the basis for her writing. Her novels, picture books, and poetry treat with insight such universal themes as loneliness, alienation, intolerance, family stress, and the difficulties in interpersonal and intercultural relationships. Little’s characters often deal with physical disabilities or confront psychological difficulties. Her best-known book is From Anna (1972), which has sold more than 130,000 copies. She is a past recipient of the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People and the Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life. Little lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Venue: Harbourfront Centre Theatre

JUNE 18

There is an abundance of riches in 10am slot on Saturday morning. TIA House feels divided, and suspects its friends will too.

HOW TO APPROACH A SILENCE: WRITING ALONGSIDE IDENTITIES
Saturday, June 18, 2016
10:00am-11:15am
In literature, authors call attention to and disrupt silences when we write from historically ignored and oppressed communities. Today, decentralized social media enables lateral discourse within and among marginalized communities, but traditional power structures inherent in print publishing still exist. On this panel, four Canadian authors speak from different margins, giving voice and structure to identities that have, in the past, been contested, embattled, and censored. What strategies might writing from the margins use to call in a varied audience? How might we make space without being “othered?” Michael V. Smith writes on gender and queerness, Wayde Compton on race and colonialism, and Chelsea Rooney on abuse and shame.

Participants:
• Wayde Compton
• Chelsea Rooney
• Michael V. Smith (Moderator)
Venue: Market Tent C

WRITING WITH MULTIPLE VOICES: AN EXPLORATION IN COLLABORATIVE WRITING

Saturday, June 18, 2016
10:00am-11:15am

This panel will discuss strategies of collaboration – motivation, progress, voices, and obstacles. It will also touch questions such as: Is collaborative writing polyphonic or a kind of dialogue? And, if so, in what sense and what could that add to the text? Does collaboration open doors to understanding the complexity of being human? They will discuss cross-cultural/international collaboration and how this broadens the perspectives of the writers and the writing, and creates new, unexpected audiences. They will use examples from their own writings and their works in progress. Furthermore, there will be a discussion of using collaboration when teaching creative writing. Collaboration will also be addressed in playwriting, as Anna Chatteron and Evalyn Parry will be speaking about their experiences of co-writing and co-creating six plays together with their company The Independent Aunties.

Participants:
• Cindy Lynn Brown (Moderator)
• Anna Chatterton
• Blessing Musariri
• Evalyn Parry
• Kristina Posilović

Venue: Market Tent D

NEGOTIATING A BLACK LANGUAGE IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Saturday, June 18, 2016
10:00am-11:15am

This panel examines Black language in children’s literature, with an emphasis on contemporary practices for writing and teaching Black English in collaboration with cultural communities, preserving and celebrating regional languages, and transferring spoken language onto the printed page. The languages and cultural practices of Nova Scotia’s historic Black communities drive the presenter’s queries: What techniques should be championed when transferring a spoken language onto the printed page? How does a linguistic variation approach to instruction build student agency and academic achievement? How might provincial ministries and departments of education address curricula and teaching practices to better support students’ home languages?

Participants:
• Melissa Downey
• Shauntay Grant (Moderator)
• Tom Henderson
• Rachel Ross-Mantley

Venue: Boulevard Tent

DISRUPTED NATURE? RESILIENT NATURE: POETRY’S NEW TAKE ON SURVIVAL

Saturday, June 18, 2016
10:00am-11:15am

Should poetry serve as a call to arms in a time of environmental crisis? Is the major function of the lyric to mourn extinction? Can nature poetry in such foreboding times as ours realistically offer hope or joy? What blinders do poets wear when approaching Nature? One of the natural world’s great gifts is its adaptability: Nature can sometimes thrive in deeply disturbed ecosystems. How does poetry thrive at this edge? Panelists will examine poetry’s potential as a force for conservation, a counter to human arrogance, a home for resonance and uncertainty: powers and possibilities inherent in the ecopoetic impulse.

Participants:
• Maureen Scott Harris
• Amanda Jernigan
• Anita Lahey (Moderator)
• Shane Neilson
• Rob Winger

Venue: Market Tent B

FIRST PAGE CHALLENGE: GETTING TO PAGE TWO (ADULT NON-FICTION)

TIA House is glad that there is one of these today, since it will have to miss most of the Saturday one to take part in the Equity Now Lively Lunch and Learn. These events have been very informative and a staple for CCWWP since their inception. Note, however, that TWUC regional meetings also happen in this slot.

