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Befriend the Taboo: An Erotica Writing Workshop with Adèle Barclay

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Upstart & Crow Studio

Description

Anais Nin wrote, “Sex must be mixed with tears, laughter, words, promises, scenes, jealousy, envy, all the spices of fear, foreign travel, new faces, novels, stories, dreams, fantasies, music, dancing, opium, wine.”

Writing about sex and sexuality is an opportunity to explore the vastness and nuances of the human experience.

In this workshop, we will tackle the craft of erotic writing in order to befriend the taboo, awkward, and arousing. We will practice writing that embraces the unique ways sex invokes this exquisitely messy mixture of embodied experience.

The registration fee for this event is $10. All proceeds of the event go to Upstart & Crow’s non-profit programming, including writer residencies, book clubs, grants and more. Please RSVP here to reserve your spot.

More about Upstart & Crow:

Upstart & Crow is a not-for-profit creative studio and literary incubator that champions writers, readers and stories, and the role they play in shaping our lives. We develop original programs, support artists and revel in creative projects focused on Literature In Translation / Climate Solutions / Poetry / Civic Dialogue / Community & Skills Building … all with the aim of elevating the role of literature and storytelling in our lives. Find us on Granville Island, Gibsons and online at upstartandcrow.com.

Accessibility:

The main studio of our shop is accessible for folks with mobility aids. There is a washroom on the main floor available for attendees. As part of disability justice and community care for the chronically ill, vulnerable and elderly, we ask that you refrain from attending if you feel sick.

Questions: hello[at]upstartandcrow.com.

More about the facilitator:

Adèle Barclay is the winner of the 2016 Lit POP Poetry Award, The Walrus’ 2016 Readers’ Choice Award for Poetry, The Fiddlehead’s 2022 Fiction Prize, The New Quarterly’s 2025 Creative Nonfiction Contest, and a 2025 National Magazine Award Gold. She is the author of the poetry collections, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You, which won the 2017 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, Renaissance Normcore, and the forthcoming Shame Engine. Excerpts from their forthcoming memoir Black Cherry have received numerous nominations from The Fiddlehead, The Malahat, and CRAFT Literary and placed in contests by Room, PRISM international, and Event. She has been CWILA’s Critic in Residence, Arc Magazine’s Poet in Residence, and the University of the Fraser Valley’s Writer in Residence. Adèle has attended Tin House Summer Workshop, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. They teach creative writing and literature at Capilano University.

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