My 2017 year in reading was for a third or fourth time, a #95books challenge to read more than the supposed amount GW Bush was able to crank out while in office. I read 101, ending the year last night with Danez Smith’s Don’t Call Us Dead – a fitting book of poems for an awful year.

Because Excel lets me track information, and because it is interesting to see if my reading  follows any curves, I know that poetry made up 49% of my reading, fiction 27%, non fiction 16%, “other” 3% and graphic novels 1%. Sorry, no plays.

The breakdowns are not rigorous and there are lots of other metrics I could track for, but here are a few wide swathes that are imperfect in their definitions and divisions:

71% of the titles were written by women. 24% by men. 4% by non binary authors. 1% coauthored.

68% of the authors of the books I read self-identified as straight, 20% as LGBTQ, 12% I didn’t have info on.

63% of the authors are white, 37% of the authors on the list are people of colour. 14% of them are Indigenous authors.

76% of the authors are Canadian and 22% from the US. I read only 2% of authors from outside North America? How did that happen?

It’s always funny to look back at the year though titles. In some places the titles are more accurate markers than any calendar entries: I can perfectly recall who lent me the book, who I was while I read it, where I was when I finished it. The next book I am reading is Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith and unless I finish it today, it will appear on next year’s list on December 31 2018.

The Painted Drum – Louise Erlich

Born a Crime – Trevor Noah

New and Selected Poems,1956-1996 – Phillip Appelman

Driving Force – Dick Francis

10lb Penalty – Dick Francis

Status Update – Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang

Passage – Gwen Benaway

Fun House – Alison Bechdel

The Chick at the Back of the Church-Billie Livingstone

(alive) – Rhea Tregebov

Peace in Duress – Janet Rogers

The Woods – Amber McMillan

Hologram – PK Page

A Perimeter – rob mclennan

Defending Darkness – Pamela Porter

Broom – Brecken Hancock

Friendly Fire – Danielle LaFrance

Memoirs of a Polar Bear – Yoko Tawada

In the Darkroom – Susan Faludi

Born Out of This – Christine Lowther

Leak – Kate Hargreaves

Nochita – Dia Felix

Swing Time – Zadie Smith

Milk Black Carbon – Joan Naviyuk Kane

Prosopopoeia – Shazia Hafiz Ramji;Silo Society/Right Hand Hymns – Aidan Chafe; Good for Nothing – Curtis LeBlanc

Black Trumpet – Evan Mallett

The Divinity Gene – Matthew J. Trafford

Indigenous Writes- Chelsea Vowel

This Accident of Being Lost – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Son of a Trickster – Eden Robinson

Calling Down The Sky – Rosanna Deerchild

The Best Kind of People – Zoe Whitall

Patterns on Black Ice – Louise Vacca Dawe

Snow Feathers – Writers North of 54

Skung Cabbage – Writers North of 54

Bad Ideas – Michael V. Smith

Prologue for the Age of Consequence – Garth Martens

An Honest Woman – Jonina Kirton

LaRose- Louise Erdich

Everything is Awful and You’re a Terrible Person

A Stitch of Time – Lauren Marks

Canyon Creek: A Script – Sheila Peters

The Earth Remembers Everything – Adrienne Fitzpatrick

The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead

The High Mountains of Portugal – Yann Martel

He Wants – Alison Moore

The Art of Growing Old – Marie de Hennezel

Where it Hurts – Sarah de Leeuw

A Wall of Light – Edeet Ravel

Grayling – Gillian Wigmore

Terra Incognita – Adebe DeRango-Adem

Metanoia – Sharon McCartney

Octopus Poems – Patrick Warner

Adult Onset – Ann-Marie MacDonald

Throaty Wipes- Susan Holbrook

Lanterns at Guantánamo – Jordan Scott

How Festive the Ambulance – Kim Fu

Ghost Town – Susan Telfer

Heaven’s Thieves – Sue Sinclair

Washita – Patrick Lane

Hard Work Cheering Up Sad Machines – Jason Heroux

Medic Against Bomb – Frederick Foote

They Called me Number One – Bev Sellars

Knockdown – Dick Francis

The Signature of All Things – Elizabeth Gilbert

We Are Not Citizens We Are Magicians – Jordan Abel, Rae Armantrout, Juliane Okot Bitek, Anne Boyer, CAConrad, Mercedes Eng, Jasmine Gibson, Dionne Lee, Cecily Nicholson

