So the workshop has come to an end...

The party you see below celebrated the last of the workshop classes, so sad, but also celebrated the first issue of the Crabtree Newsletter! It Takes a Village. This monthly publication will come out every 15th of the month. So far, copies will be available at Crabtree Corner, 533 East Hastings, Vancouver. An electronic copy will be made available here in the not too distant future. We'll keep you updated!

PARTY!

Vancouver Author Cathleen With reading "On Tats"- amazing!

Josie, Creative Writing facilitator and Nancy, Crabtree Boss, holding that Big Ole Fat check for $500 to fund upcoming newsletters! Thanks Chapman Summer Grant and Trek UBC.

Audience so entralled!

Erin, Deborah, Leslie & Phyllis- Crabtree's finest. Erin, Deborah and Phyllis were Workshop participants

The spread- pretty impresive.

Rager this Friday

This Friday at Oppenheimer Park, the Crabtree Creative Writing Workshop will celebrate the final workshop and the first ever issue of "It Takes a Village" our monthly newsletter. Come! 12-2pm. Food, door prizes, reading, music (if the ghetto blaster is working) and fun! You should really come. All are welcome!

Links to Group Blogs

http://shainaD97.blogspot.com/
http://www.deb-pastelandpurge.blogspot.com/
http://purplelotus2010.blogspot.com/

Blogs to look at for inspiration

Julie and Julia Project the basis for that movie, Julie and Julia, about the girl who cooks Julia Child's recipes. big deal blog.
Momtographer A Vancouver mom
dbrowncooks a cook on Vancouver's DTES
intrepid pens downtown eastside women's centre writing group blog
Mexcla a blog that I did when I was in Mexico.

Our Closest Library: Carnegie.

Hey Carnegie! Thanks!

So far we've read...

excerpts from:
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont
Push by Sapphire
Skids by Cathleen With
Missing Sarah: A Memoir of Loss by Maggie de Vries
The Carnegie Newsletter

poems:
"What We Know About Babies" by Patricia Young
"The Song My Paddle Sings" by Pauline Johnson
"Maybe I Won't Come This Way Again" by Sandy Cameron
"Hochelaga" by Maxine Gadd
"Autobiography" by Margaret Atwood
"After School Special" by Rachel McKibbens (well, really we watched the youtube video)

Guest Speakers

So far we have had 2 very lovely guest speakers. The first being Rose Georgeson, director of the Downtown Eastside Women's Writing Workshop and aboriginal community director at UrbanInk here on the Downtown Eastside. We did a wonderful writing exercise with Rose, where we wrote about Gatherings.
The second guest speaker was Maggie de Vries, children's book and memoir author. She spoke to us about the process of publishing children's literature and her experience writing Missing Sarah: A Memoir of Loss about her sister Sarah de Vries who went missing from the Downtown Eastside almost a decade ago. Her advice: 500 words before breakfast.
Sadly our third scheduled speaker, Cathleen With, recent recipient of the Ethel Wilson fiction prize for her novel, Having Faith in the Polar Girls' Prison, and author of the short story collection, Skids, was not able to make it. We're working on fixing that.

Fellow Writing Ladies

Here is a link to the DTES Women's Writing Workshop- Intrepid Pens. On July 31st Evelyn Lau will be speaking at the DTES Women's Centre. Oooooo!

Hello dear!

Dedicated to the Creative Writing Workshop at YWCA Crabtree in Vancouver, B.C., this blog will post news, random poems and quotes and links to members' own blogs! So if you happen to cross this blog's path or are a wonderful participant of the workshop- welcome and hello!

Yep yep,
Josie Mitchell
Student Fa-cilitator