3 workshops in Toronto this fall!

OK, this past weekend I gave my Plotless Fiction workshop for the first time. Full house. Waiting list, in fact. I was very pleased with it, and I got a great response from the group. So I"m going to offer that one again this fall, plus a return of my Poetry Boot Camp. And there'll be a new entry: a two-day session called Hands on Poems: A Critiquing Workshop.

All workshops are presented by Mansfield Press and held in the Mansfield office near Symington and Dupont.

Here are the details:

STUART ROSS’S POETRY BOOT CAMP

Saturday, September 24, 10am-5 pm (w/ 45-minute lunch break)
Symington/Dupont area
$80 includes materials and light snacks

Prepayment guarantees your spot.
To register, write Stuart at hunkamooga@sympatico.ca.

A relaxed but intensive one-day workshop for beginning poets, experienced poets, stalled poets, and haikuists who want to get beyond three lines. Poetry Boot Camp focuses on the pleasures of poetry and the riches that spontaneity brings, through lively directed writing strategies and relevant readings from the works of poets from Canada and abroad. We’ll also touch on revision and collaboration. You will write in ways you’d never imagined. Arrive with an open mind, and leave with a heap of new poems!


COMMENTS ON MY PREVIOUS BOOT CAMPS:
– "I really enjoyed myself and felt like I got a lot done. I thank you very much for the stimulation & the relaxed atmosphere."
– "Yay! Excited to go back to trying to write poems. I have so many new things to try now. Thanks!"
– "I liked being exposed to the familiar in a new, fresh, creative way."
– "I most enjoyed the relaxed pace and the self-directed nature of the work."
– "The Boot Camp pushed me beyond my comfort zone in precisely the way that I hoped it would."
– "My favourite part was the variety of non-threatening strategies for writing."
– "Really informative, really helpful workshop. Great energy!"
– "Excellent overall. I got a lot of out of it. Money very well spent! I'd recommend it to others."
– "Very well-run, well-thought-out workshop! Thanks!"


* * *


PLOTLESS FICTION

Sunday, October 16, 10 am - 5 pm
Dupont/Symington area

Fee: $90 includes materials and light snacks.
Space is limited.

Prepayment guarantees your spot.
To register, write Stuart at hunkamooga@sympatico.ca.

Fictioneer and writing teacher Stuart Ross offers a relaxed, supportive workshop for writers at all levels. Plotless Fiction explores the possibilities of fiction beyond the constraints of narrative and the artificiality of plot. In this hands-on session, you will be introduced to writers from around the globe who push against the definitions of the story, and you will produce a half-dozen or so of your own short works, using a variety of enjoyable, challenging writing strategies.

COMMENTS ON THE FIRST PLOTLESS FICTION WORKSHOP:
– “I loved this workshop! I’ll come to Part Two! I learned a bunch of refreshing tips and had a lot of fun.”
– “Enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and non-judgmental approach to sharing.”
– “This was very helpful and lots of fun — your workshops always help me to get out of the box.”
– “Excellent teacher and encouragement.”
– “Great workshop — would like a Part 2.”


* * *


HANDS ON POEMS: A CRITIQUING WORKSHOP

Saturday & Sunday, October 29 & 30, noon – 5 pm
Dupont/Symington area

Fee: $125 includes materials and light snacks.
Space is limited.

Prepayment guarantees your spot.
To register, write Stuart at hunkamooga@sympatico.ca.

Poet and editor Stuart Ross leads a two-day workshop on critiquing poems. The ability to see what works and what doesn’t in one’s own poem is a crucial part of the writing practice. A writer can learn a great deal about editing and revising her own poems by honing her critiquing skills on the works of others. For this session, each participant will submit four to six poems in advance; the poems will be distributed to the participants before the workshop. Each day, poems by all of the writers will be examined and discussed. The critiquing will be punctuated by rapid writing projects that encourage new ways of looking at poetry.


ABOUT STUART ROSS
Stuart Ross is the author of two collections of short stories, a novel, and two collaborative novellas. He has also published six books of poetry, including Farmer Gloomy’s New Hybrid (shortlisted for the 2000 Trillium Book Prize), I Cut My Finger (shortlisted for the 2008 ReLit Poetry Award), and Dead Cars in Managua (shortlisted for the 2009 ReLit Poetry Award). His short-story collection Buying Cigarettes for the Dog was shortlisted for the Alberta Publishers Award and the Alberta Readers Choice Award, and won the 2010 ReLit Short Fiction Award. His recent plotless novel, Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew, has received rave reviews in Canada and the U.S. Stuart has been teaching workshops across Canada for over two decades. He has edited poetry books for Mansfield Press (where he has his own imprint), Pedlar Press, ECW Press, McGilligan Books, BookThug, and Insomniac Press. Stuart is also the Fiction & Poetry Editor at This Magazine.

Over and out.