The Art of Craft: Trans Brilliance Edition
A discussion on the craft of writing with four award-winning authors. [CC]
Session Description
This all-star panel showcases the technical brilliance of four award-winning trans writers at the top of their game: Ali Blythe, Gwen Benaway, Kai Cheng Thom and Casey Plett share their wisdom on developing prose and poetry that shine with moderator Jia Qing Wilson-Yang. Aspiring and experienced writers, come prepared to take notes as these critically acclaimed authors show us how it’s done.
Sunday, May 3rd : 12:00pm – 1:30pm EST
This event takes place online and is free to attend, but space is limited so we encourage you to register now.
THIS EVENT IS OVER 60% FULL [ REGISTER NOW ]
Featured Speaker(s)
Gwen Benaway
Gwen Benaway is a trans girl of Anishinaabe and Métis descent. She has published three collections of poetry, Ceremonies for the Dead, Passage, and Holy Wild, and was the editor for an anthology of fantasy short stories, Maiden Mother and Crone: Fantastical Trans Femmes. Her writing has been critically acclaimed and widely published in Canada. She was a finalist for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ writers from the Writer’s Trust of Canada, the Lambda Literary Award for Trans Poetry, and the National Magazine Awards and Digital Publishing Awards for her personal essay, A Body Like A Home. Her fourth collection of poetry, Aperture, is forthcoming from Book*hug in Spring 2020. She is also currently editing a book of creative non-fiction, trans girl in love, forthcoming from Strange Light in 2020. She lives in Toronto, Ontario and is a Ph.D student at the University of Toronto in the Women and Gender Studies Institute.
Gwen is appearing in The Art of Craft: Trans Brilliance Edition.
Ali Blythe
Ali Blythe is author of two critically acclaimed books exploring trans-poetics: Twoism and Hymnswitch. A Quill & Quire starred review said “Blythe delivers taut yet expansive hymns from ‘the golden-throated era / of the hormone’” and the Puritan said it’s “exciting to see a writer so conscious of building a body of work within and across collections, pursuing not just a set of ideas and concerns but an artistic vision.” His poems and essays are published in Canada, England, Germany and Slovenia.
Ali is appearing in The Art of Craft: Trans Brilliance Edition.
Casey Plett
Casey Plett wrote the novel Little Fish, the short story collection A Safe Girl to Love, and co-edited the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers. She is a winner of the Amazon First Novel Award, the ALA Stonewall Book Award Barbara Gittings Literature Prize, and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award. She has written for The New York Times, The Walrus, McSweeney’s, Maclean’s, and Rookie, among other publications.
Casey is appearing in the Grad Track, The Power and Politics of Prizes, and The Art of Craft: Trans Brilliance Edition.
Kai Cheng Thom
Kai Cheng Thom is a writer, performer, lasagna lover and wicked witch based in Toronto, unceded Indigenous territory. She is the author of several award-winning works, including the poetry collection a place called No Homeland, the children’s book From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, and the forthcoming essay collection I HOPE WE CHOOSE LOVE: A Trans Girl’s Notes From the End of the World.
Jia Qing Wilson-Yang
Jiaqing Wilson-Yang is a Toronto based writer. Her work has appeared in Room Magazine, Carte Blanche, Maisonneuve, Ricepaper Magazine, and Poetry is Dead. Her novel, Small Beauty, won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Transgender Fiction and received an Honour of Distinction from the Writer’s Trust of Canada.
Jia will be moderating The Art of Creaft: Trans Brilliance Edition.
