Evolving schedule of writing classes, workshops, and retreats

2024

Writing Workshops

Online: “Writing for Children and for Young Adults” workshop with guest Karen Li, Publisher at Groundwood Books, Sunday, Sept 22. Details here.

***

September Writing Retreat 
Stretch out your summer in Algonquin Park at Arowhon Pines Resort, Tuesday, Sept 3 – Friday, Sept 6. Details here. (Probably full, but email me if you're interested.)

Fall Colours Writing Retreat 
At the Briars Resort on Lake Simcoe, Friday Oct 18 – Monday, Oct 21. Details here. (Yes, we still have space in this retreat!)

***

Fall Classes  

“Writing Kid Lit ~ The Next Level”
Online: Monday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m., Sept 30 – Dec 2, {or to Dec 9 if the course fills up}. Details here.

“Writing Personal Stories & Other Nonfiction” 
Online: Tuesday afternoons, October 8 – December 3 {or to Dec 10 if the class fills up. No class Oct 22.} Details here.

“Writing Personal Stories 101” 
In-person: Thursday evenings, November 7 – December 12 {or to Dec 19 if the class fills up.} Details here.

“(Not so) Extreme Creative Writing”
In-person: Thursday afternoons, Sept 19 – Dec 12, 2024 (Or to Dec 19 if the class fills up. No class Oct 3 or Oct 17) First readings emailed Sept 12. Details here. 

***

To reserve a spot or for more details about any course, workshop or retreat, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

“The Yukon Bar” by Barbara Crompton

 

I think of our time in the Yukon as sublime, but although the Yukon is part of Canada, my partner and I were foreigners.  This is the sacred land of indigenous people who have lived here for centuries. In July of 2022, though, Ian and I canoed the Yukon River, a 750-kilometer run from Whitehorse to Dawson City.  

Paddling around the bends, we were swept past towering cliffs, deep green canyons, eerie burnt-out landscapes, and breathtaking vistas. We had never been so completely immersed in such a remote location in all our lives.

That year the region had experienced a dramatic spring thaw with unprecedented water levels, flooding many of the campsites underwater or covering them with silt, making them uninhabitable. The river was also running extremely fast, something our years of lake water canoeing hadn’t prepared us for.

You wouldn’t last long in the glacial waters should you topple the boat, let alone manage to keep your gear from being swept away by the current.

By day six of our trip, we were pulling into Carmacks, an outpost for canoeists and tourists and we were giddy with the notion of being able to enjoy a hot shower and a cold beer before heading back out the next day.

There was a light and cheery vibration in the air amongst our fellow travelers. People were busy pulling up canoes, exchanging stories, packing food, and stretching their legs in the warm sun. Seeing the occasional familiar face of other travellers we’d seen on the river felt reassuring, as did the look of the hotel. 

The owners had decorated the front porch with hanging planters, all neatly lined up across the long entrance, bursting with pink geraniums.  The banisters and railings were freshly painted white, and the roadside had been raked to an even plain. Across the way was a large General Store with every manner of camping gear and hardware.

After checking in and depositing our suitcases, we headed into the bar for a much-anticipated beer. The place was dark and dated, with heavy wooded captain chairs and dirty plaid carpet.  The air was musty with the smell of spilt beer and years of poorly wiped down tables and chairs.

The bartender was a cheery French-Canadian fellow who greeted us kindly and took our orders.  We sat at the bar and reviewed the food menu.  There were a few tables with patrons but not many as it was later in the afternoon.  Some of the patrons were like us, canoeists stopping in on their way to Dawson City, while the others were locals, mostly from the Indigenous communities in the area. 

I was struck by the contrast between the tourists wearing their expensive urban gear of bright neon greens and blues against the local attire of heavy dark coats and pants. Tension hovered amidst the quiet as we moved to find a place at the bar. I don’t recall any music playing, just a quiet that felt off. Everyone kept to themselves, the locals at one table and a cluster of tourists at another. 

I looked sideways at the menu Ian was holding, pointing out options. If he sensed anything amiss, he didn’t let on.

Shortly after taking our seats, one of the locals, an indigenous man, came in. His small frame barely carried the oversized layers of clothing he was wearing, almost as if he was being consumed by its bulk. He had long dark shiny hair that reached to his mid back and I could see from his profile that he was young.   

