Collecting Stories: Short Fiction as Strategy with Véronique Darwin

Short stories are the heart of fiction: this form encourages attention to detail and precision of language, allows for experiments in both technique and story mechanics, and results in memorable characters and situations. When stories are collected together, they begin to say something more—they predict a writer’s subject matter and literary approach. In this workshop, we’ll use three sample stories as model forms to begin writing our own. We will then pull at threads of connection between the pieces we’ve started to build direction in our writing practices. -- Véronique Darwin recently released Mom Camp, an interconnected short story collection, through Assembly Press; before that, stories of hers appeared in McSweeney ’s Quarterly Concern and PRISM International, and she was runner-up for the 2024 Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph, where she completed a mentorship with Sheila Heti. Her humour pieces and essays about writing have appeared in Geist, carte blanche, and Porter House Review, and she has written book reviews for EVENT, The Fiddlehead, and the Literary Review of Canada. She just moved to Vancouver after spending a decade writing, teaching, and making theatre with friends in the mountain town of Rossland, British Columbia. -- This class is supported by the Canadian Poetry Fund, a local donor-advised fund which fosters accessible public education outreach for poetry and other forms of creative writing. -- Accessibility: VPL is committed to making our programs accessible for all. If you have an access need that we have not addressed here, please email us at programs@vpl.ca. Elevator access to Room 862 is through the patron elevators. The expected noise level is moderate. Quiet Tables are available for patrons who would prefer to enjoy the class without talking to others. For more information on physical access, view the Accessibility information on the Central Library page.