Tag Archive for: Writing

How to Save Your Darlings

Sometimes we must sacrifice words for the benefit of a story. But what if our darlings—characters, scenes, quotes, plot threads, or turns of phrase that we hold dear—don’t really need to be killed? This interactive workshop will discuss how to recognize which elements of a story are worth saving and how to make them count. We’ll explore how literary devices like metaphors, motifs, backstory, and world-building can be used to breathe life into our literary darlings. And we’ll take inspiration from iconic darlings (books and film) that were narrowly saved from the cutting room floor.

 

Advance prep for attendees:

Think of something from one of your own stories—fiction or nonfiction—that is precious to you, but which doesn’t quite belong in the story you’re trying to tell. Come ready to fight for it—to make it worth saving—through a series of thought-provoking exercises. (But be warned: just as not all stories have a happy ending, not all darlings can be saved!)

 

Takeaways you can expect from this workshop:

* How to weave a seemingly unimportant element deeper into a story

* How to differentiate between valuable and extraneous content

* The story-enriching value of iterative editing

* Getting the ideas in your head to shine on the page

* Knowing when to let go (RIP)

 

Mark Cameron, Workshop Leader:

Mark Cameron is an author, poet, and musician who writes across a broad range of genres and forms. He has self-published two novels and is currently working on two book-length projects: a Young Adult speculative fiction novel and a creative nonfiction book about navigating modern overwhelm. A resident of New Westminster, BC, Mark recently earned a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. An aspiring writing instructor, he also co-chairs the Wine Country Writers’ Festival in Penticton, volunteers with Pulp Literature magazine and the Creative Nonfiction Collective, and occasionally blogs at markofwords.com.

Mark Cameron photo in Gibsons, BC

 

A purple and grey logo reading Royal City Literary Arts Society RCLAS

Heart of Japan Book Launch with author Lesley Hebert

“The Heart of Japan” Book Launch

Join us for a special edition of Tellers of Short Tales with Canadian author Lesley Hebert, author of The Heart of Japan. In this original and distinctive travel memoir she shares her experiences as a new grandmother, eager to understand the country where her daughter-in-law grew up.

Author Bio

Originally from the UK, Lesley Hebert is a retired teacher of English as a second language who lives New Westminster with a sociable husband and anti-social cat. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in print and online platforms including Beyond Words, Canadian Stories, travelthruhistory.com, The First Line, Pocket Lint, Parabola, Immigration Diaries, Forage, The Mocking Owl and several anthologies, including A Poetry of Place: Journeys Across New Westminster, Red Eyes and Tired Lungs: A BC Wildfire Anthology and The Age Collective GOLD Poetry Project. A member of the Federation of BC Writers and the Royal City Literary Arts Society, she won first place (non-fiction) in the RCLAS Write On 2023 competition. Her first publication, in 2017, was Telling Our Stories: New Westminster Lawn Bowling Club Celebrates its 100th birthday. The Heart of Japan, was published in January, 2026. Both of these books are available in the New Westminster Public Library. She is currently working on a historical romance set in 11th Century Japan.

A Celebration of National Poetry Month

Together with the Royal City Literary Arts Society, we welcome you to the library to enjoy an afternoon of poetry hosted by New Westminster’s Poet Laureate, Janet Kvammen.

Featuring poetry readings by:

  • Marlo Browne: a Barbadian award-winning poet, spoken word artist, host, film-maker and author of 5 poetry books who currently lives in Langley, BC.
  • Barbara Kmiec: a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at SFU, has been mentored by a number of Canadian poets. Among other local and global concerns, her current focus is on how we care for our beautiful planet and for seniors and other loved ones in our midst.
  • and Janet Kvammen: New West’s current Poet Laureate, Janet is a multi-talented artist and poet, making creative work and opportunities for others all around town.

 

There will also be an Open Mic portion of the event hosted by Alan Hill – sign up sheet is available at the event and is first come first served.

A purple and grey logo reading Royal City Literary Arts Society RCLAS

Write Your Own Story (Ages 8-12)

Join local authors Bryce and Steven Kothlow, authors of The Littles Dinosaur book series, to learn all about writing, publishing, and how to transform your ideas into a finished book! Build your creative writing skills and see first-hand what it takes to bring your own story from idea to publication.