Without looking at anyone, he walked straight to the bar, keeping his face hidden and down. I scanned the room.  My fellow patrons seemed to be leaning closer towards each other, purposely trying to avoid noticing.

The bartender asked, “How can I help you, my friend?” His manner seemed kind and I felt myself take a small sigh of relief.  There was a quiet exchange of words, and the bartender went off to the back room, a place beyond the rows of bottles that were crowded up against a mirrored wall. 

The young man was leaning with his arms over the bar, quietly waiting.  He didn’t once look up or make eye contact with anyone.  The bartender returned and passed the young man a paper bag and a carton of cigarettes.  A $100 bill come out of the young man’s pocket. The bartender pushed his change forward.

“I gave you a hundred-dollar bill,” the young man said. 

The bartender paused, said nothing but returned to the register to provide the correct change. Ian and I exchanged a look, “a side hustle” he mouthed in my direction.

I was trying to keep my eyes down and on the menu, but couldn’t help but take a sidelong glance.  The young man was handsome, striking even with chiseled features. His eyes passed over me but I had no sense he’d seen me. I wasn’t there to him, nor I suspect were any of the other people in the room.  It felt almost as if my attempt to meet his eyes felt disrespectful, as if in my glance, I had intruded. 

Turning to leave, the young man kept his eyes fixed on the exit, cutting a straight path through the few occupied tables. His elbow caught the arm of one of the tourists as he passed by with a notable bump. Neither of them acknowledged collision, he just kept walking to the exit.

This place – neither the town of Carmacks nor its only bar – was a destination point. It was a pass-through, a bubble of modern conveniences set down amongst the ancestral hunting and fishing lands of eleven distinct indigenous nations. 

The tourists we met came from cities in North American or Europe. They’d come in Kevlar canoes, shiny cars and in air-conditioned busses.  They dominated the space with their large gestures and loud voices and barely noticed the locals, who slipped silently amongst them, like ghosts haunting the few buildings that had been oddly placed on their traditional land. 

In this place where two worlds intersected, we were not entirely welcome.

***

Barbara Crompton is a retired business owner, yoga enthusiast, backcountry explorer and mother of two beautiful intrepid daughters. Her passion is travelling the wilderness of Canada with her partner Ian and gathering stories from those experiences and the people she meets.  Barbara lives in Oakville, Ontario.

Read more short pieces by your fellow writers here (and scroll down).

See Brian Henry’s upcoming one-day workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats here. 

 

You're invited to the book launch for Zebra Girl by Pearl Lee and Vunga by Frank Banfield

Hi, Brian.

Just wondering if any of our classmates or your other students who live near London might like to join me and Frank for our joint book launch.

It’s this Friday, July 26

11 a.m.

TAP Centre for Creativity

203 Dundas Street, London, Ontario (Map here)

Pearl

For more information about Pearl’s novel, Zebra Girl, or to buy a copy, see here.

For more information about Frank’s memoir of growing up in Granada, Vunga: Tales of an Island Boy, or to buy a copy, see here.

See information about upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day retreats here.

For more about new books and book launches from your fellow authors, see here (and scroll down).

Kudos to Margaret, Laurie, Norma and Grant!

If you’ve had a story (or a book!) published, if you’ve won or placed in a writing contest, if you’ve gotten yourself an agent, or if you have any other news, send me an email so I can share your success. As writers, we’re all in this together, and your good news gives us all a boost. 

Also, be sure to let know if you're looking for a writers' group or beta readers; a notice in Quick Brown Fox, will help you find them. 

Email me at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

 

Hello, Brian.

This is the cover of my new book coming out this September (and a couple quotes for the back cover). It's a collection of personal stories recalling my own adventures in the outdoors as well as a variety of my experiences as an outdoor educator. 

Stay tuned for further details!

Grant Linney

"Most children today grow up in an urban setting increasingly caught up in an electronic virtual world. Grant Linney’s life journey and essays are powerful reminders that nature is our home, the real world that provides all of our biological and spiritual needs and confers the sheer joy of our existence." ~David Suzuki, Grandfather.

Outdoor Magic is a doorway into a lifetime of nature wisdom.  Grant shares some of his own transformative experiences and then lets us in on innumerable tricks of the trade.  From late night meanders to pre-dawn canoeing to forest running, he shows us that it's still possible to incorporate moments of natural wonder in our own lives and in our students' lives.  Cozy up with this book on a rainy afternoon and plan your next outing with children. ~David Sobel, Author, Education Professor Emeritus, Antioch University New England

 

Hi, Brian.

