January 19, 2023
5:00pm
Gord Grisenthwaite
"Wrestling Story into Shape"
SoCA Armouries, Performance Hall
37 University Ave. East
Please enter at doors on Freedom Way
Gord Grisenthwaite is nłeʔkepmx, member of the Lytton First Nation, and has earned an MA in English Literature & Creative Writing at the University of Windsor (2020). He also completed his BA (Hon) from the University of Windsor in 2018, almost 30 years after he started his post-secondary education. His first novel, Home Waltz, was a finalist for the 2021 Governor General’s Award for fiction.
"As a writer, the only thing over which I have any control is how to tell the story. And even then, the story often dictates the direction it will take, which characters will live inside it, and how it needs to be told. Arguing Story’s control over the writer is moot because belief can’t be proven. So, in this talk I will explore the process of negotiating story details between writer and Story. But arguing with story is a real thing. And in my experience, it never turns out well. I will discuss recurring character Me-Who-Looks-At-Me and how he bullied himself into National Magazine Award finalist “How Mosquito Got His Name,” almost destroyed Home Waltz, and came into his own in CBC Short Fiction Contest long listed “Splatter Pattern.” It's called Wrestling Story into Shape," -- Gord Grisenthwaite.