Island Mountain Arts

Writing History Based Narratives with Richard Somerset Mackie, July 11 - 14, 2009

Writing History Based Narratives
July 11 - 14, 2009

Insructor: Richard Somerset Mackie
Early Bird Fee: $396 + GST (EXTENDED TO MONDAY JUNE 15TH)
Regular Fee: $440 + GST

Download a pdf of the course info

Course Description:

This workshop will explore the common ingredients of history-based narrative and the possible ways of assembling a focused narrative from the diverse fragments of the past. The surviving fragments might be visual, such as maps, photographs, and films; they might be memories, preserved orally in interviews and audio recordings; they might be material, such as objects found in basements, attics, thrift shops, antique shops, and museum collections; or they might be textual or documentary, such as letters, diaries, memoirs, field notes, cookbooks, newspapers, receipts, invoices, pieces of wallpaper, or graffiti. Whatever their origin, and whether preserved by chance or design, these fragments provide the raw material common to history, biography, autobiography, historical fiction, and journalism. The job of history-based writing is to turn these fragments into prose.

In this workshop you will explore the potential uses of those fragments and the ways in which they might be turned into a viable narrative. It is important to find the right sources, contact the right people, recognize and select the meaningful patterns and themes that run through the documents or interviews, plan and design your writing project, and transform your initial creative inspiration and raw material into an engaging and potentially marketable narrative.

Beginners to advanced writers are welcome to attend this workshop. Bring your work in progress in the field that most interests you: history, historical fiction, biography, autobiography, memoir, film, documentaries, or journalism. What fragments of the past do you have? What do these fragments tell you? How might they be assembled into narrative form? Bring a draft, no matter how rough, and in an atmosphere of support and interest, your work will be read and discussed by the instructor and the fellow students.

Course readings: (please note that I will bring copies of these short articles to Wells, but students might try to look at them in advance):

Jo Jones, ed., “Mr. Byam’s Bones,” Okanagan History 63 (1999), 126-133.

Richard Mackie, “The Bushrat Inventory,” BC Studies 131 (Autumn 2001), 71-80.

Richard Mackie, “The Short, Happy Life and Sad Death of Fred Tibbs,” The Beaver (February-March 1991), pp. 43-50.

Bio: Richard Somerset Mackie is a freelance historian, biographer, and lecturer with a specialty in the BC past. He studied medieval history at St. Andrews University and has a PhD in Canadian history from UBC. He has also worked as an archaeologist and historical geographer in BC. Two of his four books—Trading Beyond the Mountains (UBC Press, 1997) and Island Timber (Sono Nis, 2000)—won the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal, and Island Timber was also short-listed for the Haig-Brown Prize. His book Mountain Timber will be published by Sono Nis in 2008 and he will then start a biography of the Comox environmentalist Melda Buchanan.

Events Included:

~Friday, July10, 7pm: Welcome Reception - IMA Gallery (2323 Pooley Street) Meet your instructor and pick up your student information packages.

~Saturday, July 11, 5:30pm: Student BBQ - IMA Gallery, free for students, $5 for guests

~Saturday, July 11, 7pm: Artist Talk - Susan Madsen, IMA Gallery, by donation

~Sunday, July 12, 7pm: Video Screening – Reel Youth Film Festival, School, by donation

~Monday, July 13, 7pm: Literary Reading - Richard Somerset Mackie and students, IMA Gallery, by donation

IMA students also receive free admission to Barkerville Historic Town and many discounts to local businesses.