This hands-on workshop is for anyone who needs help carving out time and space for writing. We’ll meet for 90 minutes of creative camaraderie, writing prompts and (optional) sharing. This workshop isn't genre-specific and all experience levels are welcome, including total beginners. Bring nothing but yourself and your favourite pen. All writing will be done within the workshop.

In this 90-minute virtual workshop, Jaclyn Desforges will guide you through her method of Intuitive Poemmaking, a creative process designed to help people from all walks of life craft poems from images, memory, and fragments of language. Inspired by dreamwork and somatic embodiment practices, Intuitive Poemmaking uses the power of the subconscious mind to create poems readers can really feel. You’ll dive into your personal imaginal realm, collect the sparkly pieces you find there, and arrange them into resonant poems. You’ll leave with a skip in your step, a brand new poem that’s all your own, and newfound confidence in your inherent poemmaking capacity. No previous writing experience required.

Hosted by Hamilton’s own Anuja Varghese, Governor General's Award for Fiction Winner and 2023 Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize Winner. Special appearances by award-winning Hamilton authors Gary Barwin, Jaclyn Desforges and Sheila Murray, plus door prizes, games, raffles, complimentary snacks and a cash bar. Don't miss out on this chance to celebrate 20 years of gritLIT, and get an exclusive sneak peek at the line up for the 20th Annual gritLIT Festival running April 17–21, 2024.

This hands-on workshop is for anyone who needs help carving out time and space for writing. We’ll meet for 90 minutes of creative camaraderie, writing prompts and (optional) sharing. This workshop isn't genre-specific and all experience levels are welcome, including total beginners. Bring nothing but yourself and your favourite pen. All writing will be done within the workshop.

This hands-on workshop is for anyone who needs help carving out time and space for writing. We’ll meet for 90 minutes of creative camaraderie, writing prompts and (optional) sharing. This workshop isn't genre-specific and all experience levels are welcome, including total beginners. Bring nothing but yourself and your favourite pen. All writing will be done within the workshop.

Attend a reading and conversation with author Jade Wallace, who discusses their new book Love Is A Place But You Cannot Live There.

Jade Wallace’s writing has won the Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize and Coastal Shelf’s Funny & Poignant Poetry Contest, placed third in the Ken Belford Poetry Contest, been a finalist for the Wergle Flomp Humour Poetry Prize, and been nominated for The Journey Prize. They are the author of several solo and collaborative chapbooks, the reviews editor for CAROUSEL Magazine, and the co-founder of MA|DE, a collaborative writing entity. Love Is A Place But You Cannot Live There is their first book.

Get up early. Write at the same time every day. Hit that daily word count target... no matter what. When you're a caregiver, conventional creative writing advice can feel off-the-rails incompatible with the practical realities of daily life – and perpetuate the unpleasant, ever-present sensation of not doing enough.

In this 75-minute webinar, we'll discuss the inner barriers (fear, shame, guilt) and outer ones (lack of time, space and support) that can hold us back from creative expression. Together, we'll craft a new vision for what it means to be both writer and caregiver – a vision that will delight, inform, and nourish your creative self.

Come meet Jaclyn Desforges, the 2023/24 Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer In Residence. Jaclyn will be reading from her new work. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome! RSVP here.