Saturday, June 18, 2016
12:00pm-2:00pm

First Page Challenge is a fun, interactive event where a panel of judges will share their on-the-spot expertise in a high-energy environment. Participants submit the first page of a creative non-fiction piece in the Adult Non-Fiction category. These texts will be viewed anonymously on an overhead display while the judges give their impressions of strengths and weaknesses as it is being read aloud. This is a risk-free chance to see why editors put down manuscripts and why they read on, what agents look for in a potential client’s work, and what creative instructors really like.
Venue: Fleck Dance Theatre

No one said Sunday afternoon was going to be easy either. A TWUC Plenary takes place at that time, as does a panel on the Creative Writing PhD involving five excellent Creative Writing scholars from the University of Calgary. But on the other hand, the marvellous Carrianne Leung is speaking on a panel on immigrant stories. And then, who can resist a panel entitled “Fuck tha Genre Police” featuring the extraordinary Sharanpal Ruprai, Daniel Scott Tysdal and Priscila Uppal. But wait… “Re: Sources, Real and Imaginary Sources of Archeological Poetry” with Jordan Abel, Jen Currin and Nancy Pagh?? Or… “Writing Reconciliation” with Carleigh Baker, Lorri Neilson Glenn, Erika Luckert and Carol Shaben? TIA House is feeling very schizophrenic in the Deleuzian sense. We hope someone is taping.

UNPACKING THE WRITING DEGREE: A DEBATE ON THE PURPOSE AND STRUCTURE OF THE CREATIVE WRITING PHD

Saturday, June 18, 2016
2:00pm-3:15pm

The inclusion of creative writing as an academic discipline has allowed for a secondary area of study that hinges on writing about creative writing in the university setting: creative writing pedagogy. However, the current field of creative writing pedagogy is plagued with the same tired questions of thirty years ago and overused pedagogical phrases. Creative writing PhD programs, on the other hand, hold a unique possibility to stimulate creative writing pedagogy. At the levels of both learning and instruction, our papers consider how the creative writing PhD in Canada might produce more engaged and aware teachers, writers, and professionals.

Participants:
• Jane Chamberlain
• Peter Forestell
• Aritha van Herk (Moderator)
• Roderick Moody-Corbett
• Jess Nichol

Venue: PP South Patio

IMMIGRANT STORIES

Saturday, June 18, 2016
2:00pm-3:15pm

Immigrant experiences upon arriving in Canada are absolutely unique to them. Without those voices, we are not offering a truly authentic Canadian voice. However, immigrants’ stories need to hold up to the same writing standard as all others that are published. This is the challenge. So, how can we tell and share those stories if English or French are not their first language? Sometimes, that responsibility falls to the next generation. But, after the second or third generation, they are no longer “immigrant” stories. They are just stories. How can we ensure those stories are captured in time?

Participants:
• Mia Herrera
• Carrianne Leung
• Christina Park (Moderator)
• Nasreen Pejvack

Venue: Loft 2

FUCK THA GENRE POLICE: FOUR WRITERS JUMP GENRES AND LIVE TO TELL THE TALE

Saturday, June 18, 2016
2:00pm-3:15pm

Every creative writer knows the self-doubt that accompanies the beginning of a new project. No matter how many stories or novels or plays or poems you have under your belt, the blank page never loses its power to intimidate. But when that new project is in a genre you’ve never written in before, something unexpected and (yes) vaguely magical can occur: that anxiety, that fear of failure, can be softened — even alleviated completely — by the joy and creative fulfillment that results from exploring new forms and directions. In this cross-genre reading event, four accomplished creative writers will present from new or forthcoming projects in genres they have never worked in before: a poet will present his first short film, a nonfiction writer will read from his debut novel, a poet and memoirist will read from her debut play, and a poet (concealed in an academic body) will read from a novella. The result will be a series of readings that channel the fervour of the artist at play in a new sandbox, and that inspire writers at all stages to continue pushing their creative horizons.

Participants:
• Sharanpal Ruprai
• Daniel Scott Tysdal
• Priscila Uppal
• Andrew Westoll (Moderator)

Venue: Boulevard Tent

RE: SOURCES, REAL AND IMAGINARY SOURCES OF ARCHEOLOGICAL POETRY

Saturday, June 18, 2016
2:00pm-3:15pm

Research, extraction, appropriation, and ownership are now at the forefront of current writing practices. These panelists dig into diverse source materials – Barbeau’s ethnographies, Western novels, one’s own work published years ago, court records of the Air India terrorist trial, poems by Notley and Bishop – to deconstruct their layers. They then build poems that re-imagine power, ownership, intention, and influence. We will discuss relationships between research and invention, share techniques devised for our explorations, and unearth the personal and political visions that compel us to create such art.

Participants:
• Jordan Abel
• Jen Currin
• Nancy Pagh
• Renée Sarojini Saklikar (Moderator)

Venue: Market Tent A

WRITING RECONCILIATION

Saturday, June 18, 2016
2:00pm-3:15pm

In this dynamic, interactive session, Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, editor of the forthcoming anthology In this Together: Fifteen True Stories of Real Reconciliation (Brindle & Glass, 2016), and contributors Carol Shaben, Carleigh Baker, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and Erika Luckert will discuss how it came about, what the process of writing their essays was like, and how they are using their voices to further the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It will tackle the challenges they face as they research, write, edit, and publish stories around Canada’s colonial past and present, and offer some hard-won insights for those who want to move reconciliation forward.

