Using figures of speech and other simple literary techniques, learn to develop your writing skills.

Stimulate your imagination with a series of visual prompts to create original and lively works. With a few tools and strategies of the craft, discover the joys of writing poetry. 

This workshop promotes the development of rich, colourful and personal work. No steadfast rules, no competition, just fun for everyone!

For adults and teens ages 15+. 

The world is on fire and nothing is okay. What does this feel like? There are a lot of standard names for what we feel when we think about global warming, wide-spread extinction of creatures, and, well, [gestures generally]: Anxiety, grief, anger, fear, blankness. Sometimes the way we talk about feelings shapes what we feel, and so it matters what words we have. We might not have all the words we need to understand the experience of climate crisis.

In this hands-on workshop, we’ll discuss some theories about emotions and expression, why writing is a good way to explore feelings we don’t have a name for, and how to practice finding our “outlaw emotions” about big problems.

About the presenter

Alexis Shotwell is a professor at Carleton University, on unceded Algonquin land. She is a writer, SF nerd, queer, functional potter, currently obsessed with doing handstands. She’s the author of Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times and working on a book about getting together to solve big problems in which we are complicit.

Presented in partnership with the Ottawa Writers Festival.

 Welcome to Writing Series - Narration and Narrators with Thom Whalen

The Stittsville Creative Writing Group, in conjunction with the Ottawa Public Library, is pleased to present the Welcome to Writing Series. This is a collection of seminars or workshops with the goal of making you a better writer. Our intent is to foster creativity, literacy, and love of the written word. Members of the SCWG will present on the indicated topic.  

Often an author will often have a fictional character tell a story from his or her point of view, using his or her voice. This character is called the internal narrator. The choice of the internal narrator is a major factor in determining, not just the way the story is told, but what is included in the story and how it is to be interpreted. Thus, different narrators will tell different stories about the same events. Six short stories will be used to illustrate and stimulate discussion of the implications of using different internal narrators.

For children 7-12, interested in learning to play chess and finding out more about the game. 

Teen volunteers will be on hand to help those who are learning!

Saturdays from 1:30-3. Drop-in.