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Willis at Kogawa House
Historic Joy Kogawa House proudly announces Victoria author Deborah Willis as our 2012 writer-in-residence.
Deborah Willis was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. Her short fiction has appeared in Grain, Event, Prism International, and The Walrus. Her first book, Vanishing and Other Stories, was named one of the Globe and Mail's Best Books of 2009, and was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in British Columbia and the Governor General's Award. Willis resides in Victoria, B.C., but will live and work at Historic Joy Kogawa House from January 15 to April 15, 2012.
"I'm so pleased to have the chance to live in the Joy Kogawa House,"; says Willis, who will work on her second collection of stories during her residency. The mandate of the house states that writers-in-residence will spend sixty percent of their time writing and forty percent on community outreach. "The personal, private work of writing is balanced by time spent on community programs. It's a wonderful way for me to experience living in Vancouver.";
Willis will work with three community groups, offering a four-week writing program for teens from local high schools, a reading program for newcomers to Canada in partnership with the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Centre, and co-facilitating writing workshops for sex workers and former sex workers in partnership with Aaron Golbeck of Downtown Eastside Studio Society. She will also run a writing workshop for children, with Sarah Maitland, in the KidSafe Writers' Room at Queen Alexandra Elementary School.
Deborah Willis was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. Her short fiction has appeared in Grain, Event, Prism International, and The Walrus. Her first book, Vanishing and Other Stories, was named one of the Globe and Mail's Best Books of 2009, and was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in British Columbia and the Governor General's Award. Willis resides in Victoria, B.C., but will live and work at Historic Joy Kogawa House from January 15 to April 15, 2012.
"I'm so pleased to have the chance to live in the Joy Kogawa House,"; says Willis, who will work on her second collection of stories during her residency. The mandate of the house states that writers-in-residence will spend sixty percent of their time writing and forty percent on community outreach. "The personal, private work of writing is balanced by time spent on community programs. It's a wonderful way for me to experience living in Vancouver.";
Willis will work with three community groups, offering a four-week writing program for teens from local high schools, a reading program for newcomers to Canada in partnership with the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Centre, and co-facilitating writing workshops for sex workers and former sex workers in partnership with Aaron Golbeck of Downtown Eastside Studio Society. She will also run a writing workshop for children, with Sarah Maitland, in the KidSafe Writers' Room at Queen Alexandra Elementary School.
Submitted on February 2, 2012 in By David.
