Quebec Writers' Federation Workshops

Spring Session 2009

Develop your writing with the mentorship of an acclaimed professional writer and feedback from your peers.

Workshops take place at the QWF office, Suite 3, Atwater Library unless otherwise indicated.

CREATIVE NON-FICTION: THE ART OF FACT

Eight Wednesdays, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (March 4–April 29; no meeting April 8)

1200 Atwater Avenue, Suite 3
Workshop leader: Elaine Kalman Naves

Creative non-fiction is a form of writing that blends different genres—fiction, journalism, autobiography, memoir, personal essay, travelogue—into something fresh and accessible that may be called the art of fact. It borrows techniques such as dialogue, dramatization, and scene-by-scene narration from fiction, but it does so in the service of recounting a true—as opposed to a made-up—story.

Many previous participants have worked on personal journalism and memoirs. However, it is just as acceptable to tackle profiles, or criticism, or travel pieces. I encourage participants to use a strong personal voice in their work.

There is a great emphasis on student input. You will have an opportunity to present work of varying length to the group between one and three times during the session. You will also be expected to read each other's work carefully in order to provide vital critical feedback to each other. This element of the program is equally important to the writing.

I will be handing out sample material to illustrate the variety of writing that falls into this genre and to help spark your ideas. From time to time there will be written exercises to help jump-start the creative process. I use a text which students are expected to buy: William Zinsser's On Writing Well (HarperPerennial). QWF members can get this book at a 10% discount at Argo Books, 1915 Ste-Catherine.

No advance preparation is required for the workshop. However, you might find it useful to ask yourself why you want to be in a writing workshop and to brainstorm with yourself about what topics/experiences you will want to explore during the session in clear, vivid and direct prose.

Elaine Kalman Naves is a long-time literary journalist and the author of six books of creative non-fiction. She is a two-time recipient of the QWF's Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the winner of two Canadian Jewish Book Awards, and of a Canadian Literary Award for Personal Essay. Her memoir Journey to Vaja: Reconstructing the World of a Hungarian-Jewish Family has been made into a documentary film. A frequent contributor to CBC Radio's Ideas documentary programs, her most recent title is Robert Weaver: Godfather of Canadian Literature.

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