Writing With Style (Spring)

"My Banff experience was magical; this alternate universe and the excellent faculty and participants encouraged technical experimentation, provided artistic nourishment, and has helped create a sustainable practice for my future projects. What a gift!"
Kristyn Dunnion, 2012 Writing With Style

About Writing With Style

Writing With Style is a unique opportunity for writers to participate in a week-long workshop at The Banff Centre, a setting for artists that is both inspiring and productive. Whether you have attended many writing workshops or this is your first, Writing With Style will be an intense and transformative experience. Amidst a diverse community of writers, you will encounter new ideas and gain confidence in your own style and voice, while shaping and editing your work-in-progress under the guidance of an experienced writer and editor. The program offers a variety of activities designed to maximize the artistic growth of each writer. Participants will enjoy morning group sessions led by a faculty member, in which their work is read and discussed by the other writers in the program. Afternoons are left free for writing and one-on-one meetings and consultations with faculty. Participants are also invited to take part in evening readings with faculty and fellow writers.

Work Spaces

Participants are housed in single rooms that also serve as their private work spaces. Writers should bring their own computers or laptops, as well as software, if they wish to use a computer on a full-time basis in their rooms. A PC and a Macintosh computer are available for general email and printing purposes. Photocopying services are available at several public locations, and free wireless internet access is available throughout the campus.

Writing Genres and Editing

Applicants must apply to work on a project in one of the groups of writing genres offered in the workshop (an alternate genre my also be selected). For the Spring workshop, these include: first chapter novel, poetry, writing for children, creative non-fiction. See Fall workshop writing genres.  

Be aware that owing to time constraints, Writing With Style does not provide writers an opportunity to edit a novel with their faculty editor. Applicants working on a novel-length manuscript can expect to workshop one chapter.

Who Should Apply

This workshop is open to writers of all levels, and offers an excellent creative and technical development opportunity regardless of the amount of prior experience you have. If you are seeking an intensive week of writing and opportunity to work with a well established writer in your genre of writing, this workshop is for you. Past participants of the program have represented both published, and yet-to-be published writers from every part of Canada, as well as some international writers. For more specifics, see the Eligibility section.

Arrival and Departure Dates

Participants should plan to arrive in Banff on Saturday, April 20, 2013, and depart on Sunday, April 28, 2013.

Suggested Reading

In 1999, the Banff Centre Press published Meltwater — a collections of fiction and poetry from the Writing Studio programs at The Banff Centre. The collection includes some of the programs’ most accomplished writers and showcases work that grew from their Banff writing experience. In Thing Feigned or Imagined: The Craft in Fiction, internationally acclaimed author and Wired Writing Studio director Fred Stenson draws on a career of writing and mentoring to offer an engaging take on the craft in fiction. Both can be purchased through your local bookstore or the Banff Centre Press.

Want to extend your stay?

Self-directed Writing Residencies run year-round and provide the time and space for focused work. Extend your stay before or after this program by applying for a Self-directed Residency.