Amber Dawn

Amber Dawn is a writer from Vancouver and the author of the memoir How Poetry Saved My Life and the Lambda Award-winning novel Sub Rosa, and editor of the anthologies Fist of the Spider Women: Fear and Queer Desire and With A Rough Tongue. Amber Dawn was 2012 winner of the Writers’ Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers. Until August 2012, she was director of programming for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. She currently teaches Speculative Fiction writing at Douglas College.

Amber Dawn was the first to send us her seed text, an essay of what might be considered postcards from the map of her body. Without her present we read, reread and discussed her letter. We spent quite a while talking about it and even talked about ways to interact with it. The next week she popped by with bars of exquisite fair trade chocolate. Not that she needed to sweeten the deal! But this sort of consideration is typical of her.

We have turned to her essay/letter/body map several times and have continued to mention it and draw from it. Several weeks after our initial interaction we scooped one line and write on that. How does time effect our experience of the text? An interesting discussion. Part of the process has included handing the letters to anyone who missed the initial class on them. Because of this, we refer to them in staggered mentions, sometimes referring to them in a different context or background. I can only think this enhances the response.

We’re very excited to read in a joint event with Amber Dawn and Alex Leslie, who reached out to each other with the idea of this. Here is a beautiful poster Madeleine Thien made for us and a Facebook event page we would be happy for you to share!

Please join us June 19, Thursday, from 7-9pm at Lost + Found Café on 33W Hastings. Both authors will be reading a letter they wrote to Thursdays Writing Collective and hearing, for the first time, individual responses from Collective participants who used those letters as seeds for new work.

All are welcome to this free event. Accessiblity details will be posted shortly. Light snacks will be served.

 

 

Here is the accessibility info for the event, provided by Alex Leslie. Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Main entrance: 5 feet wide, double doors that open outwards, wing handles 41” from ground. Weather permitting, doors to street will likely be left open. There are no steps to entrance. The space inside Lost & Found Café is stair-free. Signage is a sandwich board on the sidewalk.

There is parking (paid by metre) on Hastings St directly outside and opposite the café. There are bike lock-ups directly outside café, as well as the Hastings bus stop. There will be transit tickets available at the event for those who need them.