BIPOC Writing Space

A gathering for writers who identify as BIPOC

Hello to our BIPOC Community!

It’s Asifa, Kim, and Mari here — three of the writing coaches at Firefly.

After we ran our first ever retreat for BIPOC writers, we quickly decided we wanted to create a space for BIPOC writers (us included) that meets regularly. We wanted to make something more open ended than our small group workshop Exploring our Racialized Identities, and more frequent than our BIPOC retreat.

The focus of the sessions will be open — themes that affect us like racism, colonialism and white supremacy are welcome, but writers can also choose to write about whatever they want to write about. We’ll work with poems, we’ll use our senses, we’ll have fun. Our dream is to create an easy and accessible process to support us all in stepping into the power of our voices and stories.

Here’s how it works:

The BIPOC Writing Space meets on two Thursday evenings of every month for 1.5 hours.

The first session of the month will be a “Guided Writing Session.” This session is more structured; we’ll work through 3-4 different guided writes, with optional sharing as we go.

The second session of the month will be a “Sanctuary and Share Session.” The first half of this session will be a long chunk of writing time with optional prompts and the second half will be for sharing and feedback.

Since this is a large-format program and not a workshop, not everyone will share everything they write. And as with all our sessions, feedback on work with be 100% positive and supportive; this is not a critique group, but a place to find our voices and celebrate each other.

In the spirit of building connection, we’ll also send you a monthly email with a poem by a BIPOC writer, news of upcoming writing opportunities specific to BIPOC writers, and any fun things we find that we think you might enjoy. You are welcome to send us material for this email.

We’ll have an active listener available for all sessions. If material that comes up in the writing becomes overwhelming, the active listener will be there to talk or text confidentially.

Questions about accessibility? Get in touch.

All genders welcome!

    • Identify as Black, Indigenous or a person of colour. This includes mixed-race, multi-racial and otherwise racialized folks. We know race and ethnicity is complex and we want you to be the one who makes the call. If you want to discuss it further, feel free to reach out to any one of us.

    • Are looking for moments of connection and community with other BIPOC writers.

    • Don’t need a ton of guidance to get started writing. (Have a look at our small group workshops and especially Exploring Our Racialized Identities for that.)

    • Are ready to connect to their own stories and feelings through the written word.

    • Are motivated by the idea of sharing their writing in a supportive group with other BIPOC writers.

    • Love the idea of a regular creative date.

    • Feel aligned with our fundamental beliefs.

    • Writing tools and practices to carry you forward.

    • Writing tricks and warm-ups you can use anytime.

    • Countless ideas about where your writing might go next.

    • Creative momentum.

    • Are looking for prompts designed to challenge your thinking or lead you through a reflective process about race and racism. Check out Leesa Renee Hall if that’s what you’re looking for.

    • Instructions on “how to write.” This is a generative space, designed to help participants unearth their voices and write, write, write.

    • Have already sketched out a manuscript and want to remain very focused on that one project.

    • Think their writing needs a harshly critical environment in order to thrive.

Details:

Two Thursday evenings each month
7 – 8:30pm ET
Via Zoom with Kim, Asifa, or Mari (some sessions will have two facilitators)

If regular internet access is a barrier, contact us to get a call-in number for our sessions.

Kim (she/her)

Asifa (she/her)

Mari (she/her)

Upcoming dates:

  • April 10 — Guided Writing Session

  • April 24 — Sanctuary and Share Session

  • May 8 — Guided Writing Session

  • May 22 — Sanctuary and Share Session

  • June 12 — Guided Writing Session

  • June 26 — Sanctuary and Share Session

Cost:

The fee is sliding scale, $20-$50 a month. Choose the price that works for you. The lower end is intended for people who are out of work, have precarious or minimum-wage income. The higher level is intended for people with stable incomes, savings and other assets. Tax will be added for Canadians in your local provincial rate. See our financial policies.

If you don’t have a credit card, or can’t currently afford the base fee, let us know, we’ll gladly find a way to make it work.

30% of our proceeds will go to other organizations supporting BIPOC creatives. For the pilot program we’ll be donating to The Nia Centre for the Arts, The Latin American-Canadian Arts Project, and the Arts and Culture Initiative of South Asia.

Sign up here: