All writing is about life and the experience of living it. It’s about lives lived. Particularly in the creative nonfiction form. You are ultimately writing about life. You are creating life by sharing your unique perspective on the world. In this 5-week course, we’ll explore and try on different writing tools and techniques to breathe new life into your nonfiction writing.

Each week, I will share a short reading that exemplifies expert wielding of a writing tool or technique that we’ll unpack and experiment with applying to our own personal essay or memoir work. You don’t need to be an expert at writing to write, nor do you have to be one to join and enjoy this course. You may choose to share your writing with me and with the other participants, or keep it to yourself. This course is about the creative process and not about production; no pressure, no homework.

Please Note: Classes take place in unit 2E of the Picton Armoury (Main Street level). The most convenient access is through the Main Street entrance, but you can also enter through the back/Mary St. entrance and use the interior stairs to reach the main floor (please note there is no elevator in the Armoury). There is an accessible parking spot on Main Street in front of the Armoury building (Crepe Escape/south side).



Meet Allison! I am a transdisciplinary artist working as a writer, educator, and dancemaker. Storytelling is at the core of what I do. As a writer, I work in the creative non-fiction form, crafting reflective stories about my life and experiences through prose. I was a 2025 artist in residence at The Drake Devonshire, during which time I further developed my literary memoir, which explores grief, loss, love, and intergenerational trauma through multiple lenses. 

I love language and am happy writing for a range of audiences, at times donning my literary hat, other times developing educational content for clients in the non-profit sector, and regularly writing personal essays and feature pieces for publications on a regional, national, and international level, including for Chatelaine, HuffPost, Business Insider, Bay of Quinte, and Umbrella magazine. 

I have a deep respect for the power of words. Whether I’m telling my own story or someone else’s, I choose and craft words with great care. As an arts educator with a background in adult learning, I articulate and share my creative process, tools, and approaches, while grounding my courses in pedagogical practice. 

Art supply fee - Please note that the cost of supplies is not included in the course fee; this amount depends on the course, and will be automatically added to your total. If this cost is prohibitive for you, please contact Sarah at [email protected] before registering to make alternative arrangements.

Offline registration - We prefer to take payment and registration through this form, but if you are not comfortable with this option and it is more than 2 weeks before the course begins, please check the "Offline" box in the Billing Information section below. We will contact you with alternative payment options. Payment must be received at least one week before the course begins.  

Processing fee - This covers transaction and ticketing fees. We've decided to use Regfox, the most affordable ticketing platform we could find, which will collectively save our participants over $1000 in processing fees per year.

Policies and Waivers - We've included these as part of the registration process (thank you for your patience!) to save some paperwork on your end and get straight to creating when we are in person!

  • We encourage those who are able to pay a little more to choose this price ($20/hr). By doing so, you are helping build a community that prioritizes access to the arts for all, and allowing us to cover more of our operating costs, which include Artist Instructor fees, rent, and more.

  • This price ($15/hr) allows us to cover most of the costs of running the course.

  • This price ($10/hr) is available to those who find the other two options too high for their household.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: County Arts makes every effort to ensure that all community members, including those who (or have family members who) are more medically vulnerable feel that they can safely teach and learn at the County Arts Lab. We also want to ensure that those who are unable to wear masks have access to our programming. 

We recently moved to masking on a class by class basis. Please select the option below that best describes your comfort level with regard to masking. (Please note, if anyone in the class selects the third option, we will ask that everyone who is able to do so wear a mask.) If you have any questions, please reach out to Programs Assistant Heather McCorquodale at [email protected].


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