Brian Malloy. Photo provided

From the Grand Marais Public Library - January 20, 2025

The Grand Marais Public Library is proud to present a writing workshop on place and setting from award-winning novelist Brian Malloy, on Wednesday, January 29, from 6-8 PM.

“This free creative writing session is for beginners and those who’d like a refresher,” writes Malloy. “We’ll discuss and practice strategies to make the places we write about (fictional or real) come alive on the page.”

This workshop will be geared toward adults and youth, ages fourteen and above. Attendees should bring paper and a pen or pencil. No sign-up is required, though it is helpful to mark that you are attending on the Library’s Facebook event page.

This workshop is the first of twelve. With exception of the June 14 workshop, all workshops will take place from 6-8 PM on Wednesday evenings. The schedule is as follows:

• January 29: Place & Setting
• February 12: Scene, Summary, & Flashback
• February 19: Figurative Language, Sensory Imagery, & More!
• March 5: Real People & Fictional Characters
• April 2: Starting Your Screenplay
• May 7: Writer’s Block
• June 14: Pride Edition - Writing Your Coming Out Story, *Saturday time TBA
• July 9: Funny Stuff
• September 10: Point of View
• October 29: Personal Essay
• November 12: Novel Structures
• November 19: Novel Subplots

Brian Malloy is the author of novels The Year of Ice (St. Martin's Press), Brendan Wolf (St. Martin's Press), After Francesco (Kensington), and the young adult novel Twelve Long Months (Scholastic). His novels have been a New York Times New and Notable title, an Oprah Daily pick, a Women's National Book Association Great Group Reads selection, and a Book Sense Pick. His nonfiction has appeared in Minnesota Monthly, OUT, and the Lambda Award winning anthology, The Man I Might Become: Gay Men Write About Their Fathers (Marlow & Co.). Honors include the Minnesota Book Award, the American Library Association's Alex Award, the Bloomsday Award for Irish American Literature, the Loft Literary Center’s Excellence in Teaching Fellowship, and grants from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, de Groot Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

In other news, the 2025 Winter Reading Program is in full swing at the library. To play, come to the library to pick up a reading bingo card, print one off yourself, and request a book bundle for youth or adults.