Hard Body Candidate for Soft Embrace – Nicole Dumas

Commonwealth – Ann Patchett

The Siege – Helen Dunmore

To Love the Coming End – Leanne Dunic

Someone You Love is Gone – Gurjinder Basran

God in Pink – Hasan Namir

Flightpaths – Heidi Greco

The Revolving City – Wayde Compton and Renee Sarojini Saklikar

Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name – Vendela Vida

Perpetual – Rita Wong and Cindy Mochizuki

Still No Word – Shannon Webb-Cambell

Delirium for Solo Harp – Nadine McInnis

Next year, For Sure – Zoey Leigh Peterson

Brother – David Chariandy

300 Arguments – Sarah Manguso

The Dog Lover Unit – Rachel Rose

My Ariel- Sina Queyras

Silvija – Sandra Ridley

Don’t Tell Me What to Do – Dina del Bucchia

3 Summers – Lisa Robertson

Afterglow – Eileen Myles

Linger, Still – Aislinn Hunter

Bad Endings – Carleigh Baker

Wayside Sang – Cecily Nicholson

Refugium – Yvonne Blomer, ed

Ecodeviance (soma)tics for the Future Wilderness – CA Conrad

Intertidal – Daphne Marlatt

Voodoo Hypothesis – Canisia Lubrin

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers

Advice from the Lights – Steph Burt

Prison Industrial Complex Explodes – Mercedes Eng

Cool For You – Eileen Myles

Float – Anne Carson

Left Unsaid – Joan Flood

Don’t Call Us Dead – Danez Smith

Last night, June 8, 2017, Ice Theatre of New York held its Spring Unplugged at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers. It kicked off with a performance of the poem “School Figures” from serpentine loop skated by Denise Beaumont, Elisabeth L’Heureux, Katherine Mangiardi (above) and Wendy Wilke. Big thanks to Moira North for inviting this collaboration and to all the ITNY staff for a spectacular night which culminated in a spectacular sunset.

I was so happy to be there with friends and family, including my mother Tenley Albright, Douglas Webster and Steffani Bennett (pictured) below with John Kline.

Beautiful performances of the night included “Alberta Biography” skated by Eliot Halverson (in a plaid Canadian shirt) to bird calls. It was choreographed by Fred Nowosad and reset by Moira North. Eliot’s deep edges, humour and skill made this fascinating piece a stand out. And Joel Dear and Christian Erwin’s luscious “In Passing” was a stunning example of single gender pairs. Their connection to their choreography and their supple musculature were a real pleasure.

Bust magazine is one of the few general interest magazines to include poetry in its book reviews section. In fact, they have a Poetry Corner and it is written by three-book author, director, and actor Amber Tamblyn. The April/May issue includes her review of serpentine loop.

How exciting is this review? Very. Not only because it puts serpentine loop in conversation with the slate of interesting books in the issue but because it leaps over the 49th parallel, that invisible yet dense divide between US and Canadian readers. As a writer rooted with one foot on each side of the border, this feels great. And being a long-time Bust fan myself I am thrilled. This sort of support in the form of a considered, attentive review is a real gift. Here it is:

In poet Elee Kraljii Gardiner’s beautiful debut collection, serpentine loop (Anvil Press), she explores the magnificence of life’s circular tropes through the lens of figure skating; the repetition of painful events, the balancing dance of love and desire, the tough climates of an existentially glacial world. In “Outdoors, Ice” Gardiner, a former figure skater who hails from Vancouver, writes: “Through an ice hole. Hidden from the/moonlight in the shadow of a bridge. The delayed/surfacing of the body was probably due to its being/pinned under an ice sheet….” The poem in and of itself is shaped like a circle, shedding light on a mysterious frozen body discovered by children. In “Main Artery Along the River,” Gardiner writes of finding a man who has just been in a severe car accident: “For days the sensation of his open mouth turns you/off food. Eat out of duty./The wounded take all forms.” With too many great poems inside to quote, Gardiner’s lush, piercing collection is layered with climatological subtext and personal history, sure enough of its voice to thaw the coldest of hearts.

Thank you to the League of Canadian Poets for including serpentine loop on the RAYMOND SOUSTER AWARD 2017 SHORTLIST. I am delighted to have a connection with this excellent group of poets! The other nominees are:

Disturbing the Buddha by Barry Dempster (Brick Books) | silent sister: the mastectomy poems by Beth Everest (Frontenac House) | Serpentine Loop by Elee Kraljii Gardiner (Anvil Press) | Burning in this Midnight Dream by Louise Bernice Halfe (Coteau Books) | The Waking Comes Late by Steven Heighton (House of Anansi Press) | Après Satie – For Two and Four Hands by Dean Steadman (Brick Books)

The winner will be announced in June in Toronto.

