Exploring Our Racialized Identities

A life story writing workshop for people of colour

Do you feel like your life stories are often forgotten or misrepresented in the mainstream?

Are you longing to find a place to write and share your own true stories and to encourage other racialized folks to write and share theirs?

This workshop is for folks who identify as BIPOC — Black, Indigenous, or people of colour, including mixed race — who want to use writing to explore the many challenges of living in a racialized identity.

We’ll gather weekly to write together, giving and receiving thoughtful and supportive feedback throughout. We’ll explore themes such as identity, white supremacy, microaggressions and intersectionality. The goal of this class is to give people of colour a space to find their writing voices and explore their stories in a BIPOC-only space. Beginner and seasoned students very welcome.

Here’s how it works:

We’ll use our workshop sessions to write together, sharing as we go, and listening deeply to one another’s voices. There is no homework in this class.

Our workshops are small to ensure your work gets the time and space it needs. You can expect to leave each session with warm and supportive feedback to fuel your next steps.

Each participant will also receive a three-month membership to the BIPOC Writing Space.

    • Want to write about their experiences living in the world as people of colour.

    • Are excited about exploring themes such as racism, white supremacy and intersectionality in a group.

    • Are motivated by the idea of sharing their writing in a small, supportive group with other people of colour.

    • Want to integrate writing more deeply into their lives.

    • Love the idea of a set of creative dates with themselves.

    • Thrive in small, cozy groups.

    • Feel aligned with our fundamental beliefs.

    • Lots and lots of messy first drafts, starts and new ideas.

    • Writing tools and practices to carry you forward.

    • Writing tricks and warm-ups you can use anytime.

    • Writing peers whose work you are invested in.

    • A clearer sense of the story you want to write and the voice you want to write it in.

    • Creative momentum.

    • 3 months of membership to the BIPOC Writing Space

    • Don’t want to share their writing with others.

    • Don’t want to talk about their racialized identity.

    • Have already sketched out a manuscript and want to remain very focused on that one project.

    • Think their writing needs a harshly critical environment in order to thrive.

Details for Winter 2025:

On Zoom with Asifa (she/her)

5 Thursday evenings, every 2nd week
6:30 - 9pm ET
January 23 - March 20
Exact dates: Jan 23, Feb 6, 20, Mar 6, 20

Cost:

The fee for this workshop is $485. If you prefer, you can pay in 4 monthly installments of $121.25. Tax will be added for Canadians in your local provincial rate. See our financial policies.

Two spots will be reduced to half-price, first come first served. Let us know before you sign up if you’d like one of those and we’ll let you know if they’re still available.

Four times a year, we give out bursaries for our programs to people with financial barriers. Check out our upcoming dates.

If you don’t have a credit card, let us know and we’ll gladly find a way to make it work.

Sign up here:

What clients are saying…

  • Headshot of Suzanne Fernando

    This class was soul food. It nourished my writing life by offering me a space where I could openly and comfortably express myself as a racialized woman amongst other racialized writers. Those aha moments of feeling in solidarity with one another in the experiences we share as people of colour was priceless. I haven't found a space like this anywhere else in the city. Firefly, that's some magic you've got right there!

    Suzanne Fernando
    Artist, Librarian, Writer

  • Headshot of Carol Lee

    Thank you so much for doing such a phenomenal job of holding space and providing a steady and gentle structure. Five weeks went by fast and I'm thrilled with both the quality (meaning, power, feelings, beauty) and quantity (practice, doing, lots to re-read and re-visit later) that I hold in my notebook.

    Carol Lee
    Writer

  • Headshot of Hemmy So

    I enjoyed the mind mapping exercises, which helped me conjure memories that I know will be useful in my writing. Overall however, my favorite part of the class was hearing other people's work. The facilitator had an incredible ability to create a safe space for writers and also give meaningful feedback. It's clear she pays deep attention to her students' work.

    Hemmy So
    Writer