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Robert Frost famously defined poetry as that which is lost in translation. But what happens when poetry is translated not between languages but from the page to the voice? Or from one voice to another? What is lost? What is gained? In this workshop we will experiment with these sorts of translation, passing our poems from one form into another, from one voice to another. (How do you hear your poem differently when you read it aloud? When someone else reads it aloud? When you imagine it’s in the voice of a queen, or a fool, or a tow-truck driver, or a unicorn …) We will talk about and experiment with contrafactum — the practice of devising new words for old tunes. Participants should come prepared with a poem by someone else that they would like to experiment with; they should also expect to do some writing of their own. Introduced by Barb Carter

This nonfiction workshop explores the creative side of creative nonfiction and will help writers, both established and emerging, turn the story they know into a story everyone will love reading. The workshop will include short writing exercises that will help nonfiction writers think not only about the story they’re telling but the way it needs to be told. Introduced by Susan Scott

Bring your sorry syntax, your lousy line breaks, your dopey dialogue or pathetic pace, and we’ll boot them into shape. In this short, intensive literary editing workshop, participants will learn tricks and tips to make substantive improvements to their work and fine-tune their close reading and critiquing skills. All genres welcome; please email a short draft/work-in-progress of no more than one page (prose should be double spaced; poetry can be single spaced) by November 1, 2018, to info@newquarterly.net

In the domain of fiction, character is king. Long after we’ve forgotten the plot twists and turns, the particulars of settings, and even the narrative styles, of our favourite books, it is the characters we remember. In this workshop we will investigate the difference between what Forster called flat and rounded characters, talk about arcs and epiphanies, and learn how to create imaginary humans who feel true enough to be real. Introduced by Pamela Mulloy

Having written about mental illness and, now, about dementia caregiving, I’m well-acquainted with the rewards and perils of exploring raw personal material. “Raw” in any of its many senses: intimate; painful; exposed; unprocessed; undiluted….

It’s easy to get swamped by the dilemmas: Why am I writing this? What do I write (which parts)? How—what genre? structure? language? What are the costs—to me, to others? Should I share it—with whom, and how? This workshop will use a collaborative approach to explore some of the ways this tricky, transformative work can be done.