 

On April 5, 2017 at 1pm Ice Theatre of New York is skating one of my poems (“School Figures”) during their half hour performance at the gorgeous outdoor landmark, Rockefeller Center. If you are in NYC and free on lunch hour, this Wednesday will be a treat – it includes a program by Canadian skater Elladj Baldé. Brian Orser, who is teaching a seminar later in the week, will be there, too. I first skated at Rock Center when I was eight years old and performed with my mother at the lighting of the Christmas tree. I’m sorry not to make it – if you go, I’d love to see photos or video.

Thank you, Ice Theatre skaters and directors, for bringing this poem to the ice!

 

Thank you to everyone who stayed up late for our Skate the Book event on March 24, 2017!

It was wonderful to see so many people out for an evening of words and movement. As you’ll see in the video below, I read a poem (“Learning to Read and Write”) and invited Douglas Webster to speak about the similarities between skating and writing (edges, paragraphs, brackets, scribes, etc.). We heard a quick artist’s talk by Elin Schran about how she choreographed a book of poems as a skating program. Both Douglas and Elin were so generous with their time – they flew in from Boston the night before and never showed signs of jet lag! Douglas, who choreographed for Disney on Ice for ten years and does tons of work for tv and touring shows, and Elin, who skated with Ice Capades and runs Frozen Frog Productions, made all of this look easy.

We snacked and chatted and then, when the public session was cleared, we went downstairs in the Hillcrest Community Centre and we all got our skates on.

I was amazed how split the crowd was – 50% skaters, 50% writers! Some of the skaters were people we bumped into on a UBC freestyle session earlier in the day (Giovanni! Alexa!); others heard about it through the grapevine. Giovanni offered to sharpen Elin’s and Douglas’ skates at Cyclone Taylor, where he reconnected with Neal Countryman (who was Prince Philip in Disney on Ice). Some of the literary community members included Poet Laureate Rachel Rose, Lindsay Brown, Sarah Turner, Mohammed Kebbewar, Elena Johnson, and Mikaela Asfour, daughter of my V6A co-editor John Asfour. Leah Horlick, Anne Fleming and Gilles Cyrenne grabbed a quick photo with me after the reading. And my excellent Anvil Press Publishers Karen Green and Brian Kaufman hung in the back. Poet/doctor/tango dancer Karen Shklanka skated, too!

We all took the ice while Elin and Douglas warmed up for their presentation of “Meditation”, a duo figures demonstration with an element of moves in the field, a series of edges. Although there were only two of them they captured the sense of a school of fish or flock of birds. In fact, those moves are called “flocking”. Thanks, Lindsay Brown, for whipping out the iPhone in time to catch this!

As they skated figure eights and serpentine loops I read the poem “School Figures” over the music – I wish the soundsystem had been more collaborative, but tried my best to project. Again, so good to work with professionals who can pivot on a dime. Literally.

What was wonderful was to be on ice as they skated – we were watching near the hockey box. We could hear the edges and feel the air moving as they skated past.

Elin performed the Canadian debut of “Serpentine Loop” – you can see it here – which is a physical representation of what I am trying to evoke with words. Elin read my manuscript, drew key words out of it, thought about the structure and movement of the ideas and then turned it into a skated choreography. Not only is that a huge artistic gift for me, but it’s a new way of working for her, and funny enough, it took quite some time for the program to settle down – like mercury it slipped away and moved, shifted. Each time I have seen her skate it I have loved it even thought it has been different! She is so gifted!

A surprise of the night was the gift of not one but TWO pairs teams. Diana Barkley and Geoff Squires are Adult World Champions (they learned dance pairs as adults) – and they performed a fantastic swingy number. They are coached by Canadian Olympians Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe.

A second team, Canadian National Seniors Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker, who are BC Regional Champions, did their show number.

If you have never been on ice with a high-level dance team you may not have any idea of the energy flying over the surface.

They were fantastic – and you will surely be seeing much more of them! They had been up since 4am but were completely energized. We hope we get to collaborate in some way, shape or form.

