In celebration of Poetry Month (April) in Canada, the Battle River Writing Centre (BRWC) will be hosting the annual Poetry Workshop, Writing Poetry, on Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Camrose Heritage Railway Museum and Park, 4407-47 Avenue.

Facilitators include: Alexina Dalgetty, who has and will teach courses on submitting at the Alexandra Writers Centre (The Art of Rejection, Submit, Submit, Submit and An Introduction to Submittable); Ronna Jevne, PhD, Founder, Hope Foundation, University of Alberta and author of extensive publications and Jane Ross PhD, author of Green Parrots in my Garden, published by Bayeux Arts and numerous other titles.

Workshop participants will have an opportunity to explore the impact “place” has on poetry using various poetic forms, including but not limited to:  haiku, prose poems, ekphrastic (poetry inspired by works of art) and poetry of “place” itself.

“We’ll explore the poetic forms as a group and there will be detailed guidelines and prompts to write from,” noted Battle River Writing Centre member Alexina Dalgetty. “The purpose of the workshop is to have fun with and generate poetry, those without a background will learn new skills and accomplished poets will have an opportunity to explore and expand their repertoire.”

The Workshop will also include discussion on  the joys and pitfalls of poetry publication and submission: Canadian literary journals, spoken word, chapbooks, poetry collections as well as what editors look for, competitions, and self-publishing.

“If interested, participants will leave with suggestions for publication as well as information on newsletters of interest to poets.”

The Battle River Writing Centre began in 2012, when a group of aspiring writers, including Greg Zinter and Jane Ross, realized that, taken together as a region, the well-published authors of the Battle River region were as numerous, prolific and noted as any other part of Canada.

Bolstered by this realization, as well as by the encouragement of noted Western Canada Author, Rudy Wiebe, they felt it was time to address “place-based” writing seriously.

The group began with one workshop which led to many others, and a monthly Writing Room which has met every third Friday of every month since January 2012.

Collectively, the members of Battle River Writers have published poetry, short stories, and novels in Canada and worldwide.

“You can imagine that a lot of words have gathered on our pages,” noted Dalgetty. “Many of them have found their way into published format, others into articles and news features.

“Although we all enjoy reading the work of others, we are committed to being producers of writing, in addition to being consumers for the ideas and writing of others.”

Previous workshops offered by BRWC included: Diane Buchanan, Rosemary Griebel, and Lorna Crozier.

For information, email writingpoetryforsubmission@gmail.com or telephone 780-672-9315.