June 22 – 24, 2012

(Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon)

During this weekend of conversation, guided writing exercises, and on-the-spot writing/workshopping, we will be focusing on various aspects of the short story. We will discuss the genesis of stories, how to facilitate their gestation from impulse to first draft, how to revise them, and when and how to publish.

The workshop will begin at 4 pm on Friday afternoon, followed by dinner at the Wintergreen lodge. Delicious gourmet meals will be served throughout the weekend, ending with lunch on Sunday. You will also have opportunities to explore the land around of Wintergreen–200 acres of forests, ponds, meadows, water, and granite outcrops. The workshop itself will close by 4 pm on Sunday afternoon.

About the Instructor

Steven Heighton is the author of the novel Afterlands, which has appeared in six countries; was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a best book of the year selection in ten publications in Canada, the US, and the UK; and has been optioned for film. His first novel, The Shadow Boxer, was a Canadian bestseller and a Publishers’ Weekly book of the year for 2002. In 2010 he published two books: a poetry collection, Patient Frame, and a novel, Every Lost Country, which was cited on best of the year lists in the Globe & Mail, Maisonneuve, and on Amazon.ca. It has also been optioned for film, and has just appeared in Dutch translation. Heighton’s fiction and poetry are translated into ten languages; have appeared in London Review of Books, Poetry, Tin House, Malahat Review, Brick, TLR, Agni, and Revue Europe; have been internationally anthologised (Best English Stories, Best of Best English Stories, Best Canadian Stories, Modern Canadian Poets); and have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award. He has received the Gerald Lampert Award, The Petra Kenney Prize, the Air Canada Award, the P.K. Page Award, and four gold and one silver medals in the National Magazine Awards (1992, fiction; 2004, poetry; 2008, fiction; 2010; fiction; 2011, poetry). In 2002–2003 he was the writer-in-residence at Concordia University, in 2004 at the University of Toronto, in 2009 at the University of Ottawa, and in 2010 at CMR/RMC in Kingston. He has also been an instructor at the Summer Literary Seminars in St Petersburg, Russia, and at the Banff School for the Arts.

Tuition: $295. HST extra.

Accommodation and meals for the duration of the workshop (two nights and six meals): $225 (tenting p.p.), $275 (bunks p.p.), $295 (shared rooms or cabins, p.p.), $375 (double bed, single occupancy), $525 (double bed, shared). For those staying off-site, facilities and meals are an additional $175. Out of town participants wishing to arrive Thursday, June 21 (the night before the workshop begins) should add $95 for the extra night, dinner, and breakfast. HST extra.

Workshop registration closes June 2, 2012.

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6:00 p.m.

Acclaimed Kingston-based author, Steven Heighton, will inspire and provoke audience members with a public reading on Saturday, June 23, at Wintergreen Studios. Guests will enjoy a gourmet feast, followed by Steven’s reading. Steven will read from two recently published books, Workbook and The Dead are More Visible. The first of these works explores the writer’s life, and The Dead are More Visible is a collection of short stories, to be released in the spring of 2012.

Steven Heighton is the author of the novel Afterlands, which has appeared in six countries; was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a best book of the year selection in ten publications in Canada, the US, and the UK; and has been optioned for film. His first novel, The Shadow Boxer, was a Canadian bestseller and a Publishers’ Weekly book of the year for 2002. Heighton’s fiction and poetry are translated into ten languages; have appeared in London Review of Books, Malahat Review, Brick, TLR, Agni, and Revue Europe, among others; and have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award. He has received the Gerald Lampert Award, The Petra Kenney Prize, the Air Canada Award, the P.K. Page Award, and four gold and one silver medals in the National Magazine Awards.

Dinner and Concert: $40 (HST included)

Dinner, Concert, Overnight Accommodation and Breakfast: $120 (HST extra)

(Monday lunch through Friday afternoon)

Are you ready to spend time exploring prose and poetry with other writers, under the guidance of acclaimed writer and teacher, Helen Humphreys? Then this writers’ workshop is for you. You will try new writing techniques and exercises, and learn how the land can inspire new work and new ways of seeing. For the third summer running, Helen and her dog Charlotte will live at Wintergreen for a week in July. Join us for the writing, for the food, for the conversation, and for the feeling of renewal that the week is sure to provide.

Your workshop will begin with lunch at Wintergreen on Monday. Following your first meal together, Helen will spend the afternoon getting to know the interests of the group and leading you through some initial writing exercises. By the end of the first evening, she will draw up a schedule of one-on-one sessions to take place sometime during the workshop. You will be creating new work during your time at Wintergreen, and there will be opportunities to shape earlier work as well. Helen will read up to 10 pages from each participant in advance of the workshop for those of you who wish have her advice regarding some of your earlier work.