I hope you’re well and enjoying the summer. I’ve had two essays accepted and want to share my news with you and thank you for your help and inspiration!

“The Beads Didn’t Speak English Either” will be published in the White Wall Review. It’s a story about my first day of school when I didn’t know many English words and met up with an unsympathetic teacher (but sympathetic and colourful wooden beads!).

“Finding Filomena” will be published by Chicago Story Press in an anthology about family. This story is about my late mother, her journey to Canada, and my relationship with her. I shared it in one of your intensive writing classes. The feedback I received from you and my fellow students helped me a great deal. I am forever grateful.

Stay well,

Norma Gardner

 

Hi, Brian.

I just wanted to let you know that my second novel has just been published. Finding Home follows two characters in early Canada. Sarah, a servant orphaned in London in 1869, desperately seeks family. Richard, the disgraced son of an Ontario sawmill owner, must redeem himself, then make his own way. Their journeys are brought together by a group of Home Children.

Finding Home also pulls back the curtain on many issues of the time: class differences, Protestant/Catholic friction, homophobia, racism and the treatment of child immigrants.

Although my first novel, The Medal, was published by Borealis Press, I decided to self-publish this book. Its success has already necessitated a second printing. A positive review in The Kingstonist led to a TV interview, and my book talks and presentations have been universally well received.  I was delighted that Upper Canada Village purchased 24 copies to sell in their Village Store. I’m looking forward to upcoming events and book club visits.

Finding Home is available at Novel Idea in Kingston, Books on Main in Bath, Trousdales General Store in Sydenham, and Spark Books and Curios in Perth as well as in local libraries. 

Laurie Ness Gordon
www.laurienessgordon.com

 Hello, Brian.

Some good news!

During the online session of your Intensive Writing Course I participated in last winter, I wrote a short story, titled, “Sylvia.” In the spring, directly following the course, I turned it into a one-act play. Although, I had experience writing other plays, it was the first time I'd tried my hand at turning a short story into a play. 

I submitted “Sylvia” into our local One Act Play Festival and was thrilled to learn it had been accepted. The owners of the theatre company paid me for the rights to perform “Sylvia” sometime next year. I can't wait! 

Thank you, Brian, and to all of those in the class who gave me some valuable feedback and encouragement for this story.

Margaret Ruttan

***

See all my upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day  retreats here. ~Brian

See more good news from your fellow writers here (and scroll down).

Note: You can now get new postings on Quick Brown Fox delivered straight to your Inbox as I publish them. Subscribe to the new Quick Brown Fox page on Substack here:  https://brian999.substack.com/

 

"Dear Brian" ~ a love letter about my Personal Stories courses

Dear Brian,

It's my third session as part of your Personal Stories classes, and I want to take a moment to thank you for what has become a transformational experience for me. Although I've been writing since I was very young, this course has been a different level of understanding for me of what it means to be a storyteller. 

For me, the classes are part therapy, part safe space for sharing, and most importantly, they’ve brought me the realization that all of us human beings are, at heart, storytellers. Some of the stories I write are amusing, some are sad, but all of them bring back memories and a different perspective on experiences through the different decades of my life. 

Your ability to teach and mentor, critique and praise, is something I look forward to each week.  There's always that brief moment when I think that I have nothing to say, and then you provide a few prompts, and the words simply flow.

Thank you for providing a weekly moment of joy, introspection and sharing.

Warmest regards,

Aldona Barysas

See all of my upcoming weekly writing classes {including Personal Stories courses}, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here. ~Brian

“Israel plays Canada in a softball game, and the anti-Israel crowd goes even crazier ~ Not to mention they also have a list of authors to hate” by Brian Henry

Team Israel

On July 4 in Surrey, BC, pro-Palestinian protesters (as the media likes to call them) showed up at a softball game to scream at the girls on the field and the adults and kids who’d come to watch the game. 

Why? Because Canada was playing Israel in the Canada Cup Women’s International Softball Championship, and these protestors don’t accept Israelis anywhere. Not in Canada, not in Israel, not on this earth.

They also don’t much like Jews. They screamed at the parents and kids in the stands – not Israelis, just local Jews who’d come to cheer for team Israel – calling them war criminals (here).

