Last Year's Workshops & Classes
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Winter 2011
Spring workshop : “Food poetry”
Instructor: Rhona McAdam
On Sunday, April 17, 2011 six aspiring food poets gathered at the home of Coop president Jim Weseen for an enjoyable afternoon of reading, writing and discussion around the topic of food poetry. And some appropriate eating and drinking too. Facilitator Rhona McAdam is a poet and food writer who returned to Canada in 2002 after living for 12 years in London, England. She has also lived in Edmonton and in Parma, Italy. She has a master's degree in Food Culture & Communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences (Slow Food's university in northern Italy), writes a food and poetry blog (the Iambic Cafe), and teaches an online course in urban agriculture and food security. Her most recent full-length poetry collection is Cartography (Oolichan, 2006), and she has produced two delectable chapbooks of food poems: Sunday Dinners (with artist Colleen Philippi) from JackPine Press, 2010; The Earth’s Kitchen is published in 2011 by Leaf Press. She currently lives, writes and cooks in Victoria, where she is working on a book on urban agriculture for RMB’s Manifesto series, to be published in 2011.
Winter workshop : “Story as a function of desire and choice”
Instructor: Dave Margoshes
On Saturday, March 5, 2011 twelve enthusiastic writers put their projects up for workshopping with a master, in this talk and hands-on day-long event focusing on the role of desire in fiction. “Desire,” in this context, is not a code work for sexuality, but rather an indication of what the characters in story, primarily the main character or characters, want: what do they want, what’s standing in the way, how will they go about getting it? When you’ve figured that out, your story’s half done.
Dave Margoshes is a writer of poems, stories and novels, who recently relocated to the Saskatoon area after many years in Regina. His work has appeared widely in Canadian magazines and anthologies, including six times in the Best Canadian Stories volumes and he was a finalist for the 2009 Journey Prize. A former fiction editor of Grain magazine, he’s published over a dozen books; his story collection, Bix’s Trumpet and Other Stories, won two prizes at the 2007 Saskatchewan Book Awards, including Book of the Year. He’s published two books of poetry in the last two years; this year, Dimensions of an Orchard won the 2010 SBA Poetry Award.
Dave has given numerous workshops and taught creative writing in a number of settings, for writers at varying levels of experience. He was writer in residence in Winnipeg in 1995-96 and Saskatoon in 2001-02.
Fall 2010
Fall workshop: Self-publishing
On Saturday November 13, 2010 the Coop offered you a full day to experience the ever-more-popular world of self-publishing, and over thirty of you seized the opportunity. A panel of successful self-published authors and other experts in the field provided an insider’s view of the ins and outs of publishing and marketing your own work. And the ups and downs too-- hey, nobody gets it completely right the first time. Panellists (please Google them for details about their work) were Peter Jonker, with a recent self-published novel and several previous conventionally published books; Wes Funk (also MC’ing the Q&A panel), with two self-published fiction books to his credit; Jacqueline Moore, with a recent self-published nonfiction book; Jeff Smith, with cutting-edge expertise in e-publishing and related technologies; and Tim Trainor of Saskatoon FastPrint, with first-hand details on how to get your work into hard copy.
The day included a gastronomically delightful catered noon lunch from Pic Nic Catering and a late-afternoon hot-snacks-and-chat time as well.
All presenters and participants were encouraged to bring their published works for display and/or sale; several did so. Sales were less than brisk, but they were measurable.
Those present also enjoyed plenty of opportunity to interact with and query both the presenters and other participants.
Presenters (L to R): Wes Funk, Jacqueline Moore, Peter Jonker, Tim Trainor, Jeff Smith
Self-publishing information
Background information and notes from two of the day's presenters are available for your perusal. Peter Jonker's introductory session can be read in PDF form by clicking on these links (you'll have to increase the magnification in your reader, though):
Jeff Smith's presentation on e-publishing is available on his website. You can access it by clicking here. It consists of several pages; the table of contents is on the left of the page this link takes you to.
Fall class
Unfortunately we had temporarily experienced a decline in board member numbers such that organizing a fall class was not within our capacity. We encouraged members to take advantage of some of the other opportunities listed in the Coop calendar.
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Food poetry workshop
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Fall workshop participants
