The Calgary Public Library’s author in residence is offering a bit of guidance for aspiring writers looking to polish up their talking points. Eugene Stickland, who in addition to writing a W.O. Mitchell Award-winning novel (The Piano Teacher) and penning a column for the Calgary Herald for six years, has had 19 plays produced in Calgary, Edmonton and around the world, so he’s offering a seminar Sunday afternoon in writing dialogue. “I offered this workshop because I assumed many of the writers who would be interested in such an event would probably be prose writers, short stories and novels and the like,” Stickland said in an email to CTV News. “Yet there will always be the need for dialogue whatever the genre and I might be able to offer some advice on how to make that dialogue more interesting and authentic. Also,” he added, “I hope to make it interesting for playwrights and poets as well.” Stickland, who recently edited Vol. 3 of the (Caffe) Beano Poetry Anthology and also teaches playwriting at Company of Rogues Acting Studio, said Sunday’s event will be “informal.” He said no pages need to be submitted, “but if someone were to bring pages, we could hear them (read out loud) and talk about them -- specifically the dialogue, I guess.” Stickland is the library’s author in residence from September through November. He said he’ll be holding another event in November, “to talk about serendipity and the life of a writer,” which will be more of a lecture. Otherwise, he’s available during office hours where people can drop in and talk or arrange a consultation. “In some cases, they can send up to 10 pages (of writing) for us to talk about.” He’s also working on a new play, Ex Libris, which he describes “something to do with the scourge of AI.” To sign up to attend Dialogue--A Practical Workshop for Screen and Play Writers, go here.
