Tag: QWF

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Arts and Culture Community

A celebration of the English language in Montréal

Award winners on stage at the QWF award gala. Photo by Emma Bell / The Concordian.

The Quebec Writers Federation’s recent events have been a testament to the thriving anglophone literary community in Quebec.

The Read Quebec book fair, held between Nov. 3–4 in Concordia’s J.W. McConnell atrium, was a glorious demonstration of the anglophone literary community’s integral value to Montréal’s culture and economy. 

Entrance to the Read Quebec book fair’s opening cocktail. Photo by Emma Bell / The Concordian.

The space was shoulder-to-shoulder with lovers of literature who had gathered to highlight the work of English-language publishers in and around Montréal, including the Montréal Review of Books, Maisonneuve Magazine, Drawn & Quarterly publishers, Concordia University Press and more. Each organization brought along a selection of their recent publications to show the incredible range of anglophone literature being produced in Quebec. From art history to science fiction, every genre was represented. 

Representatives from Concordia University Press selling copies of their recent publications at the Read Quebec book fair’s opening cocktail. Photo by Emma Bell / The Concordian.

The event was collaboratively hosted by the Quebec Writers Federation (QWF), the Association of English-Language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ) and Read Quebec with a shared mission to promote the brilliance and celebrate the continued presence of anglophone authors in Montréal.

Publisher from the Montreal Review of Books, Rebecca West, speaks at the Read Quebec book fair’s opening cocktail. Photo by Emma Bell / The Concordian.

As an American student studying art history at Concordia, the proposed tuition hikes for traditionally anglophone universities in Quebec was particularly personal. As a writer and researcher, what opportunities are left for me after graduation if I choose to stay here? Sometimes I can’t help but think it might be wiser to move back home. This would mean leaving behind my partner, my friends and the network I worked so hard to build here. But if the only thing standing in the way of my career is a language barrier, it almost seems like I would be doing myself a disservice by staying. 

As I navigate these difficult and emotional decisions, I realize I am not alone. Out-of-province and international students are equally concerned for their futures in Montréal—we’re experiencing the dim feeling of being unwelcome in the city we have come to know and love. However, we are more determined than ever to assert our value in the province. This jovial evening brought me and my fellow aspiring writers a great glimmer of hope and a strong sense of community.

Further strengthening the anglophone writing community’s sense of camaraderie and celebration, on Nov. 13, QWF hosted their 25-year anniversary gala at Cabaret Lion d’Or. This event honoured the brilliant work of both emerging and established writers with awards for a number of categories.

Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson giving their acceptance speech at the QWF award gala. Photo by Emma Bell / The Concordian.

Katherine Li’s Efflorescence won the QWF College Writers Award for students; H Felix Chau Bradley’s fiction work Three Disorientations won the Carte Blanche Award; the Janet Savage Blanchford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature went to Edeet Ravel for her book A Boy is Not a Ghost; Erin Robinsong’s Wet Dream won the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry; Fayne by Ann-Marie MacDonald won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction; and finally, Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson’s Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation won both the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction. 

Many of the winners spoke to the urgency of writing as a means to bring about truth, justice and solidarity. The atmosphere of the event was one of gratitude to each other and our growing community, to those who came before us and mentored us, and to the art of writing in the English language as a tool of uninhibited expression.

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Arts and Culture Community

AI and the generative art of writing

Writing Matters panel at the Atwater Library. Photo by Emma Bell / The Concordian

The Quebec Writers Federation hosted a panel discussion on artificial intelligence.

On Sept. 21, the Quebec Writers Federation (QWF) held a writers’ panel titled AI and the Future of Writing at the Atwater Library Auditorium. As part of their Writing Matters campaign, the organization invited Professor Cheryl Chan, Professor Andrew Piper, and author Sean Michaels to discuss the academic, professional and emotional landscape surrounding this burgeoning new tool. 

Investigative journalist Julian Sher opened the talk with a colourful and poignant introduction, ironically written by ChatGPT. His subversive humor, wit and ease set a fantastic tone for the evening. 

The panel discussed the definition, benefits, fears and future applications of generative AI models. Piper defined generative AI models as a new power of memorization, a productive large-language models that are trained on data and produce information based on prompts.  Michaels likened AI to a mystical boulder in the forest that finishes your sentences, having used the tool to write part of his new fiction publication. Chan recounted her research into programming her own AI model. She argues that by analyzing how this technology accumulates information, one can question the dominant, normalized presentation of voice. Piper took a more relaxed approach, finding a cool, detached perspective to analyze the lack of and need for AI regulation. 

As the speakers bounced off each other, it became evident that they were pre-emptively answering to how we should think or feel about the way in which AI destabilizes a general idea of humanity and the human condition. The guests suggest that writers and academics should critically engage with discourse to avoid fear mongering a dystopian future. 

Chan contended that humans will always have a certain mystique and subjectivity, optimistically concluding that: “Fast food didn’t kill the chefs.” The public, therefore, should trust in the resiliency and counter-cultural ability of artists, creatives and writers.  

Michael asserted that the fears around AI don’t come from inherent danger within the technology itself but from the wider implications of this technology within a collectively predetermined economic structure. For the panel, the issue is not the fact that AI exists, but rather that it exacerbates the precarity and uncertainty that already exist in capitalism. Michaels suggests that there would be less of an anxiety surrounding job precarity brought on by AI if our economic system prioritized care and collective security.

