Toronto Women's Bookstore
http://www.womensbookstore.com
416-922-8744

Sorry, the date for the Written in Colour Writers' Symposium was omitted from the previous email!

Attention all New and Emerging Writers of Colour and Native Writers!
Mark your calendars and send us your feedback!
2nd Annual Written in Colour Writers’ Symposium,
Saturday, April 9, 2005
10 am - 5:30 pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE),
252 Bloor Street West
Registration fee to be determined

Featuring: Shyam Selvadurai, trey anthony, Motion, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, George Sefa-Dei, Julia Sudbury, Bonita Lawrence, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, representatives from several publishers, and others.

Toronto Women's Bookstore is in the process of organizing the 2nd Annual Written in Colour Symposium, aimed particularly at Writers of Colour and Native writers*. If you attended last year’s symposium, or have questions, concerns and ideas related to writing and publishing that you would like to see addressed at this event, please email jin@womensbookstore.com

* The event is specifically geared towards writers of colour and Native writers, but all are welcome to attend.

Here are some topics we plan to cover. Do these topic areas interest you? What specific aspects of these topics would you like to see addressed? What other topic areas would you suggest we include in the workshops?

* Writing poetry, playwriting, & editing anthologies
* How to get published
* Uses of humour in writing
* Opportunities for people of colour and Native people in the publishing industry
* Academic publishing
* Applying for grants
* Self publishing and zine making
* Arts education (working in the community, in schools)

Background:
The 2nd Annual Written In Colour Writers’ Symposium will be a full-day event for new and emerging writers of colour and Native writers to develop their skills and knowledge as artists. Through a number of hands-on workshops, emerging writers will learn from professional artists, arts educators, and publishers. Writers will have the opportunity to further develop their craft in a number of areas of interest to them: how to get published; opportunities for people of colour and Native people in publishing; writing poetry; writing short stories; playwriting; arts education in the community; creating self published zines; applying for grants; and academic publishing.

Last year, the Toronto Women’s Bookstore organized the first Written in Colour Symposium in response to numerous inquiries we received from community members. It was a resounding success, with over 120 participants, 3 workshop facilitators and a panel discussion with 4 speakers. We received incredibly positive feedback from speakers and participants alike. Participants expressed appreciation for the chance to learn about the opportunities available to them. They no longer felt isolated. They treasured meeting and connecting with other writers of colour in the room. Several people mentioned that the Symposium was more helpful than any other writer's event they had attended. Building on this successful pilot, we are organizing an expanded writers' symposium in April 2005. We plan to offer more hands-on, creation-based workshops facilitated by established professional artists.

If you attended last year’s symposium, or have questions, concerns and ideas related to writing and publishing that you would like to see addressed at this event, please email us! Email: jin@womensbookstore.com