Welcome to Talking Fresh 2023: Joy. All events will be held at The Artesian at 2627 13th Avenue in Regina, with some events livestreamed (noted below).
All are welcome. All times are posted in Saskatchewan time.
Presenter and host bios are available here.
Indigenous Beading & Storytelling Workshop with Keith Sunchild
Friday, March 3 from 7:00-9:00 pm
Join Plains Cree artist Keith Sunchild in this 2-hour beading and storytelling workshop. In the spirit of our festival theme of joy, Keith will teach participants how to bead mini-lanyards and share stories about beading and creativity. Registration fee of $25: all materials and instruction provided. Max of 10 participants.
Registration closed.
Fresh Talk: A Workshop On Banter with Ruby Lang
Saturday, March 4 from 10:00-11:15 am
Learn about how to write snappy, sparkling banter from a rom-com novelist. Participants will discuss tone and characterization, use of dialogue tags, and the importance of pacing. We will also look at examples from classic plays, television, screwball comedies and film noir, and examine how to make repartee come alive on the page when we don’t have Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy delivering our lines. Come prepared to write!
In-person
Conversation about Joy and Resistance with Ruby Lang, Hasan Namir, Helen Chang and host Kris Alvarez
Saturday, March 4 from 12:30-1:30 pm
Do we understand what joy means? In this current writing moment, let’s spend more time on joy in its complexities and effect on our writing and lives. What does it mean when we reclaim joy as resistance? Join our conversational event to listen to Canadian writers of different genres and backgrounds talk about how they incorporate joy into their writing, what kind of alternative narrative this helps envision, and why they feel it’s necessary. This event will feature Ruby Lang, Hasan Namir and Helen Chang, and will be facilitated by Kris Alvarez.
In-person and livestreamed. To register for livestream, click here. Please note you only have to register for the Talking Fresh livestream once; this is the same link as the Robert Currie talk livestream link below.
Languagelessness: The Joy of Reconciling Between Languages and Form in Poetry – an Interactive Poetry Workshop with Hasan Namir
Saturday, March 4 from 1:45-3:00 pm
With Languageless: The Joy of Reconciling Between Languages and Form in Poetry workshop, I invite aspiring poets to join me on this writing journey to find ways to reconcile between languages and experiment with words and form and how the writing process will bring joy. I will share my experience writing poems in more than one language and I will be using poetry examples from my book. There will be a lot of opportunities to write poems and experiment with languages. I look forward to working with you on this interactive workshop. Writing poetry can be the most joyful experience.
In-person
Sitting Down in Despair, Rising Up in Delight with Robert Currie
Saturday, Mar 4 from 3:15-4:15 pm
This session will investigate how writers find joy in their reading and writing lives, how they find the strength and inspiration to continue writing despite their sure knowledge that writing is hard, competition for publication is extreme, rejections are numerous, and the pay is paltry. Currie will share examples from his own experience and from the careers of other writers of the joy and fulfillment that writing brings to those who brave the challenge of living a writer’s life.
Hosted by Holly Luhning.
In-person and livestreamed. To register for livestream, click here. Please note you only have to register for the Talking Fresh livestream once; this is the same link as the Conversation livestream link above.