While the group touched briefly on the effects of societal stratification and wealth inequality, there was curiously little discussion on how to make AI more accessible. While Piper was adamant that a safe use of AI should not replace but augment skills, the discussion did not provide pragmatic solutions to reach this goal. 

Sher guided the second portion of the evening into a Q&A session. The crowd provided plenty of thought-provoking comments. Whether the comments came from a struggling lyricist to a passionate teacher concerned with literacy in their classroom, the room was alive with nods of approval, murmurs of disgust and whispers of excitement. 

The evening closed with wine, cheese and a more nuanced understanding of the technology that pervades us.

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Student Life

A childhood love for fairy tales

Concordia alumna, winner of the 2017 Quebec Writers’ Federation Literary Prize, shares her journey to literary success

A graduate student in creative writing at Concordia University, an instructor at the Atwater Library and the winner of the 2017 Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) Literary Prize for Young Writers wait near the Hive Café for an interview. What do they have in common? They are the same person. What are they passionate about? Books.

Nicola Sibthorpe, a second-year master’s student, emanates an aura of deep affection and pride when she discusses books. “I’m a book a day kind of girl,” she said. When asked about how many books she had read in her lifetime, Sibthorpe responded: “I’ve read maybe 10,000 books?”

The exact number eluded her, but she estimated being the owner of approximately 3,500 books, while also being the “proud owner of a library card.” Sibthorpe grew up obsessed with folklore, fairy tales and myths. Her original passion was for Greek and Celtic mythology. She describes her enthusiasm for the genres as her “childhood love.” Sibthorpe remembers reading Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales in secret as a child because of their sad and gruesome nature, keeping her private reading interests from her parents.

These literary genres represent a familial connection for Sibthorpe, as they are “the same stories that your parents will tell you, that their grandparents told them and it really allows you to tie yourself back to your family in a specific way or a specific culture.”

The poem that won her the QWF Young Writers award encompasses many different themes. The format of this poem is conventionally different such as using spacing and parentheses to convey additional layers of meaning. It contains vivid imagery that can be interpreted a variety of ways, such as “Grief cause by absence/ (Used to flavour wine)” or “Think of radioactivity/ Chemicals seeping into water.”

When probed, Sibthorpe refused to provide an interpretation of her work, stating she believes that “truly the author is dead,” leaving it up to the reader’s imagination to shape the canon of her work. She recently submitted her proposal for her thesis consisting of a modern adaptation of The Odyssey set in Newfoundland and Montreal. She’s very fond of worldbuilding (creating alternate, fictional worlds) and the morals that one could derive from fairy tales, while also appreciating the darkness of original myths. In her spare time, Sibthorpe works on a young adult novel that she describes as “one of those [in a] magical world, [with] children exploring and learning and growing throughout that.”

Her goal is to write what she wants to read. She aspires to write the books that she would have liked to read growing up, that could have helped her as she faced her challenges.Sibthorpe thinks the world has changed a lot since the 19th century and today there are great differences in morals.She believes that fairy tales should reflect the current climate with modern and inclusive values. It’s not all serious though, she also likes books for their entertainment value and enjoys writing fun stories.

Her favourite pieces to write are the ones that subvert what people expect in a certain way “whether that’s through fairy tales, gender, sexuality or ways you can twist it in a certain way, I think that’s very fun.” When asked what work she was the most excited to work on, she didn’t need to think twice, she immediately answered “All of it? All of it, all of it!”

Sibthorpe is very optimistic when it comes to tackling new work despite it not necessarily being her own personal endeavour. She feels that every project she starts becomes a project that she wants to work on. “I think that passion is very important,” she said. “It’s about finding the ways that a project can become something interesting to you rather than starting off with the idea from the get-go that it’s something you love.”

Writing can be isolating for the author, but she finds that sometimes “it needs to be.” Sibthorpe is grateful to be in a program with likeminded people who share similar ambitions. This allows her to curb the feeling of loneliness by being in a room of other student writers, being “isolationists together,” she said with a smile.

“There are always ways to get yourself out there and experience stuff,” said Sibthorpe about Montreal, which she finds has a strong community of writers. Having such a community makes it easy for her to be inspired, due to the plethora of poetry readings or other literary and artistic events around the city.

Having grown up in a big family, Sibthorpe became accustomed to being surrounded by noise and activity, and she now likes to surround herself in environments that have something going on. If not, she always has a Spotify playlist with music from artists like Maggie Rogers or Firewood Island, a group that falls under the genre of ‘Celtic Viking’ music

Her academic ambition at the moment is to one day complete her PhD, but she tries to keep the future for the future. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, she avoids looking further than three months ahead. Sibthorpe thinks that what will happen in a year is too far away, but if she focuses on a smaller chunk of time, she can manage her expectations and duties better. In three months she’ll be visiting family in Newfoundland, catching up on some Netflix and working on her thesis.

Sibthorpe’s poem ‘Artemisia Absinthium’ can be read at here.  The 2018 QWF Literary Prize for Young Writers is open for submissions from until June 15. See here for more information.

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