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Joy At the End of the World: A Writing Workshop

The climate crisis is becoming more urgent every year, but it’s so big and scary that we often struggle with where to start. In this hands-on writing session, we’ll make space for our feelings and work toward achievable individual and collective ideas for healing ourselves and our planet. With a mix of small group discussion, journalling, meditation, and resources from the Climate Wayfinding program, come discover that joy is possible as we engage our imaginations to create a better, fairer, sustainable world for everyone to live in.

 

Please bring a notebook and pen.

 

Julianne Harvey is an author, innovator, and nurturer in South Surrey, BC, the traditional unceded territories of the Semiahmoo First Nation and the Coast Salish Peoples. She’s the author of six books and wrote film reviews for a weekly newspaper for four years. Her work has appeared in pulp Magazine, WestWord, Freelance, and UPPERCASE Magazine.

Julianne holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, a BA in Creative Writing from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and a certificate in Counselling Skills from Vancouver Community College.

Julianne runs Ruby Finch Books and speaks at large conferences to thousands of writers and teachers on writing, resilience, risk, and creative practices. Her newest book, a post-apocalyptic climate novel called Post Civ, is available now. She loves to wrestle through the messy areas of life with those who long to dive below the surface chatter.

 

This event is part of BC Library Association’s Climate Action Week, a province-wide initiative to highlight the ways communities and libraries are taking action in the climate crisis. Check out all the climate action events at the New Westminster Public Library from November 1-7! nwpl.ca/climate

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Bite-Sized Lit: A Celebration of Short Story Month

Join us to celebrate Short Story Month this May with a panel of local authors specializing in the short story form. They will chat about the joys and challenges of writing short stories and will read from recent works. 

Panellists: Carleigh Baker, Shashi Bhat & Jen Currin

Carleigh Baker headshot  Shashi Bhat headshot  Jen Currin headshot

Panel Host: Cathy Stonehouse

Cathy Stonehouse headshot

This event will be presented in person at the New Westminster Public Library, and broadcast live via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link. Unfortunately the event will not be recorded.

Celebrating Poetry Month

Join us to celebrate New Westminster’s newest Poet Laureate and National Poetry Month! Janet Kvammen (new Poet Laureate), Alan Hill (former Poet Laureate) and Emily Molinari will read from their recent poetry. There will also be an open mic session at the end of the event. Registration for the 5-min open mic sessions will take place at the start of the afternoon.

 

Presented in partnership with Royal City Literary Arts Society.

art by Janet Kvammen.

Author Talk: Alicia Elliott

Following the success of her groundbreaking memoir A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, Alicia Elliott’s new novel And Then She Fell has quickly become an award-winning national bestseller. It’s a story about Native life, motherhood, and mental health that follows a young Mohawk woman who discovers that the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences.

Join Alicia Elliott in conversation with award-winning author Carleigh Baker.

NWPL members can access this talk in two ways:

  1. register to attend online here: crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-present and watch at home
  2. attend a live screening of the virtual event in the library (a good choice if your internet at home is unreliable or you’d like to chat with others about the presentation)

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BC Libraries Present: Indigenous Fiction

A series of compelling author talks presented virtually by BC’s Public Library Community

For the second year in a row, BC’s public libraries are hosting a virtual author series to bring new insights and voices to library users in every corner of British Columbia: BC Libraries Present. Public libraries are known as centres of dialogue on many important ideas in their communities. To build upon that role, Public Library InterLINK has brought together many libraries, both big and small, to host these events and provide access to award-winning authors to library users across the province.

For the second season of this series, the topic is Indigenous Fiction. Indigenous writers have been a crucial part of the literary landscape for a long time, with stories that bring important perspectives and capture the imaginations of diverse audiences. Indigenous fiction in particular is breaking ground with award-winning and bestselling novels that are shifting conversations and opening minds across the country.

The fall 2024 lineup will feature three phenomenal authors who have garnered top praise and huge readership across the country, providing an opportunity for readers across BC to be part of a live conversation of their essential new books.

Bridges Panel: Queer Asian Authors on Writing Chosen & Given Family

Join us at the library for an author panel discussion about queer Asian authors writing about their family – chosen or given. Family can be a loaded term for queer folks, and our panel aims to unpick some of the thorny issues, and provide some insight into the writing process.

The event will be live in person and also livestreamed via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. It will not be recorded.

