Winter’s Tales Author Series presents workshops and a reading by Anne Simpson
Anne Simpson, national award-winning novelist and poet, will read from her new novel and poetry collection on Thursday, October 28, at 7:30 pm in The Carriage House at Beaconsfield Historic House, 2 Kent Street, Charlottetown.
Simpson’s third novel, Speechless, recently received the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. She has published five poetry collections, including Loop, awarded the 2004 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her most recent publication is Experiments in Distant Influence: Notes and Poems, which delves into issues of friendship, courage, and community. An acclaimed and cherished workshop leader and mentor, she has worked as a writer-in-residence in libraries and universities across Canada.
She will give two workshops on Saturday, October 30, at UPEI. Each workshop will be limited to 15 people. Please register online to reserve your spot.
The fiction workshop, which will take place from 9:30 am to 12 pm, is called “The Risky Trip to the Underworld—What are Your Characters Doing?” Margaret Atwood wrote that “perhaps all writing is motivated…by a desire to make the risky trip to the underworld and to bring something or someone back from the dead.” Simpson will ask participants to think about what their characters are doing and seeking. Who or what stands in their way? This workshop allows participants to consider their characters in terms of fears and desires, how their characters drive the story because they want something, and, ultimately, what their characters must risk for the story to have substance.
The poetry workshop which will take place from 1:30 pm to 4 pm, “Finding the Form: The Joys of Shaping Your Poem,” will look at how the shape and structure of a poem can give it greater impact—and how this can be the fun part. Participants will revel in the ways a poem can mean new things according to the form in which they choose to write it. If you like playing with words and putting those words together in unexpected ways, this poetry workshop is for you.
Simpson’s reading and workshops are co-sponsored by The Bookmark and the UPEI English Department and Dean of Arts. No registration is required for the reading. Proof of vaccination must be provided for entrance.
