The Slocan Lake Arts Council has asked me to repeat the writing workshop I put on in August focused on people writing about community. This one will be held Sat., Nov. 28 and Sun., Nov. 29, also at the Slocan Lake Arts Centre (formerly the Silverton Gallery) at 421 Lake Ave. (Highway 6 and 4^th St.), Silverton BC.

The workshop, entitled “What is Happening Here? Writing About Community,” will run from 9 a.m. to noon both days. We’ll be looking at how best to capture in words the people around us, whether in the form of fiction, memoir, family history, or poems. Due to pandemic health guidelines, workshop attendance will again be limited to six people, and social distancing will be observed.

Pre-registration is required.

The fee is $60, which can be sent via e-transfer to slocanlakeartscouncil@gmail.com, with the password “Writing”. SLAC will also accept a Kootenay Savings Credit Union direct transfer to SLAC’s community chequing account. Or a cheque can be mailed directly to SLAC at PO Box 123, Silverton BC V0G 2B0.

Half the workshop time will be spent considering participants’ own writing. Registrants are asked to send five to ten pages of material they’d like considered by the workshop to me at appledor@netidea.com by Friday, Nov. 20.

This allows participants’ writing to be circulated to workshop members to read and think about before the workshop begins. Submitted writing could be works-in-progress that a participant would like feedback on, or something he or she is pretty sure is finished but wants to hear what others think. The other half of workshop time will involve writing exercises and consideration of work by other authors who have written about community.