Ann Diamond Biography
SPIRIT ED IT/OR...
Individual and/or group coaching for writers of memoirs, stories, plays, novels or any writing that runs, walks or crawls in a narrative way.
My particular interest lies in dramatic structure. Order out of chaos! Structure is a writer's friend, and a dynamic tool for unlocking the power of narrative. I like to ask questions that stimulate writers to see their work afresh.
One of my sub-personalities is a shaman whose deep mission is liberating stories from the world of the unconscious where they often lie dormant. I like to think I have an intuitive gift for sensing a story, even in the embryonic stages, and for midwifery, in terms of helping writers take hold of difficult, even traumatic, material and moving it on towards publication if that's what the writer wants.
Another part of me is a medicine woman manquée who sees writing and storytelling as fundamental to human life, invaluable paths of healing and integration, in our possibly endless journey toward self-understanding. When we write stories, we are hunter-gatherers in the wild, planting and propagating inner truth. We stumble on resources we didn't know we had, and make discoveries that sometimes result in works of art.
In writing, as in snorkelling, one should never wear a life jacket! Be a mermaid! Dive deep, with or without a mask.
I enjoy working with writers at all stages of the creative process, from journaling to the final edit.
Edisaurus Rx
Putting teeth in your text
Ann Diamond is an award-winning Montreal writer of fiction, poetry, and journalism.
She received her BA from Concordia University, Montreal, in 1973, and later entered the MFA Writing Program at Goddard College where she studied with Raymond Carver.
Her story collection Evil Eye won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for fiction in 1994. A book of poetry, A Nun"s Diary, was adapted for theatre by director Robert Lepage. Mona"s Dance (a novel) chronicles the adventures of a nightclub dancer, and was featured on CBC"s The Arts Tonight as the best small press book of 1988.
Her work has been published in Best Canadian Stories (1991) and The Thinking Heart: Best Canadian Essays (1992), as well as numerous periodicals and anthologies. A radio play, "Solo Death Waves" (1993) was broadcast on CBC Stereodrama. A memoir, "Roads to Freedom" won the 1991 Event Magazine Creative Non-Fiction Prize.
She has appeared on local and national media including Morningside, Home Run, Newswatch, etc. She was one of four Montreal personalities featured in Georges Dufaux" documentary film, "Rue Ste-Catherine Est/West" (1992). She has taught Creative Writing at Concordia University, St. Laurence College (Kingston) and University College of the Cariboo (Kamloops). In 1993, she was weekly Books columnist for the Montreal Gazette. She is currently a contributing editor to Geist magazine.
Since 2003, she has divided her time between Greece and Canada. Her most recent book is My Cold War, a memoir about her father.