 

Another gift was a visit with skating coach Jocelyn McNeil and her daughter, Tenley, who is named after our mom, Tenley Albright! I met Jocelyn at a reading at PulpFiction Books in the fall and was so happy to introduce Elin.

Here’s a group photo, by the intrepid Liisa Hannus, who shot all of the photos for the night. She even double-handed stills and video at one point! For this picture she walked out on ice before she even had her skates on. And no falling!

 

UPDATE: EXCITING NEWS: We are thrilled to announce the addition of performances by two ice dance pairs coached by Olympians Aaron Lowe and Megan Wing! Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker are 2017 National Team members,International competitors for Canada, 2017 challenge bronze medalists and 2017 BC provincial champions. Diana Barkley and Geoff Squires are the Adult World Dance Champions. This is a rare chance to be on ice with top level performers, hear their edges and see how fast they skate.

Come be a part of a collaborative, perfomative and participatory skating event based on the book of poems about ice, serpentine loop.

Friday, March 24, 2017, 9:00pm-11:15pm
Hillcrest Community Centre Rink
4575 Clancy Loranger Way
Vancouver, BC V5Y 2M4

This event takes place on the unceded lands of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Free event, open to public. Spectators and non-skaters welcome. Rental skates available or bring your own! Bring your kids, friends, neighbours and anyone else who wants to skate for fun.

We know it’s late-ish but the ice was cheap! Before we get on the ice at 10pm we’re featuring a ten minute reading and a short off ice talk by professional skaters Elin Schran and Douglas Webster. After that Douglas and Elin are going to demonstrate some figures and edges and then  Elin is going to skate the Canadian debut of the program she choreographed of the book!

Is this crazy? Perhaps. But figure skating and writing share elements of language. On-ice moves include “paragraphs” and “brackets,” for example, and both work with an idea of inscribing the blank sheet. serpentine loop uses the vocabulary of skating to push off from the frozen river and rink and discuss issues of gender, social justice and how we treat each other. The book, in its second printing and named twice to The Walrus’ Best of 2016 list, arises from the my experience growing up around ice as the daughter of US Olympic figure skating gold medalist Tenley Albright. I actually sequenced the poems at the Skating Club of Boston by laying the pages out by the barrier. Now the poems are leaping off the page onto the ice.

Professional figure skater Elin Schran, my sister, will perform the Canadian debut of the short performance she choreographed based on serpentine loop. Elin Schran is the co-founder of Boston-based Frozen Frog Productions and is the innovator of IceFlow (a yoga-inspired skating class). She is a choreographer and performer with experience in many shows including Ice Capades, and taught for five years at Dorothy Hamill’s Fantasy Skating Camp.

Elin is joined by US skater and professional choreographer Douglas Webster, who will speak about the shared vocabulary of skating and writing before taking the ice to demonstrate school figures and a variety of edges in tandem with Elin Schran.

Professional skater and choreographer Douglas Webster co-founded the internationally-recognized Ice Dance International in 2014 to create classical and contemporary ice ballet with a professional company. Currently, Douglas is the Creative Director for Shall We Dance on Ice, an ABC TV special that features ice dancing and ballroom. He has worked with Disney on Ice, Holiday on Ice, Stars On Ice, The Sun Valley Ice Show and served as the Artistic Director of Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) as well as their Associate Artistic Director, Resident Choreographer and Ensemble Director. He is on the staff of Grassroots to Champions and on the boards of the Young Artists Showcase and The Dance Hall in his hometown of Kittery, Maine.

Previous iterations of the event have been held in New Hampshire and Massachusetts but this is our first Canadian event.

Tentative schedule:

 

9:00pm-9:45pm: In Hillcrest Centre Community Room 328
Welcome, snacks and drinks, 10 minute poetry reading by Elee Kraljii Gardiner from serpentine loop, brief artists’ talk by Doug Webster and Elin Schran

9:45pm-11:00pm: everyone (all levels and abilities) welcome to skate, rentals available

10:00pm: we ask people to move to edge of ice to watch Elin Schran and Doug Webster perform short demo of school figures and edges

10:10pm: Elin Schran performs serpentine loop, a two-minute skating program based on the book

10:10pm: Adult World Dance Champions Pairs team Diana Barkley and Geoff Squires perform

10:15pm: Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker,
2017 National Team members,International competitors for Canada, 2017 challenge bronze medalists and 2017 BC provincial champions perform

10:15pm -11pm: free skating for everyoneVenue is accessible to City of Vancouver standards and equipped with elevators. For details please contact Hillcrest Community Centre, 604-257-8680

We hope to see you!

