Sue Goyette, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, Daniel MacIvor, Linda Little and Beth Powning will teach sessions in poetry, youth writing, playwriting, fiction and memoir

Five of Canada’s top writers will be on hand to lead the 2010 Great Blue Heron Writing Workshop at St. Francis Xavier University.

Now in its sixth year, the workshop which takes place on campus June 29-July 4, will feature award-winning writers Sue Goyette, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, Daniel MacIvor, Linda Little and Beth Powning who will teach sessions in poetry, youth writing, playwriting, fiction and memoir.

Brenda Riley, one of the workshop coordinators, says participants can expect an intensive and supportive atmosphere that will include individual and small group writing sessions with these internationally-known writers.

“The atmosphere at the workshop evokes a celebration of the creative aspects of writing as well as an exploration of the technical aspects of the writing process. It’s a great way to get away from one’s daily routine and immerse oneself in the writing process,” Ms. Riley says.

Workshops have a maximum of eight participants, and include primarily group sessions with faculty, some individual time with the faculty instructor, and a variety of group events, including informal luncheons, faculty readings and participant readings.

With a history of attracting outstanding writing faculty, the Great Blue Heron has drawn aspiring writers as participants from the Atlantic region, across Canada, the U.S. and from further abroad.  

Sue Goyette will lead the poetry session for the second time at the Great Blue Heron Workshop. Sue has published two books of poems, The True Names of Birds and Undone. Her third collection Outskirts is forthcoming from Brick Books. Her work has been nominated for The Governor General's Award for Poetry, The Pat Lowther Award, The Gerald Lampert Award, The Plantos-Acorn Award, The Atlantic Poetry Prize, The Dartmouth Book Award and was included in the Globe & Mail Best Book List. A sequence from Outskirts won the 2008 CBC Literary Prize for Poetry. Sue has also published a novel, Lures (HarperCollins) that was nominated for The Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize. She has taught at the Sage Hill Writing Experience, the Banff Wired Writing Studio, The Blue Heron and The Maritime Writers' Workshop. Sue lives in Halifax and currently teaches in the creative writing department at Dalhousie University.

Lorri Neilsen Glenn will lead the youth writing workshop geared at those aged 16 to 21. Lorri is the author and editor of several books of non-fiction and four collections of poetry. Her award-winning memoir, Knowing her Place, was published in 1998. She was the Poet Laureate for Halifax, from 2005-2009, where she lives and works, though she returns regularly to the Prairies, where she was raised. While Poet Laureate, Neilsen Glenn created a youth group called Wordfishing which met monthly. These young writers shared their writing in different genres learning, from each other under Lorri’s guidance. Lorri has conducted numerous workshops for aspiring writers of all ages but particularly enjoys working with young writers. 

Daniel MacIvor will once again join the Great Blue Heron Workshop, teaching playwriting. His first workshop was in 2008. Daniel has written and directed numerous award winning plays including See Bob Run, Wild Abandon, Never Swim Alone, In On It, and Marion Bridge. In 2006, Daniel received the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for his collection of plays I Still Love You. Daniel’s first feature film, Past Perfect, premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, along with the screenplay adaptation of his play Marion Bridge which won the CITY TV Best First Feature Award. This was followed by Wilby Wonderful which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004. Currently Daniel has a screenplay in development called Remember Me. His new play Communion (Mulgrave Road Theatre) completed a tour in Nova Scotia in the fall, 2009.

Linda Little, who lives and writes in the north shore village of River John, NS, will lead the fiction workshop. Originally from the Ottawa Valley mill town of Hawkesbury, she lived in Kingston and St. John's before moving to Nova Scotia in 1987. Linda has two award-winning novels, Strong Hollow and Scotch River. She has published short stories in many reviews and anthologies, including The Antigonish Review, Descant, Matrix, The Journey Prize Anthology, and The Penguin Book of Short Stories by Canadian Women. In addition to writing, Linda teaches at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and is also involved with River John's annual literary festival, Read by the Sea.

Beth Powning will lead the memoir workshop. Beth's first memoir, Seeds of Another Summer: Finding the Spirit of Home in Nature, a book of photographs and essays, was published in the U.S. as Home: Chronicle of a North Country Life, and received the New England Bookseller's Discovery Award. Her memoir, Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss was shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for creative non-fiction, and her memoir Edge Seasons was a Globe and Mail best book. She is the author of two novels, published by Knopf Canada: The Hatbox Letters, a national bestseller, and The Sea Captain's Wife, with the latter of these to be published by Penguin Plume in the U.S in 2011. Her writing has appeared in many magazines and anthologies. She lives in Markhamville, NB, with her husband, the artist Peter Powning.

The Great Blue Heron Writing Workshop registration form can be found online at www.mystfx.ca/workshops/gbheron/ Final applications are due June 1, 2010

For inquiries, phone 902.867.4532 or email gbheron@stfx.ca.