Letter from Quebec
Writing life updates and opportunities (after a week of water and forest on the St. Lawrence)
How’s your writing going, friends? Are you diving into your projects? Are you sneaking in some notebook time and reading those books on your TBR pile? I hope so. I hope in the midst of the chaos and injustice that you are articulating yourself and making art and adding your voice to others.
A lot has been happening on my end! Over this past month, the MA in Professional and Creative Writing program at Central Washington University (the program I coordinate and in which I teach) graduated a big group of talented students and I was thrilled to celebrate their accomplishments with them. I know they’ll go on to write their amazing books and change the world. I could not be more proud of them—(pictured below)!
My own writing has been focused once again on grappling with revisions of my poetry manuscript, The Earth Clock. I’ve been lucky to have a number of my poet friends read the whole book and give me feedback. I’ve met in person and over zoom to talk about the way the book is structured and what works and doesn’t work. This kind of feedback is invaluable to me and has helped guide my revision and re-thinking over these last weeks and will going forward. I also keep participating both virtually and person in workshop groups, bringing my new poems.
It’s important to build your writing community, wherever you are. Until the DOGE cuts to the NEA hit the state budgets, I was lined up to start a small position as a field agent for the Vermont Arts Council in Franklin and Grand Isle counties in northern Vermont—I was going to start this month. I’d already reached out to several libraries and bookstores with programming ideas. But now, due to the cuts, the field agent positions for the state have been eliminated. I mention this because it’s another way this administration is gutting the good work of small organizations. I’ve met some great people through this process — and I’ll keep my eyes open. Not giving up.
July brought The Moon Issue of Ecotone: Reimagining Place (No. 37, Spring 2025) Two of my seasonal roundels from The Earth Clock manuscript are in this special issue. The editors were wonderful to work with and I am thrilled that my poems are part of an issue featuring poems by Allison Joseph, Julia Bouwsma, and so many others. Please think about subscribing to this excellent journal (I think you can see the issue free through the link above for another few days).
I’m excited that in August, Tahoma Literary Review’s new issue will have a poem of mine from The Earth Clock too! More about that in my next stack.
We’re just back from the fjords of St. Lawrence north of Quebec City. It’s been all business and catching up and back to work, blah blah, but being in Canada was really nice. And Canadians are definitely staying in Canada this summer.
We hiked to waterfalls and down a big mountain. The last evening of our trip we took a boat ride to see some whales and seals. The boat held families from all over the world, bundled against the wind, gasping at the minke whales as they blew condensation from their blow holes. And the seals looked back at us and swam off together. Tadoussac, Quebec is one place where beluga whales swim up the fjords. If you ever have a chance to experience this part of the world, I urge you to.
HERE is a great opportunity to apply to a fully funded residency in Vermont at the Marble House Project! Interact with dancers, installation artists, film makers, sculptors, composers, and writers from all over the world in a gorgeous setting. Applications are open for a few more days! I had a great residency there two years ago.
Find your people and make your art! xoxo kw
Thursday, July 17th is a national day of action! #FDT