Room magazine is celebrating 40 years of publishing women with a three-day festival of panels, workshops and readings in Vancouver March 8-12, 2017.

Here are some of the people involved!

Amber Dawn, Marianne Apostolides, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Carleigh Baker, Adèle Barclay, Meghan Bell, Juliane Okot Bitek, Ali Blythe, Nicole Breit, Kat Cameron, Roxanne Charles, Cyndia Cole, Karla Comanda, Lorna Crozier, Francine Cunningham, Jen Currin, Dina Del Bucchia, Junie Désil, Samantha deVries-Hofman, Dora Dueck, barbara findlay, Cynthia Flood, Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Chantal Gibson, Hiromi Goto, Jane Eaton Hamilton, Rachel Hartman, Leah Horlick, Aislinn Hunter, June Hutton, Kyla Jamieson, Rachel Jansen, Vici Johnstone, Jónína Kirton, Chelene Knight, Sonnet L’Abbé, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Doretta Lau, Evelyn Lau, Jen Sookfong Lee, Alex Leslie, Christine Lowther, Carrie Mac, Tanis MacDonald, Alessandra Naccarato, Kellee Ngan, Nilofar Shidmehr, Sylvia Symons, Audrey Thomas, Betsy Warland, Beni Xiao, Jennifer Zilm, Daniel Zomparelli

I am delighted to be on two panels; one as a participant and one as a moderator. Due to place constraints most events need tickets to keep track of attendance numbers.

Both panels “sold out” of free tickets right away but organizers added more seats so I hope you can come. There are lots of other events that I am going to attend – the scope of the festival is pretty amazing.

The Only Way Out is Through: Writing About Trauma
Evelyn Lau, Christine Lowther, Sonnet L’Abbé | Moderator: Elee Kraljii Gardiner
March 11, 10:30am–12:00pm | Free | Multipurpose Room #2 @ Creekside Community Centre

Many of us seek to escape the traumatic memories that haunt us—to heal and move on from the things that have happened to us. Could writing be a way through? Many recommend writing as a method of healing from trauma, but it’s easier said than done. Join Evelyn Lau, Christine Lowther, Sonnet L’Abbé, and Elee Kraljii Gardiner for a powerful discussion about sitting with your memories and leaving it all on the page.

Writing in (the) Community
Leah Horlick, Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Audrey Thomas | Moderator: Amber Dawn
March 12, 10:30am–12:00pm | Free | Multipurpose Room #2 @ Creekside Community Centre

In his acceptance speech for the National Book Award in 2016, Colson Whitehead said, “Be kind to everybody, make art, and fight the power.” Writing of all kinds has always been central to the fight against systemic oppression and injustice—and now, more than ever. As we move forward into an uncertain future, and fight to have our voices heard, writers and community activators Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Leah Horlick, Amber Dawn, and Audrey Thomas discuss writing against the grain and creating spaces for everyone to speak their truth.

 

On Monday Feb 13, 2017, Family Day Holiday!

Writers Resist Islamophobia & in Solidarity with Muslim, Arab, Immigrant & Refugee Communities cohosted by me with Story We Be

6-7pm, Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main St, Vancouver

7-8pm in the same space Writers Resist Site C, hosted by Fight C

We acknowledge that this event is taking place on the unceded and occupied territories of the x?m?θk??y??m, s?wxw_ ú7mesh, and Tsleil-­-Waututh.

Join us for the second #WritersResist write-in on Monday Feb 13 at Carnegie Community Centre (3rd floor gallery) at Main and Hastings St, from 6pm-8pm.

We will gather at the tables in the gallery atrium on the third floor, because never before have we needed more urgently to take the story back into our own hands. Let’s do that together.

Bring paper, a pen, your laptop if you like! Bring friends. All are welcome.

Some paper, pens, envelopes and postage for those wishing to snail-mail their letters will also be available.

Some snacks and bus fare will also be provided.

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6pm – 7pm: Writers Resist Islamophobia & in Solidarity with Muslim, Arab, Immigrant & Refugee Communities
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In light of renewed attacks on Muslim, Arab, immigrant, and refugee communities here in so-called Canada, and across the imposed border, we will:

*Write letters to government representatives, in support of targeted communities. We will provide some form letters, as well as templates that can be modified.

*Write letters to family, friends, neighbours, whom you would like to engage in difficult conversations towards transformation.

