We'll discuss what it means to write as neurodivergent authors and strategies for writing in ways that will work with your brain's unique strengths. A lot of neurodivergent people also identify as queer/trans, so this should appeal broadly. We'll also offer some writing exercises to focus and boost creativity and describe our own journeys as queer neurodivergent authors.
Presenters:
Tea Gerbeza (she/her) is a bisexual disabled and neurodivergent poet, writer and multimedia artist creating in Treaty 6 territory (Saskatoon, SK) and on the Homeland of the Métis Nation. She is currently working on a book-length long poem that uses poetry, paper quilling and scanner photography as mediums to explore her disabled body and experience. Tea's practice usually involves making poetry into objects; for example, poems as paper roses. Tea loves the playfulness and ongoingness of a work, and lately has been fascinated with the opportunities in separate projects being connected, intersecting and echoing each other across genres and mediums.
Christina Chaisson (she/her) is a recent graduate of the University of Regina's Batchelor of Arts, Honours English Program with a minor in French and Francophone studies. Her honours project was a multi-generic creative nonfiction piece that centered around creating a "survival guide" of sorts for young adults with ADHD with particular mind to areas of intersectionality (including that of queer intersectionality!) She has been involved with URPride, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, and has worked in the Housing department at the UofR blazing a trail for student mental health advocacy. In true ADHD fashion, she enjoys writing poetry, memoir, short stories, sci-fy, fantasy, non-fiction essays, and even comics!
Katherine DeCoste is a queer, white settler currently pursuing their MA in English on the stolen lands of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples and the WSANEC peoples. They received their BA Combined Honors from the University of Alberta in 2020. You can find their work in Grain Magazine, Plenitude Magazine, The Antigonish Review, and peppered across various internet spaces. This summer, they are spending their free time embroidering and missing saskatoon berry season.
Jes Battis (he/they) teaches literature, creative writing, and LGBTQ2+ studies at the University of Regina (Treaty 4). They're the author of the Occult Special Investigator series and Parallel Parks series, both with Ace/Penguin. Their work has been shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, and they've also published poetry in The Puritan, The Capilano Review, Poetry is Dead, and Contemporary Verse 2.
Where: Zoom
When: August 15, 1:00pm.