A seven-year-old watching a softball game doesn’t control Israel’s war against Hamas, even if she is Jewish. Neither do her parents. Nor do the kids playing softball, all in their late teens or early twenties, some Israeli, others American of Israeli ancestry.

But to the anti-Israel crowd, none of that matters.

The protest was promoted online by the Vancouver chapter of the Samidoun Prisoner Solidarity Network, the same group that called the Oct. 7 Hamas attack “heroic and brave,” the same group that called to “end this nightmare called Israel,” the same group that Israel identifies as a terrorist group and that Germany has banned (here).

Team Samidoun

This is also the same group that’s calling for the Nakba to be taught in schools. They’re allied with Parents4Palestine and the Palestinian Youth Movement, which is Samidoun’s arm for pulling young people into the pro-terrorism orbit. 

The Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe) was the displacement of several hundred thousand Palestinian Arabs caused by the war Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab states launched to destroy Israel in the moment of its birth.

They lost.

In the Palestinian understanding, winning that war is Israel’s original sin which must be undone by wiping Israel off the map. And this is the history of the Nakba that will be taught in schools if any province is foolish enough to allow terrorism-supporting groups to dictate the curriculum.

That eventuality may sound far-fetched but the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation has petitioned the BC government to do exactly that.

Coincidently (I’m sure), the BC Teachers Federation is the subject of a human rights complaint for on-going and pervasive antisemitism (here).

Also, Nakba Day has already been added to the Peel School Board’s Days of Significance Calendar. (For more about Nakba Day, see here.)

These same groups that call for Palestinian propaganda to be taught in schools as history also agitate for schools to adopt polices against anti-Palestinian racism.

Along with the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, their notion of anti-Palestinian racism (APR as it’s called) includes any disagreement with Palestinian “narratives.” So, for example, I’ve already committed anti-Palestinian racism in this article by writing truthfully about the Nakba.

As for saying the Nakba (as understood by Palestinian propagandists) shouldn’t be taught in schools? They say that’s also anti-Palestinian racism.

Objecting to the obvious antisemitism of protesting a Jewish hospital? That’s anti-Palestinian racism, too (here).

Terrorism supporting group Toronto4Palestine protests at Jewish hospital

Calling out a teacher for distributing materials promoting terrorism and Jew-hatred? Again, that’s anti-Palestinian racism (here).

Thinking it’s okay to deport a terrorist? More anti-Palestinian racism (here).

This list could go on a long time, because here’s how this game is played: if you disagree with the anti-Israel mob, you’re an anti-Palestinian racist.

Currently, the Toronto School Board has adopted the term “anti-Palestinian racism” and is trying to figure out how to apply it. If the school board is acting in good faith (a big if), then they’re on a fool’s errand. The concept of anti-Palestinian racism is simply a club to beat on anyone who supports Israel’s existence. 

Of course, Palestinians should be protected against discrimination. Fortunately, they already are.

These days, Canadians tend to think of discrimination in terms of race and sexual orientation or identity. But section 3(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act also forbids discrimination based on national or ethnic origin. Similarly, the Ontario Human Rights Code forbids discrimination based on citizenship, place of origin, ethnic origin, or ancestry.

The Toronto School Board should recall they’re already bound by this obligation towards Palestinians – and also toward Israelis. Because surely, Israelis suffer far greater discrimination. For example, pro-Palestinians promote a boycott of Israelis (or Jewish Israelis, to be precise) – and they try to bully Canadians to go along with their boycott.

Besides seeing the “pro-Palestinian” mob show up to scream at teenagers playing softball, in recent months, we’ve also seen them harass diners at Café Landwer, a Jewish-owned, Israel-based restaurant with a few locations in Toronto. They banged on the windows and chanted, “Boycott! Boycott!” 

The Landwers are familiar with this sort of intimidation and with calls for an anti-Jewish boycott, having been chased out of Germany by the Nazis in the 1930s. (More here.)

The mob also hates Aroma restaurants, Sabra hummus, SodaStream soft-drink makers, and Israeli wines. My daughter and I did a whole tour of Toronto, sampling yummy Israeli food and drink you’re supposed to boycott (here).

