Cartoonist and author Lynda Barry brings workshop back to town

The Vancouver International Writers Festival is bringing revered American artist and author Lynda Barry back to town on September 30 to host another installment of her workshop Writing the Impossible. The mind behind the long-running weekly strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek and the graphic novel What It Is has developed the three-hour event to help all types—from seasoned wordsmiths to enthusiastic amateurs—get narrative language rolling.

As she explained to the Straight the last time she delivered the workshop here, back in 2010, Barry believes firmly that everyone is a natural-born storyteller. “Teaching this class has really led me to believe that this thing that we call the arts…have an absolute biological function—that they’re not decoration, they’re not an elective,” she declared.

And she has plenty of experience to back this up: she’s been running Writing the Impossible for 15 years now.

Only 60 spots are available, and participants are asked to bring “a pen and a pad of writing paper” with them—so you may want to put aside a little time to warm up your cursive chops, given that you’ve likely spent most of the last decade or so in the land of QWERTY.

See the VIWF’s site for details.