Each morning will be devoted to writing exercises. The afternoons will be spent exploring the landscape and writing. The landscape explorations will involve identifying a place on the land that calls to you in some way, and documenting what happens in that place over each afternoon.

On Tuesday evening, July 10, we will invite members of the public to join us at Wintergreen for dinner. After dinner, Helen will give a reading of her work for participants and our guests.

The workshop will conclude on Friday morning with a reading session where you will be able to share some of the work you have produced at Wintergreen. You will have lunch together, followed by time to take one last walk along the trails before leaving Wintergreen on Friday afternoon.

About the Instructor

Helen Humphreys is the author of four books of poetry, six novels, and one work of creative non-fiction. She was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, and now lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Her first novel, Leaving Earth (1997), won the 1998 City of Toronto Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her second novel, Afterimage (2000), won the 2000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her third novel, The Lost Garden (2002), was a 2003 Canada Reads selection, a national bestseller, and was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Wild Dogs (2004) won the 2005 Lambda Prize for fiction, has been optioned for film, and was produced as a stage play at CanStage in Toronto in the fall of 2008. Coventry (2008) was a #1 national bestseller, was chosen as one of the top 100 books of the year by the Globe & Mail, and was chosen one of the top ten books of the year by both the Ottawa Citizen and NOW Magazine. The Reinvention of Love was released in July 2011 in the UK, and in September, 2011 in Canada.

Humphreys’ work of creative non-fiction, The Frozen Thames (2007), was a #1 national bestseller. Her collections of poetry include Gods and Other Mortals (1986); Nuns Looking Anxious, Listening to Radios (1990); and The Perils of Geography (1995). Her latest collection, Anthem (1999), won the 2000 Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry.

Helen Humphreys’ fiction is published in Canada by HarperCollins, and in the U.S. by W.W. Norton. The Frozen Thames was published by McClelland & Stewart in Canada, and by Bantam in the U.S. Her work has been translated into many languages.

Tuition: $395. HST extra.

Accommodation and meals for the duration of the workshop: $425 (tenting p.p.), $475 (bunks p.p.), $525 (shared rooms or cabins, p.p.), $625 (double bed, single occupancy), $950 (double bed, shared). Facilities and meals only (for registrants staying off-site): $275. HST extra.

Workshop registration closes June 15, 2012.

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6:00 p.m.

For the third July running (this is fast becoming an annual event!), Helen Humphreys will read from current and forthcoming works. She is the author of four books of poetry, six novels, and one work of creative non-fiction. Helen was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, and now lives in Kingston, Ontario. Her first novel, Leaving Earth (1997), won the 1998 City of Toronto Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her second novel, Afterimage (2000), won the 2000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her third novel, The Lost Garden (2002), was a 2003 Canada Reads selection, a national bestseller, and was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Wild Dogs (2004) won the 2005 Lambda Prize for fiction, has been optioned for film, and was produced as a stage play at CanStage in Toronto in the fall of 2008. Coventry (2008) was a #1 national bestseller, was chosen as one of the top 100 books of the year by the Globe & Mail, and was chosen one of the top ten books of the year by both the Ottawa Citizen and NOW Magazine. Her most recent novel is The Reinvention of Love (2011). Humphreys’ work of creative non-fiction, The Frozen Thames (2007), was a #1 national bestseller. Her collections of poetry include Gods and Other Mortals (1986); Nuns Looking Anxious, Listening to Radios (1990); and The Perils of Geography (1995). Her latest collection, Anthem (1999), won the 2000 Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry.

(Sunday noon through Thursday afternoon)

Have you dreamed about building an enchanting woodland retreat or a charming backyard garden shed? Creating something beautiful with hand tools and found materials? Using old fence rails or straw bales as construction materials?  And along the way, learning to tell the difference between a Robertson and a Phillips screwdriver? If so, then this course is for you. This hands-on workshop will give you the opportunity to learn about the ancient building technique of cordwood masonry and hone up on some basic carpentry skills in the process. You will also learn how to build and plaster with straw bale. No prior building or carpentry experience is required to take part in this workshop. Just come with a sense of adventure and we will teach you everything you need to know!

After lunch in the straw bale lodge on Sunday, we will spend the afternoon talking about different styles of cordwood construction: stackwall, round (or octagonal or hexagonal) buildings, and cordwood as infill for post-and-beam structures. We will also learn about the versatility and beauty of straw bale construction. Different types of mortar and plaster will be described, and we will view examples of cordwood buildings as well as taking a closer look at the Wintergreen Lodge, a straw bale building constructed in 2008. We will discuss the advantages of using a living roof on cordwood and/or straw bale buildings as we tour the Wintergreen property where there are already six cordwood structures in place: the Hobbit House, the Smoke House, the Meadow Hut, the Sauna, the Bake Oven, and the Root Cellar. Then, if the group is eager to get started, we may even mix a batch or two of mortar and start working on the cordwood before we break for dinner.