*Respond to the prompt: Writers Resist: ________

*And trade action steps, call lists, other practical information that will help our voices be heard, and brainstorm together.

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7pm – 8pm: Writers Resist Site C
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This newly added second hour will be hosted by FightC.

FightC is a non-partisan, non-violent community group committed to stopping the Site C dam in solidarity with the Treaty 8 First Nations. We work to raise awareness and engagement on the violation of First Nations Treaty Rights, as well as the eviction of farmers, the destruction of farmland and food security, and the long term financial implications of the dam. Whether you are familiar with Site C or not, we invite you to join us in discussion and in writing a letter to your MLA.

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ACCESSIBILITY INFO:
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– Everyone is welcome to participate in this event to their own level of interest and comfort.
– You can participate in one or both parts of the evening.
– This is a child-inclusive event.
– Venue is wheelchair accessible.
– This is also a scent-free event, please find information below.
– Should you require ASL interpretation for this event, OR if you have additional access needs, please let us know by 5pm, Thursday February 9th. Send an email to storywebe[at]gmail[dot]com
– Carnegie is accessible with an outdoor ramp and indoor elevator. There are bathrooms are on the third floor near the Gallery and they are accessible.

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HOW TO BE SCENT-FREE
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In order to create an inclusive and safe environment for members of our community who live with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, we request that everyone attending this #WritersResist event to embody fragrance and scent free practices.

MCS is a serious condition that can produce any of the following symptoms: headache, fatigue, dizzies, nausea, congestion, itching, sneezing, sore throat, chest pain, changes in heart rhythm, breathing problems including asthma-like conditions, muscle pain or stiffness, skin rashes, diarrhea, bloating, seizures, migraines, nosebleeds, vomiting confusion, trouble concentrating, memory problems, and mood changes. These symptoms can last for hours, days, even weeks after exposure.
How to prepare to be scent/fragrance-free:

1. Please make sure that on the day of the event you do not use colognes, perfumes, or essential oils.
2. Please do not wear clothes that have been previously exposed to perfumes, colognes, scented oils, laundry detergents, or fabric softeners.
3. Wash any clothing that you would like to wear which has been exposed in unscented laundry detergent. This might require a number of washes.
4. Please do not use any scented body and hair care products including: deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, jell, mouse, creams, lotions.

It is vital to note that:

1. “Natural” does not mean scent, fragrance or chemical-free.
2. Using even a little bit of scented product/product with fragrance can create a HUGE impact for individuals with MCS.
3. Clothes that have had pre-exposure to scents/fragrances will often continue to hold scents/fragrances and result in impact and effect (yesterday is today!).

You can ensure that you are eliminating your impact on those with MCS by using products that are expressly scent and fragrance free.

For further resources on how to support inclusivity for individuals living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity check here:

http://www.peggymunson.com/mcs/fragrancefree.html
http://www.brownstargirl.org/…/fragrance-free-femme-of-colo…

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EVENT BACKGROUND
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In January 2016 Writers Resist events took place throughout North America based on a general form. We Vancouver writers decided to pursue an hour together of writing and conversation that is positive, protective of democracy, unifying, focused on social good.

From Writers Resist :
We ask local communities of writers to organize themselves using our Writers Resist framework (described below.) This framework deliberately leaves room for local groups to address issues of their choosing consistent with our shared goals. We invite local groups to title their event accordingly by filling in the blank: Writers Resist: ________.

To ensure our most widespread and effective impact, this inaugural theme should be reflected in the setting and tone of the events, with writers reading their own works as appropriate, but particularly highlighting relevant readings from a selection of diverse writers’ voices throughout history that speak to the ideals of democracy.

Writers Resist is not affiliated with a political party. We wish to bypass direct political discourse in favor of an inspired focus on the future, and how we, as writers, can be a unifying force for the protection of democracy. In order for us to heal and move forward, individually and as a nation, we believe people need something to be for in this anxious moment. The only thing we “resist” is that which attacks or seeks to undermine those most basic principles of freedom and justice for all.

We urge local organizers and speakers to avoid using the names of politicians or adopting “anti” language as the focus for their Writers Resist event. It’s important to ensure that nonprofit organizations, which are prohibited from political campaigning, will feel confident participating in and sponsoring these events.

We believe these events will coalesce and energize a widespread network of writer-activists throughout the United States and in other countries capable of becoming a consistently potent voice and force for social good around the world.

http://www.writersresist.org/