Do you have a story to tell? Perhaps your own? Looking for a reason to visit beautiful Nova Scotia? Then do not miss this opportunity to meet and learn from Ian Ferrier, one of the core writer/performers in the North American performance literature scene. Despite a hectic schedule of performance, collaboration and event organization that has him ever on the move, Ferrier will be offering two very different writing courses this summer in the coastal town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia known for the world’s highest tides and described by National Geographic magazine as “the prettiest place to watch the Bay of Fundy tides sweep in and out.”
The first, Writing the Story of Your Life, is a 3-day workshop (July 26-28) which will use a very open mind to help each participant choose the best way to bring writing into his or her life—from journals to offhand storytelling to serious works of poetry or prose. It is open to anyone who wants to engage writing as a tool for discovering the meaning and excitement in life. To find out more and to register, CLICK HERE.
The second, The Voice of the Writer, is a 5-day workshop (July 29 -August 2) intended for writers who want to develop the range, beauty and breadth of their own voice. It sees print as the typescript for an unruly talker who breaks out of the page and announces her or his discoveries to the world. It examines how even the most sophisticated writers in the language are grounded in voice, even if it is only a voice heard in the mind. It is open to writers of poetry and prose as well as spoken word artists, to anyone looking at how to use a tool that still rules in the literature of the 21st century. To find out more and to register, CLICK HERE.
Ian Ferrier’s work is well-known across Canada, New York and Europe. Rooted in poetry, his live performances are a haunting blend of acoustic guitar, choir; whispered voice, and the trancelike music of a band called Pharmakon MTL. His signature is the quiet, compelling voice at the centre of every piece. His first CD/book, Exploding Head Man, received national acclaim. Rooted in the spellbound winters of his childhood, it took a passionate look at love, sex and death against a background of the falling snow; representing the best of three years of collaborations with musicians from Montreal and New York. What is this Place? features two collaborations with the trance/improv band Pharmakon MTL, two solo works, and nine collaborations between Ferrier and a starstudded list of top Quebec musicians, including Jean Derome, Normand Guilbealt, Pierre Tanguay, Sam Shalabi, André Asselin, Bryan Highbloom, Kathy Kennedy and Gordon Krieger. Recently his work featured on Australia’s Going Down Slow CD and literature anthology, in Canadian Theatre Review and in the Review of the Americas special issue on Canadian Literature. Stories of his can be found in Telling Stories and the anthology You and Your Bright Ideas (both Vehicule Press). Impure-Reinventing the Word is a book from Conundrum Press that documents the literary scene of which he is a part, and you can find his poems and music in the Short Fuse anthology from Rattapallax Press and the Poetry Nation anthology from Vehicule. Ian Ferrier also co-founded the Mile End Poets’ Festival, the online performance review litlive.ca, and the poetry/music label Wired on Words which won public radio’s Standard Broadcasting Award in its first year. To Call Out in the Night, his most recent CD with Pharmakon MTL, can be heard at at CBC Music. He resides in Montreal, where he hosts the city’s monthly Words & Music literature series, and remains on the board of the Quebec Writers’ Federation as their past president. Ferrier’s work in the spoken word community was recognized at the 2011 Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, where he received a national poetry award called the Golden Beret. Want to know more? Check out these links about Ian Ferrier and what he does…