On the following morning, will start to build in earnest, mixing mortar, building cordwood walls, and insulating the cordwood with sawdust and lime. We will continue with the cordwood building process on Tuesday and Wednesday, incorporating coloured glass into the building design, and perhaps framing in a door and a window. On Tuesday we will also begin stuffing the straw bales into the two walls that will be built with straw (they say that the first little piggy had it right – he just forgot the plaster!).

On the final day of the workshop, if all has gone well, we will begin the living roof assembly for the new cabin, getting everyone involved in raising the roof. By the end of the workshop, you will have an excellent introduction to cordwood masonry and straw bale, and with the experience and resources you will have acquired at Wintergreen, you should be ready to begin building on your own.

The Instructors: Rena Upitis & Tina Therrien

Rena Upitis is a mixed media artist, musician, teacher, and timber frame carpenter. She has an abiding interest in sustainable architecture and has built several small cedar cordwood buildings with the help of friends and family. Her design for the Wintergreen lodge uses strawbale and a living roof. Rena studied with Rob and Jaki Roy at the Earthwood Building School in the summer of 2006, and returned back to Wintergreen and promptly built the Hobbit House, one of four cordwood structures on the land.

Camel’s Back Construction, Ontario’s first straw bale building company, has been in operation since 1998. Tina Therrien is sole proprietor of the company, and she brings her passion of the natural building world and teaching to the forefront of the business. There are many talented and skilled employees who round out the team of camels with exceptional plastering, woodworking, and straw bale abilities.

Tina  spent three weeks in Haiti working on the country’s first ever straw bale building with Builders without Borders in December 2010. She is returning to Haiti for two months to work with the Haitian group, Centre d’Intervention Jeunesse in a community in the Artibonite Valley who have built a compressed earth block school. This community is starting a Natural Building School and a School of Music.

Camel’s Back has created both residential and commercial buildings – including the Wintergreen lodge. Their buildings, ranging from small studios to 10,000 foot buildings, have been round, oval, square, and rectagonal. The shape of the new building at Wintergreen, scheduled to be constructed in 2012, is yet to be determined!

Tuition: $225 for singles; special rate for couples or friends: $300. HST extra.

Accommodation, all meals, snacks, and use of facilities for the duration of the workshop: $350 (tenting p.p.), $395 (bunks p.p.), $425 (shared rooms or cabins, p.p.), $495 (double bed, single occupancy), $625 (double bed, shared). For those staying off-site, meals and facilities are $275 p.p. HST extra.

Workshop registration closes July 29, 2012.

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August 23–26, 2012

(Thursday afternoon through Sunday afternoon)

This four-day writing retreat will provide a nurturing setting for attending writers to create new work. Through a series of daily in-class and extra-class exercises, readings, discussions, and commentaries, fresh approaches to the poem will be explored with a view to not only improving our skills, but opening ourselves to new ways to imagine this wondrous thing we call a poem. Punctuated with walks in the woods and delicious meals served from the Wintergreen kitchen, this retreat will provide a fine setting to share meaningful moments through poetry.

About the Instructor

Patrick Lane is one of Canada’s pre-eminent poets, winner of numerous awards, including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the Canadian Authors Association Award, the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and three National Magazine Awards. He has published twenty-five collections of poetry since 1966, his most recent, The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane, from Harbour Publishing (2011), and with McClelland & Stewart a novel Red Dog, Red Dog (2008), and his celebrated memoir, There is a Season (2004).

Close to twenty years ago, he felt the need to give back to the writing community that had been so generous to him over the years. In 1994 he led a poetry retreat on Vancouver Island in order to foster a deeper understanding of poetry, and to help isolated writers at various stages of their careers gather together to develop their skills in a safe and trusting space. That first gathering of poets has led to more than thirty retreats over the years. He now leads four annual retreats, two each at Lake Cowichan and Sooke on Vancouver Island. During these seventeen years he has worked with hundreds of poets from across Canada and the United States, almost all of whom have published collections of poetry and won prizes, awards, and honours for their work. Patrick considers his writing retreats on the West Coast and this present one to be held at Wintergreen to be one of the most important parts of his life’s work.

He lives with a huge, impossibly beautiful garden, two cats, Basho and Roxy, and his companion, the remarkable poet Lorna Crozier, in North Saanich outside Victoria on Vancouver Island. He is presently working on a new novel, and a new collection of poetry, both of which will appear in the next few years. He is grateful for the opportunity to work with a new group of writers from Central Canada and looks forward to exploring poetry with them.

Tuition: $395. HST extra.

Accommodation and meals for the duration of the workshop (three nights and nine meals): $295 (tenting p.p.), $375 (bunks p.p.), $425 (shared rooms or cabins, p.p.), $495 (double bed, single occupancy), $625 (double bed, shared). For those staying off-site, facilities and meals are an additional $250. Out of town participants wishing to arrive Wednesday, August 22 (the night before the workshop begins) should add $95 for the extra night, dinner, and breakfast. HST extra.

Workshop registration closes August 9, 2012.

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6:00 p.m.

Join us at Wintergreen for a rare treat, as Patrick Lane shares his work with an intimate audience in the Wintergreen lodge. We are hosting Patrick at Wintergreen for the first time this summer, and hope that this event will be the first of many. After a scrumptious meal, you will be inspired and moved by Patrick’s words, as he reads from a collection of poetry representing his last half-century as a poet.

Patrick Lane is one of Canada’s pre-eminent poets, winner of numerous awards, including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the Canadian Authors Association Award, the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and three National Magazine Awards. He has published twenty-five collections of poetry since 1966, his most recent, The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane, from Harbour Publishing (2011), and with McClelland & Stewart a novel Red Dog, Red Dog (2008), and his celebrated memoir, There is a Season (2004).

Dinner and Reading: $40 (HST included)

Dinner, Concert, Overnight Accommodation and Breakfast: $120 (HST extra)

September 14–17, 2012

(Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon)

You are invited to spend a long weekend taking part in a creative writing workshop led by writer Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes – winning selection for CBC Radio’s Canada Reads in 2009.

The workshop will begin with dinner on Friday September 14, when Lawrence Hill will meet with the entire group and invite participants to speak about their own expectations for the workshop. At that time, he will draw up a schedule for meeting participants individually over the weekend.  If you bring to the workshop a sample of creative writing (up to ten double-spaced pages), as well as a short description of your project and your own writing background and future creative plans (no more than one page), Lawrence Hill will read it before he meets with you individually. He will read and offer constructive comments on new writing that emerges during the workshop. On Monday, which is the final morning of the workshop, participants will be invited (but not required) to share their creative writing with the group in a supportive, respectful environment designed to encourage the continued act of writing.

About the Instructor

Lawrence Hill is the son of American immigrants — a black father and a white mother — who came to Canada the day after they married in 1953 in Washington, D.C. On his father’s side, Hill’s grandfather and great grandfather were university-educated, ordained ministers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His mother came from a Republican family in Oak Park, Illinois, graduated from Oberlin College and went on to become a civil rights activist in D.C. The story of how they met, married, left the United States and raised a family in Toronto is described in Hill’s bestselling memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada (HarperCollins Canada, 2001). Growing up in the predominantly white suburb of Don Mills, Ontario in the sixties, Hill was greatly influenced by his parents’ work in the human rights movement. Much of Hill’s writing touches on issues of identity and belonging.

Lawrence Hill’s third novel was published as The Book of Negroes in Canada and the UK, and as Someone Knows My Name in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. It won the overall Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Ontario Library Association’s Evergreen Award. The book was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award and longlisted for both the Giller Prize and the IMPAC Award.

Hill is also the author of the novels Any Known Blood (William Morrow, New York, 1999 and HarperCollins Canada, 1997) and Some Great Thing (HarperCollins 2009, originally published by Turnstone Press, Winnipeg, 1992). Hill’s most recently published fiction is the short story, Meet You at the Door, which appeared in the January-February, 2011 issue of The Walrus magazine. Hill’s most recent non-fiction book The Deserter’s Tale: the Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq (written with Joshua Key) was released in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and several European countries.

Formerly a reporter with The Globe and Mail and parliamentary correspondent for The Winnipeg Free Press, Hill has lived and worked across Canada, in Baltimore, and in Spain and France. He is an honorary patron of  Canadian Crossroads International, for which he travelled as a volunteer to the West African countries Niger, Cameroon and Mali. Hill is also a member of the Council of Patrons of the Black Loyalist Heritage Society, and of the Advisory Council of Book Clubs for Inmates. He has a B.A. in economics from Laval University in Quebec City and an M.A. in writing from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Hill lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Tuition: $395. HST extra.

Accommodation and meals for the duration of the workshop (three nights and nine meals): $295 (tenting p.p.), $375 (bunks p.p.), $425 (shared rooms or cabins, p.p.), $495 (double bed, single occupancy), $625 (double bed, shared). For those staying off-site, facilities and meals are an additional $250. Out of town participants wishing to arrive Thursday, September 13 (the night before the workshop begins) should add $95 for the extra night, dinner, and breakfast. HST extra.

Workshop registration closes August 31, 2012.

Register for this workshop