The Knowlton Literary Association and the Bishop’s University Life Long Learning Academy’s (BULLA) Write Here, Write Now (WHWN) program have teamed up to offer a “flash writing” workshop in Brome Lake with the hope that participants will find a new passion for writing. 

The Knowlton Literary Association organizes the annual Knowlton Literary Festival, the only English-language literary festival between Montreal and Quebec City. The Knowlton Literary Festival is all about providing high-quality programming and activities to highlight the literary culture of the English-speaking community. 

The WHWN program offers monthly writing workshops from January to June and then from September to November in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, etc., to encourage and support people in their writing process and their will to learn. The program is open to all Townshippers.

Throughout the flash workshop participants will have the chance to discover different genres of flash writing, the structural elements involved in flash writing, the opportunity to chat with other writers, and more. Those that participate in the workshop will also be encouraged to submit their work to the WHWN’s “flash anthology” competition. 

The workshop is free and it will take place this Saturday, March 25 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m at the Centre Lac-Brome, 270 rue Victoria, Knowlton, 

“WHWN began as a Townshippers’ (Townshippers’ Association) project and it received federal funding, but of course federal funding runs out. In 2020 that was about to happen. I went to Wade Lynch, who was in charge of BULLA at that time, and I said ‘would you like to sponsor us?’ He agreed and that’s how we came to work with BULLA,” said Jan Draper, workshops facilitator for WHWN. 

WHWN’s partnership with the Knowlton Literary Festival developed after Draper approached the group last fall. 

“Last fall, Rebecca and I were both working on the ‘Townships’ Young Voices’ project (a program that promotes writing and creativity amongst  youth 12-29 years old) with the Townships Sun. We thought it would be a really cool idea to have a workshop that would publicize both WHWN and Townships Young Voices,” explained Draper. “We contacted Jane Livingston (president of the Knowlton Literary Festival) just a little bit too late. She said ‘we can’t fit it in then, but we’d be happy to do it later so here we are.”

The idea to hold a flash writing workshop stemmed from WHWN’s decision to have a “flash anthology” competition. 

“The competition closes April 11 and then any submissions that are accepted will be published in autumn as a part of an e-book or a paperback book. (…) We were talking as facilitators at WHWN about what sort of things we enjoyed writing right now. I think all of us were like you know what, I like short things at the moment. I don’t want to sit in front of a computer and do a whole big project,” mentioned Rebecca Welton, a workshop facilitator for WHWN. 

Welton added that what makes flash writing fun is that people are able to “play around with it” and that it’s immediate.

“You can do it in like an hour and at the end of that hour you’re like I did that. I’ve completed that, I’ve done that, I’ve achieved that. I achieved something today, I’ve done a whole complete piece of work,” she said. “There are so many places that you can submit your pieces work to get published, there are so many different places that are looking for flash. I think it’s a huge opportunity.”

This weekend’s workshop is going to cover “lots of things,” according to Welton. 

“We’re going to cover the different structures and the different elements to writing flash, but then we’re also going to look at the different types of flash ands the different genres. We’re going to look at memoir flash, we’re going to look at writing humour, (…) and then we’re also going to look at some suspense and mystery,” highlighted Welton. 

Participants will also be introduced as to where they can submit their flash pieces of work for publication if interested. 

“There will be plenty of time for them to try it out. (…) There is going to be time for them to share if they want, it’s not mandatory, but if they would like to share it with everybody else they will then get feedback from us and the other participants. (…) And also, we’re obviously going to be encouraging them to submit to the WHWN flash anthology competition,” said Welton. 

Those interested in participating in the workshop can call Brome Lake Books at 450-242-2242 or by going to the Knowlton Literary Festival’s website.

For more information on flash writing and this weekend’s upcoming workshop in Knowlton listen to the full interview below: