As a writer, says Gordon Grisenthwaite (BA 2018, MA 2020), the only thing over which he has any control is how to tell the story.

“Even then, the story often dictates the direction it will take, which characters will live inside it, and how it needs to be told,” he says.

In a free public lecture on Thursday, Jan. 19, entitled “Wrestling Story into Shape,” he will explore the process of negotiating story details between writer and story.

“Arguing with story is a real thing,” Grisenthwaite says. “And in my experience, it never turns out well.”

An alumnus of the UWindsor creative writing program, Grisenthwaite is Nłeʔkepmx, a member of the Lytton First Nation, and recipient of the 2014 John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award.

His debut novel, Home Waltz, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, and longlisted for the First Nations Communities Read Award. His short story “How Mosquito Got His Name” was a finalist for a National Magazine Award and “Splatter Pattern” was long-listed in the 2021 CBC Short Fiction Contest.

Thursday’s talk is hosted by the Humanities Research Group. It will begin at 5 p.m. in the Performance Hall, SoCA Armouries. Biblioasis Bookshop will be on hand with copies of Grisenthwaite’s books for purchase.