Writing Workshop: Our Lives as Stories

Whether you are interested in writing fiction or nonfiction, your own experience is almost certainly your richest source of story. In this workshop, suitable for adults of all writing levels, we will experiment with several access points to the stories of your life, and you will begin exploring one of those stories more deeply. You will come away with tools and ideas that will help you build a sustainable writing practice and show you the next few steps forward in telling the stories you wish to tell.

Please Bring the Following:
-Favourite pens and a notebook.
-A photo and/or small object that evokes a childhood memory that you are comfortable exploring.
-A laptop if you wish, but not required.
-Coloured pencils and felt pens if you have them, also not required.

About Your Instructor:
Maggie de Vries is the author of Missing Sarah: A Memoir of Loss, teen novels Rabbit Ears and Hunger Journeys, two juvenile novels and six picture books. Several of these books have been awarded BC Book Prizes, and two have been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Maggie was Orca Book Publisher’s children’s book editor for seven years, and the inaugural writer in residence for the Vancouver Public Library (2005) and the University of Northern British Columbia (2012). She recently retired from teaching at UBC’s School of Creative Writing after many years there, and has now transitioned into a private practice as a writing coach and mentor. Maggie teaches classes locally and online, leads writing retreats and workshops, and works one-on-one with writers in developing their craft and finding their way forward with their projects.

In addition to reading, writing, watching the birds in the backyard and hanging out with her cats (indoors), Maggie enjoys learning the ins and outs of gardening, exploring the local waterways with her husband in their old boat, and hiking the local trails. She also makes a point of dancing for at least a few minutes almost every single day.