Participants:
• Carleigh Baker
• Lorri Neilsen Glenn
• Erika Luckert
• Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail (Moderator)
• Carol Shaben

Venue: Exhibition Common Tent

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: HEATHER O’NEILL

Saturday, June 18, 2016
3:00pm-4:00pm

Heather O’Neill’s first novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, earned accolades around the world, including being named winner of Canada Reads 2007 and the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and being a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and the Orange Prize. She is a regular contributor to CBC Books, CBC Radio, National Public Radio, The New York Times Magazine, The Gazette (Montreal), and The Walrus. She was born in Montreal, where she currently lives.

Venue: Lakeside Terrace

CHAOS, CONTROL, CHAOS, CONTROL: FRAMEWORKS IN CREATIVE WRITING PEDAGOGY

Saturday, June 18, 2016
4:00pm-5:15pm

This panel brings together accomplished creative writers who are also teachers to discuss the ways in which they impose control, through specific frameworks or overarching structures, upon their creative pedagogies. What role do frameworks have to play in a creative writing context? Is it possible to encapsulate seemingly disparate teaching moments into overarching concepts? How do we structure our pedagogy, if at all? And is there a difference between the frameworks we impose when working within a university context compared with learning environments that reach beyond the traditional campus? We explore the flip side of creativity and the need for creative structure in teaching, to best nurture the inevitable tension between chaos and control in classrooms.

Participants:
• David Leach
• Daniel Scott Tysdal
• Andrew Westoll (Moderator)

Venue: Market Tent E

SCIENCE & POETRY

Saturday, June 18, 2016
4:00pm-5:15pm

In the emerging capitalist Anthropocene, science, in its most technocratic and analytic form, currently dominates cultural evaluations of truth and usefulness, driving political and economic agendas. This panel is composed of poet/scholars actively engaged with science and technology who produce poetic works intrinsically dependent on research into such specialized domains as genetic engineering, microbiology, toxicology, biosemiotics, and neuroscience. Through a discussion and presentation of current work, these writers respond to the complex roles of science and technology in engendering new forms of reading and writing in the Anthropocene.

Participants:
• Christian Bök
• Adam Dickinson (Moderator)
• Micheline Maylor
• Mari-Lou Rowley

Venue: Market Tent A

FAKE MEMOIRS AND SHADOW JURIES: SOME EMERGENT PEDAGOGIES
Saturday, June 18, 2016
4:00pm-5:15pm

Contemporary creative writing teachers are superheroes. We strive to introduce students to entwined genres, multiple technologies, and/or some of the evolving social expectations on writers, as well as covering basic writing and editing skills in traditional genres. In this session, W. Mark Giles discusses ways to get students excited about the permeable border between fiction and nonfiction, while Kathy Mac presents the benefits (many) and challenges (few) in creating student shadow juries for real literary awards.

Participants:
• Mark Giles
• Kathy Mac (Kathleen McConnell)
• Aritha Van Herk (Moderator)

Venue: Market Tent C

FAMILY ARCHIVES, TRAUMA, AND MYTHS: THREE WRITERS WRESTLE THEIR FAMILY ARCHIVES INTO CREATIVE NARRATIVES

Saturday, June 18, 2016
4:00pm-5:15pm

Family members become mythical figures and family stories become myths. In this cross-genre reading event and conference paper, three creative writers will present their work and discuss the ways that family archives can fuel — and complicate — the creative process. Combining craft, criticism, and readings, Catherine Hunter, Tanis MacDonald, and Sharanpal Ruprai will discuss the rich potential, and risks, of using family archives in creative work.

Participants:
• Catherine Hunter
• Tanis MacDonald
• Sharanpal Ruprai (Moderator)

Venue: Loft 2

DAYNE OGILVIE PRIZE

Saturday, June 18, 2016
5:00pm-6:00pm

Join the Writers’ Trust of Canada for a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers. The prize, presented annually to writers who demonstrate great literary potential, is the only one of its kind serving the LGBT community in Canada. Come and cheer on as an award of $4,000 goes to the winner and two honours of distinction are presented.

Hosted by Brian Francis.

FREE EVENT. Cash bar. All are welcome.

Venue: Brigantine Room

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: NALO HOPKINSON

Larissa is honoured and excited to be introducing and old friend and beloved colleague, Nalo Hopkinson.

Saturday, June 18, 2016
8:00pm-9:00pm

Nalo Hopkinson, born in Jamaica, has lived in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana, and for the past 35 years in Canada. She is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, USA. She is the author of six novels, a short story collection, and a chapbook. Hopkinson’s work has received Honourable Mention in Cuba’s “Casa de las Americas” literary prize. She is a recipient of the Warner Aspect First Novel Award, the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award for emerging writers, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Locus Award for Best New Writer, the World Fantasy Award, the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic (twice), the Aurora Award, the Gaylactic Spectrum Award, and the Norton Award. A new short story collection, Falling in Love With Hominids, was released in 2015 from Tachyon Publications.

Venue: Fleck Dance Theatre

A STUDENT READING EVENT

Saturday, June 18, 2016
9:00pm-10:30pm

This event will feature the energetic, new voices of the Canadian creative writing scene. Students from across the country will read in a variety of genres and styles.
Moderated by Jill Goldberg

FREE EVENT. All are welcome.

Venue: Lakeside Terrace