Another Story Bookshop in Roncesvalles Village is hosting three prominent Toronto authors as part of an interactive writing workshop at the store Thursday, Aug. 11.
The event is being organized in conjunction with the 'Queer West Fest,' an annual arts and culture festival in the city. More than just a reading, featured authors Farzana Doctor, Vivek Shraya and Zoe Whittall will explore the writing process while sharing some of their favourite "writing prompts" and provide feedback on workshop participants' writing. "A lot of writers use writer's prompts, ideas to spark creativity to get you writing," explained Another Story's Kara Stewart-Agostino. "There's a whole bunch of books geared to the whole idea."Doctor is the recipient of the Writers' Trust of Canada's prestigious Dayne Ogilvie Grant for an emerging gay Canadian author. Her first novel, 'Stealing Nasreen,' received critical acclaim when it was released in 2007. She is in the midst of touring her second book, 'Six Metres of Pavement,' which Publishers Weekly praised as "..A paean to second chances." Doctor is a co-curator of the Brockton Writers Series.Shraya, winner of the 'We Are Listening International Singer/Songwriter Award,' has released CDs that delve into musical genres from acoustic folk-rock to electro synth pop. 'God Loves Hair,' his first collection of short stories, was a 2011 Lambda Literary Award finalist. It won the Applied Arts Award for Illustration in 2010 and is currently being used as a textbook at several post secondary institutions. 'Seeking Single White Male,' his first short film debuted in the fall of 2010 and is being screened at film festivals this year. Whittall, the author of two literary novels, the Lambda award-winning 'Holding Still For As Long As Possible' and 'Bottle Rocket Hearts,' which was named Best Book of the Year by a Toronto daily, made the CBC's Canada Reads Top Ten Essential Novels of the decade list, was translated into French and optioned for film. 'Holding Still for as Long as Possible' was short-listed for the Relit Award and named an American Library Association Stonewall honor book.Each author will present a 10-minute reading followed by a presentation of their favourite writing prompt. "We are encouraging people to bring along their writing materials so that after a few minutes of writing, they can get some feedback from the authors," said Stewart-Agostino. "One of the reasons we're so excited about this event is that Queer West Fest events don't typically take place in the Roncesvalles-High Park community so we're very happy to be hosting a fun and interactive book event as part of this year's festival."To help fuel the creative process, 'Cardinal Rule' a new restaurant in Roncesvalles Village, will provide niblies. This is a pay-what-you-can event. All proceeds will support the authors. Another Story Bookshop can be found at 315 Roncesvalles Ave. Call 416-462-1104 for further details.