CW&P Welcomes 2021-2022 Writer-in-Residence Adam Pottle!
The Fall 2021 semester saw FHASS and the Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing & Publishing welcome multi-hyphenate artist Adam Pottle as our writer-in-residence. In addition to holding a PhD in English, Adam is a poet, novelist, and librettist, (among may other “ists”) as well as a writer of memoir, children’s books, and of the world’s first deaf musical, The Black Drum, which was produced by the Deaf Culture Centre and Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre in the summer of 2019. Adam is particularly partial to horror, graphic novels, and narratives that explore the experiences of under-represented characters, particularly those who identify as Deaf and/or disabled.
Given current health guidelines, Adam was introduced to the CW&P community in September virtually from his home in Saskatoon, in an online meet-and-greet event (transcript attached), and has been conducting his one-on-one meetings with Sheridan’s aspiring writers via Google Meets. While the conditions may not be ideal, he insists that “[w]orking with the students has been a delight. They’re talented, eager, joyous people, and I’m grateful to be able to work with them.”
“Working with the students has been a delight. They’re talented, eager, joyous people, and I’m grateful to be able to work with them.”
In addition to working on this current manuscript project (a graphic novel), Adam has spent the fall semester visiting CW&P classes, meeting with students to discuss their work, and planning some upcoming events.
In fact, on December 1st from 3:30-5:00pm Adam will host The Vaunted Triptych, a Master Class featuring readings by and conversation amongst himself, our inaugural W-i-R Liz Howard, and last year’s W-i-R Gary Barwin. This event will be held on Zoom, and there are still spaces available—if you would like to attend, please contact Owen Percy (owen.percy[at]sheridancollege.ca) to retrieve the access link.
Happily, Adam’s Sheridan events in the new year are likely to be a bit more local and in-person, as he will be travelling to the GTA to join us as we continue ramping up our on-campus activity. As he puts it himself: “In the Winter term, I’m hoping to make it to Mississauga to meet everybody in person and do a few in-person events. We’re planning a horror-themed panel with some of the best horror writers out there, and we’re hoping for one or two other fantastic events.”
Be sure to keep an eye out for opportunities to engage with Adam, and feel free to reach out to him if you want to pick his brain, get some writerly advice, or otherwise draw on his dynamic expertise on subjects like writing, music, Deafness, horror, poetry, disability, and the list goes on. You can reach him at adam.pottle[at]sheridancollege.ca.
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Adam-Pottle-Meet-Greet-Transcript