Posts filed under ‘Workshop’
A GG for Greener Grass
Last night Caroline Pignat received a Governor General’s award for her young adult novel, Greener Grass. Not surprising when you look at the reviews. And needless to say, she’s delighted. The book is set in Ireland, and she’s going to take her parents there with some of her prize money.
What makes Caroline’s win sweet for me and for my partner Peter Carver is knowing we both had a hand in helping this talented writer develop her story. Caroline brought her (very promising) manuscript to our first Nova Scotia Writing Workshop. I offered her feedback there, and she revised it. Peter, as editor at Red Deer Press, took it on, and the rest, as they say, is history. (A cliche, you might say, but an apt one, perhaps, given that Greener Grass is historical fiction.)
Peter and I will be setting dates for this year’s Nova Scotia workshop very soon. In the meantime, congratulations to Caroline Pignat!
(By the way, The Bite of the Mango which I wrote about in a previous blog post, also won a GG this week. Congratulations to Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland.)
1 comment November 27, 2009
A Treasure for My Pocket
Two big surprises at the Literacy Conference in Burlington last weekend.
1. The onsite bookseller, Different Drummer, had on hand a big stack of Love Every Leaf: The Life of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander – and it wasn’t scheduled for release till several days later! (It looks gorgeous, and after I spoke about it briefly during my keynote address, they sold out quickly.)
2. The night before the conference, I learned that Janet Lee Stinson and Arnie Stewart (see I’ve Got Mail posting) were planning to attend. Not only did I get to meet these two remarkable people, Arnie helped make my keynote address a truly memorable event for everyone there. (more…)
6 comments April 11, 2008
Summer Writing Workshop/Retreat by the Sea
How does this sound? Five days in August in a spectacular Nova Scotia setting – indulging in private writing time, walking the beach, getting feedback on your work from me, my partner Peter Carver (children’s book editor for Red Deer Press and teacher of writing for George Brown College), and a small group of fellow writers from all across Canada? (Possibly. It depends, of course, on who the six successful applicants are this year, but in the past we’ve had people from Vancouver, Alberta, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.)
Peter and I are planning to attend tonight’s CANSCAIP meeting where we’ll announce that we are now accepting applications for our third annual retreat and workshop.
We had a great time the first year we offered it – so good we were almost afraid to offer it again. But, as is perhaps obvious from the fact we’re offering it for a third time, last year’s experience was a great success too. (One of our six participants (from Ottawa) actually reapplied and made a return visit to work on another new and promising novel.)
To find out more about this opportunity, read what some of last year’s participants had to say about their time with us, and to find out how to apply, click here.
4 comments February 13, 2008
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