Brian Henry guilty of eating Zionist gelato

Similarly, the anti-Israel students and their supporters who have been camping out on university campuses to protest Israel’s ongoing existence have all demanded their universities cut academic exchanges and other ties with Israeli universities. Naturally, this means cutting ties with students and staff of those universities. The anti-Israel students also demand their universities cut any investments they may have with Israeli companies.

Beyond that, the pro-Palestinians also target anyone who supports Israel’s existence. For example, Israel-haters at the University of Ottawa convinced the university to retract a lecture invitation to Dr. Daniel Drucker.

Dr. Drucker runs a research lab at Mount Sinai Hospital, and the Nobel Prize Committee may well award him for his work developing anti-diabetes medicine. But Drucker is also Jewish, the son of Holocaust survivors, and a Zionist; that is, like other decent people who’ve given it a thought, he believes Israel should exist. Hence, his disinvitation.

U of O eventually realized the notion of “Jewish science” went out of fashion along with the Nazis. If he can cure diabetes, they decided, Drucker can give a talk, even if he does support Jews having a state. They reinvited him, and naturally, “pro-Palestinian” protesters interrupted his lecture. (More here.)

Dr. Daniel Drucker guilty of practicing Zionist medicine

Beyond Israelis and Jews and anyone else who supports Israel’s existence, the anti-Israel crowd tries to extend its bullying to everyone who doesn’t fully agree with them.

Hence, they’re now calling on Canadians to boycott the universities many of them attend. In the assessment of anti-Israel campers and their allies, the following universities do not sufficiently loathe Israelis:

McGill, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), University of Alberta, University of Edmonton, University of Manitoba, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, and York University. 

I don’t know where the anti-Israel protesters expect to go to school.

Also, they want you to stop drinking coffee, as both Starbucks and Tim Horton’s have committed the crime of not being explicitly anti-Israel.

And forget ordering out; you’re supposed to boycott Uber Eats.

Also boycott Walmart, the Bay, and Costco.  

Travelling’s problematic, too. You’re supposed to boycott Airbnb, Expedia, TripAdvisor, and for some random reason, the Aga Khan Museum.

Performers who book a concert in Israel always get deluged with calls not to go. Most go anyway. So now we’re supposed to boycott Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Stevie Wonder, Ballet BC, and many others.

Incinerate your Leonard Cohen CDs and records. Not only did Cohen perform in Israel several times, but in 1973 when Egypt and Syria invaded Israel on Yom Kippur, Cohen went to Israel to do his part by playing for soldiers.

Leonard Cohen guilty of performing for Israeli soldiers during Yom Kippur War, 1973

Forget putting money in a bank – buy a secure mattress. The banks all have investments in Israel. And boycott the Giller Prize for best Canadian novel while you’re at it; Scotiabank sponsors it, you know.

If you want to know which books to burn, you can find helpful lists online; such as the X [Twitter] account “Zionists in Publishing.” On that site, a follower objected to labelling Neil Gaiman a Zionist (author of American Gods, Coraline, etc.). The account owner replied, “As long as he believes Israel has the right to exist, he's a Zionist” (here).

Canadian authors also make the burn-their-books lists, including Emily St. John Mandel, author of the acclaimed novel Station Eleven. A colour-coded spread sheet circulating online, indicates which novelists you should read (because they’re pro-Palestinian) and which are damned. Mandel’s sin? “Travels to Israel frequently, talks favorably about it.” 

Emily St. John Mandel guilty of saying nice things about Israel

But to get shunned, an author doesn’t need to go to Israel or even say anything nice about it.  All an author needs is a deal with an Israeli publisher or a single social media post.

Author Annabel Monaghan (author of Nora Goes Off Script, Summer Romance, etc.) committed just such a crime with her Instagram post on Oct 12. She expressed concern for Jewish friends who were alarmed by Hamas’s attack (six days earlier) and by the deluge of worldwide antisemitism inspired by that attack (here). 

Finally, do not object to the boycott movement. Dania Majid is the Chair of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association. That’s the group which developed the definition of anti-Palestinian racism. She says that objecting to the boycott movement is – you guessed it – yet another example of anti-Palestinian racism.

So, you must favour discriminating against Israelis and against Jews and anyone else who supports Israel’s existence and indeed against every person and every company that’s not actively anti-Israel. Sorry, if you don’t, you’re an anti-Palestinian racist.

***

This piece was originally published on the Canadian Zionist Forum.

Read more of my essays here (and scroll down). ~Brian