About the Panelists

Against a graffitied background, a person with dark, somewhat shaggy hair, looks into the camera and has their hands crossed on a railing in front of themKawika Guillermo  is the award-winning author of Stamped: an anti-travel novel, All Flowers Bloom, and Nimrods: a fake-punk self-hurt anti-memoir. He has also many short stories, and a video game based on his first novel. He has lived in Portland, Las Vegas, Seattle, Gimhae South Korea, Nanjing China, Hong Kong, and currently resides in Vancouver, Canada, where he works as an Associate Professor of Social Justice at the University of British Columbia.

Against a white background, an Asian woman with long dark hair looks toward the camera with a slight smile, her head tilted to the right.

 

Chinese Canadian author Catherine Lewis (she/her/hers) is a finalist for the Bisexual Book Awards’ Bi Writer of the Year. Her debut chapbook Zipless (845 Press), currently in its third printing, is a finalist for the Bisexual Book Award for Poetry. Her writing has been longlisted for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize, nominated for a 2024 Pushcart Prize, and published in The Fiddlehead, PRISM international, The Humber Literary Review, Pulp Literature, and Plenitude Magazine.

A graduate of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University, Catherine is a two-time Banff Centre Literary Arts alumna. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, she lives in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

Against a grey background, an Asian person with short spiky dark hair, wearing a grey t shirt, looks into the camera with their head on a slight angle.

 

Candie Tanaka is a trans writer challenging the binaries continually reconstructed between self and other in literary fiction. Their work explores archive and memory in a futuristic context. They are a creative writing graduate of The Writer’s Studio program at Simon Fraser University, recently completed a MLIS (Master of Library and Information Studies) at the University of Alberta, earned a Certificate of Distinction from BCIT’s New Media Design and Web Development Program and have a BFA in Intermedia from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design. In 2017, they were awarded a fully funded literary residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity that helped them further push the boundaries of their writing practice.

Candie lives in Vancouver, BC and is in the final revision stages of a first novel, working on a second manuscript, as well as penning a suite of poems about working on the waterfront. They have published work with Anvil Press, Guernica Editions and Orca Book Publishers. Their latest YA novel is called Baby Drag Queen and was released on April 11, 2023.

About the Moderator

Against a bright red graphic design background, an Asian woman with mid-length dark hair and wearing a pale shirt looks off to the left.Isabella Wang is the author of the chapbook, On Forgetting a Language, and her full-length debut, Pebble Swing, shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Among other recognitions, she has been shortlisted for Arc’s Poem of the Year Contest, The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Contest and Long Poem Contest, and was the youngest writer to be shortlisted twice for The New Quarterly’s Edna Staebler Essay Contest. She is in her Masters of Sociology at SFU. An editor on the Room collective, she is also a youth mentor with Vancouver Poetry House, poetry mentor with the UBC Learning Exchange, web coordinator with poetry in canada, and directs her own non-profit editing and mentorship program, 4827 Revise Revision St. 

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Bridges Workshop: Discovering Your Expert Appeal

Expertise is not only a requirement of self-help or instructional nonfiction. It is also an important component of narrative nonfiction. It galvanizes reader attention and makes the content proposition compelling to editors and readers. In this workshop JJ Lee (fashion writer, memoirist, dark historical fantasy/horror author) walks you through a worksheet that helps you hone your expert appeal for narrative nonfiction, Instagram Reels, YouTube, podcasts, and other forms of nonfiction content creation. A perfect way to enhance the concept and treatment of your next nonfiction project.

This is a hands on workshop with limited space. Please register to secure your spot.

About the Workshop Presenter

Against a white background, an Asian man with glasses looks toward the camera with his hand at his chin.JJ Lee is a former CBC broadcaster and art critic. He wrote the memoir The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit. He is the editor of the Christmas-themed anthology series Better Next Year and is the acquisitions editor for New Westminster publisher Tidewater Press. He produces the true crime podcast Stand Up Eight with Lenore Rattray. It peaked at #18 in True Crime charts. He teaches nonfiction at Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio and writing and podcasting at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.

About Arts New West

With a stylized A on the left hand side, the words read Arts New West in turquoise.Founded in 1967 as the Arts Council of New Westminster, Arts New West is a not-for-profit community arts organization built by artists and arts groups with a shared interest in visual, performing, and literary arts. Our goal is to foster, support and promote the arts for all age groups, cultures and Indigenous community members.