Plums in the Icebox is a creative writing workshop for health practitioners. Each month we meet via Zoom on a Wednesday evening for a couple of hours to write, read, try out some exercises in prose and verse, share our work and give feedback, edit aloud, compare notes, listen to what some interesting guests have to tell us, find inspiration and/or consolation, and help each other along the narrative medicine road. In between meetings we'll do more of the same via chat.

The ethos is craft-based. The approach is collaborative. The style is informal. But the stakes are high.

The group is facilitated by Damian Tarnopolsky, an accomplished novelist and prizewinning playwright with long experience teaching writing and reflection to health professionals, and Shane Neilson, an acclaimed poet, critic, and family doctor who is one of the most celebrated physician-authors in North America.

Our previous experience teaching health humanities -- at the University of Toronto, McMaster, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and online at the Writing as Craft: COVID-19 workshop -- has convinced us of the need for an ongoing workshop for the many health practitioners looking to advance their creative and reflective work with the help of a supportive community.

Our doors are now open to a limited number of health people, primarily but not necessarily Canadian, with a fee of C$200 for attendance from January - June 2021 providing for six sessions and access to our online forum.

To apply, please send a brief message to the organizers at plumsintheicebox1@gmail.com outlining your interest in the workshop and telling us a little about your writing background and healthcare affiliation. We'll be in touch shortly. Our first session of the new year is Wednesday January 27th at 6pm.

We regret that scholarships, reduced rates, subventions, bursaries and the like are not currently available.