Communities |
Think Global. Write Local.
Kathy Mac believes that our writing communities sustain us through droughts of long making (common), and deluges of success (rare). She’s a joiner, and where possible, a worker – most writing associations achieve their goals through volunteering by members. Here are some of the groups that she has joined over the years ...
On This Page
Odd Sundays Reading Series, Fredericton
WolfTree Writers, Fredericton
Poetic Places Fredericton
Writers Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB)
Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs (CCWWP)
League of Canadian Poets (LCP)
The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC)
Writing Retreats
Literary Festivals
Individual Author/Artist Pages
Odd Sundays Reading Series, Fredericton
WolfTree Writers, Fredericton
Poetic Places Fredericton
Writers Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB)
Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs (CCWWP)
League of Canadian Poets (LCP)
The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC)
Writing Retreats
Literary Festivals
Individual Author/Artist Pages
ODD SUNDAYS
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With Sherry Coffey and David Watts, Kathy Mac one of the triumvirate of organizers of the Odd Sundays Reading Series, “Fredericton’s longest-running, multiply-hyphenated reading-series”. We meet at 2:00pm on the first, third, and if there is one, fifth Sunday of the month, from mid October to May, at the Tipsy Muse Café on Regent Street. We took over this even from founder allyson calvern in July 2015.
Each Odd Sundays reading has two featured readers, an open set, a book draw, and a heart-warmingly loyal audience. Lately, there’s never fewer than 30 people and sometimes we don’t count the audience because we might be over the Fire Marshall’s limit for the venue. |
Kathy Mac & Carlos Morales at Odd Sundays, April 2019 (photo: Diane Reid). The header photo for this Communities page is of the OS audience.
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Wolftree
Janet Patch, Virginia Bjerkelund, Kathy Mac, & Shari Andrews of Wolftree. Photo by Jane Tims
“A wolf tree has wide-spreading branches that reach for the sun. It often twists and moves in directions where it has no business going. It’s the wrong shape for the saw blade, the wrong species for the pulp mill. But a Wolf Tree is a nurturer, home to wildlife like birds and squirrels. An impractical tree, maybe, but valuable in unexpected ways.” -from the introduction when we do readings together
The Wolftree Writers are Shari Andrews, Virginia Bjerkelund, Heather Browne, Kathy Mac, Janet Patch, and Jane Tims. They started meeting in 1990; Kathy joined around 2003. When she moved to Fredericton, she felt bereft to leave behind the Halifax Poetry Workshop which sustained her creatively through her PhD studies. But the universe is kind, and the WolfTree Writers took her in.
WolfTree Writers is a private workshop group based in Fredericton. We meet monthly to encourage and critique each other’s literary lives. If this sounds really good to you, start your own group of literary soulmates.
The Wolftree Writers are Shari Andrews, Virginia Bjerkelund, Heather Browne, Kathy Mac, Janet Patch, and Jane Tims. They started meeting in 1990; Kathy joined around 2003. When she moved to Fredericton, she felt bereft to leave behind the Halifax Poetry Workshop which sustained her creatively through her PhD studies. But the universe is kind, and the WolfTree Writers took her in.
WolfTree Writers is a private workshop group based in Fredericton. We meet monthly to encourage and critique each other’s literary lives. If this sounds really good to you, start your own group of literary soulmates.
The Writers Federation of New Brunswick
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The WFNB is the only organization in New Brunswick devoted solely to supporting writers and storytellers at all stages of development and in all genres. WFNB began as a few friends gathered in a writers’ living room. Today, they’re a province-wide organization with 260+ members living in every corner of New Brunswick. We also have members from all Maritime provinces, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.
Our community includes memoirists, corporate writers, poets, mainstream writers, short story writers, magazine editors, novelists, screenwriters, newsletter creators, high school students, book editors, university students, book club readers, spoken word artists, playwrights, and journalists. All are welcome. |
Poetry workshop with Amanda Jernigan at WFNB's WordSpring festival, in 2019.
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Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs
CCWWP Board Meeting 2018
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The CCWWP welcomes creative writers in all genres and media, creative writing instructors, and creative writing programs, institutional or otherwise. Their mission is to promote connections and networking between writers and writing institutions or organizations; to foster the creation and dissemination of individual and collaborative creative writing research; to develop and share knowledge about creative writing pedagogy, artistic practices, and advocacy; to advance and discuss the social practice of creative writing and its role in social justice; and to strengthen the prominence of Canadian Literature in our national culture.
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The League of Canadian Poets
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Founded in 1966 to nurture the advancement of poetry in Canada, and the promotion of the interests of poets, the LCP now comprises over 700 members. The League serves the poetry community and promotes a high level of professional achievement through events, networking, projects, publications, mentoring and awards.
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Triny Finlay and Lucas Crawford at the Radical Word Roundtable at the Canadian Writers Summit, Harbourfront, Toronto June 2018. Organized by Kathy Mac, it included members of the League of Canadian Poets, and The Writers Union of Canada.
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The Writers Union of Canada
The Writers’ Union of Canada is the national organization of professionally published writers. Now over 2,100 members strong, the Union was founded in 1973 to work with governments, publishers, booksellers, and readers to improve the conditions of Canadian writers. Because a lively and diverse literary culture is essential in defining Canada and its people, the Union supports its members and advocates on their behalf for the advancement of their common interests. In so doing we promote the rights, freedoms, and economic well-being of all writers.
Writing Retreats
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Authors need these to rejuvenate themselves. There are lots of on-line lists of retreats; do your research, choose one or two or more, and apply. Or you make your own; just book yourself into a hotel with a good desk!
Here are three retreats that Kathy has attended and loved. |
Banff Alberta from Tunnel Mountain.
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Literary Festivals
Festivals are fun and important in a different way from retreats. They’re a great chance to reconnect with old writing friends and meet new ones, and to network with publishers and editors.
Lots of organizations have annual festivals – the WFNB runs WordSpring and WordsFall, the LCP has its annual conference, as does TWUC. So do cities – Fredericton puts on WordFeast, Moncton has the Frye Festival. Sometimes a festival is hosted by a writing program, like the University of New Brunswick’s Poetry Weekend.
Research festivals in your neighbourhood, or if you’re going somewhere in the future, see what’s going on at your destination. If you want to read or give a workshop at a festival, send the organizers a query – but do it well in advance! Be polite. They might be looking for someone just like you.
Lots of organizations have annual festivals – the WFNB runs WordSpring and WordsFall, the LCP has its annual conference, as does TWUC. So do cities – Fredericton puts on WordFeast, Moncton has the Frye Festival. Sometimes a festival is hosted by a writing program, like the University of New Brunswick’s Poetry Weekend.
Research festivals in your neighbourhood, or if you’re going somewhere in the future, see what’s going on at your destination. If you want to read or give a workshop at a festival, send the organizers a query – but do it well in advance! Be polite. They might be looking for someone just like you.
UNB Fredericton's Poetry Weekend Participants 2017.
Individual Writers/Artists
If you are interested in a writer or artist, google them; in the information hosepipe which is the internet, it is impossible for any individual – like, for example, Kathy Mac – to include current links to all the authors and writing sites that she loves. However, here are three whose work she admires, whose sites she enjoys (mostly for their simplicity), and who popped up on her desktop as she was pulling together this website. Roland is a graphic novelist and illustrator; Anne is a novelist, poet, essayist and instructor; Lynn is also a poet and instructor. All of them are brilliant.
