69传媒

This winter鈥檚 69传媒writer-in-residence will be Steven Heighton, award-winning novelist, poet, short-story writer, and essayist. He will give a public reading on Tuesday, February 6 at 7:30 pm and will lead two writing workshops on Saturday, February 10. Both events will be in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI鈥檚 SDU Main Building.

Raised in Toronto and northern Ontario, Heighton travelled and worked in western Canada, Australia, and Asia, studied at Queen鈥檚 University, and settled in Kingston, Ontario, where he writes full time. His distinctions include several gold medals for fiction and poetry from the National Magazine Awards and the 2016 Governor General鈥檚 Award for Poetry for The Waking Comes Late. He has been writer-in-residence at several universities and has led writing workshops in diverse settings including The Banff Centre, the Sage Hill Writing Experience in Saskatchewan, and the Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg, Russia.

His morning workshop (9:30 am to 12:00 pm) will feature 鈥渞e-enactive鈥� techniques, which allow writers 鈥渢o create sentences or passages of great vividness and sensual intensity. To work re-enactively is to embody, in the full sensory meaning of that word, whatever you're writing about, rather than just describing it,鈥� explained Heighton.

In the afternoon workshop (1:30 pm to 4:00 pm), writers will practice 鈥渉omophonic translation.鈥� This exercise involves 鈥渢ranslating鈥� from a language participants don鈥檛 know, just on the basis of sound. 鈥淭he results,鈥� said Heighton, 鈥渁re always funny and often spectacularly good鈥攁nd sometimes also moving. The process is a wonderful way to make writers approach their work with greater acoustical/musical sensitivity rather than simply, flatly saying something about how they feel.鈥�

The workshop are $40 each, or $70 for the whole day. Seniors and students pay $35 for one or $60 for the day. To register, see the .

Steven Heighton鈥檚 visit and the 69传媒Writer-in-Residency program are sponsored by UPEI鈥檚 Dean of Arts, the Vice-President Academic/Research, and the 69传媒English Department, with generous support from The Canada Council for the Arts.

The 69传媒 prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions鈥擯rince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan鈥檚 University鈥�69传媒has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. 69传媒is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.