Where do writers get their ideas? For this panel — from you! All morning, The Writer’s Studio has been soliciting discussion topics at their table in the concourse. Now, they want to invite you to a freewheeling conversation about the practice and craft of writing with your questions as the compelling beginning, thrilling middle and satisfying end. What did you really want to talk about today? Our panelists are excited… and maybe a bit nervous… but mostly excited… to find out!
Location: Room C400
Type: Panel
Sponsored by Word Vancouver · SFU The Writers Studio
Moderator: Andrew Chesham
Readers: Nazanine Hozar | Raoul Fernandes | Dayna Mahannah
About The Moderator
Andrew Chesham
Andrew Chesham is the director of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University. He has worked in the literary arts since 2006, as a writer, editor, publisher, and educator in Canada and Australia. He co-edited Resonance: Essays on the Craft and Life of Writing (Anvil Press, 2022). He has also edited the anthologies: From the Earth to the Table, and Stories for a Long Summer (Catchfire Press).
About The Readers
Nazanine Hozar
Nazanine Hozar is the bestselling author of her first novel, ARIA, which follows the life of an abandoned orphan girl and interconnected lives of those around her in the thirty years leading up to the 1979 Iranian revolution. Translated into over 10 languages, ARIA was first published by Knopf Canada in 2019 with further publications in the UK, the U.S. and many other territories. It has been nominated for The Prix Médicis and other literary prizes in Canada and France. Nazanine holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and is currently working on her second novel.
Raoul Fernandes
Raoul Fernandes lives with his wife and two sons on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, BC). His first collection of poems, Transmitter and Receiver (Nightwood Editions, 2015) won the Dorothy Livesay Award and the Debut-litzer Award for Poetry in 2016. He is the Poetry Editor for EVENT Magazine and has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including the Best of the Best Canadian Poetry 2017. He works in public libraries in Vancouver.
Dayna Mahannah
Dayna Mahannah grew up in Westbank, BC, the territory of the Syilx and Okanagan people. She now lives in Vancouver with her partner and their uncategorizable mutt. Dayna’s work appears in Geist, Electric Literature, NUVO, TRUE Africa, and HELD Mag. She is a graduate of SFU's The Writer's Studio, was a contributing editor at Beatroute Magazine, and a campaign manager at Adbusters. Dayna received her MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and is now writing a memoir about the misfortune of finding yourself wherever you go. She is the editor-in-chief of Geist.
