BERNICE FRIESEN grew up in a family of dyslexics, inventors and other divergent minds. Though she began creative life as a visual artist, her books include The Seasons Are Horses, Sex, Death, and Naked Men, and her first novel, The Book of Beasts. It was shortlisted for the Rogers Writers Trust of Canada Fiction Award, was a Globe and Mail’s top 100, and won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction. Her most recent novel, Universal Disorder, came out with Freehand in 2020.
Now, if she works with her hands, its usually wearable art incorporating leather, pipe-fittings and other junk. People often ask her about them—or are afraid to ask her about them.
The curious may look at https://bernicefriesen.wordpress.com/
I have given many readings in schools, for both small audiences, and large. I usually read from my own work, and take questions, and have discussions, and have been on, and moderated panels. Some of my writing has entailed historic research, so there are certain subjects I am more knowledgible than the average person, for example, The Holodomor, Stalin's Ukrainian genocide.
I have done a variety of workshops that have ranged from 12 weekly classes for a complete "Fiction Free-fall" course, and have condensed this for a three hour or weekend session also. I have also done short sessions on first sentences, on how to read you work, on revision, and could probably tackle any creative subject, as I also have a teaching degree and wide genre experience. I could also teach you how to do pebble and cement mosaics.
I read one of my stories or a passage of a novel, and do my best to start a discussion with the class to relate it to their own lives.
