mâmawôpayitân - Let's get together
The Polyglot, in partnership with Supporting Indigenous Language Revitalization (SILR), is proud to present a free writing workshop with Métis educator, poet, and essayist, Naomi McIlwraith. This workshop is part of our Voices in Relation summer program & Call for Submissions for Issue 18, but is open to everyone in Edmonton and online who registers using the form below.
This session offers writers of any genre and at any place in their writerly path:
Time to think about language and how we use it to express ourselves
Time to write about the importance of Indigenous language revitalization, or to explore another related subject that feels urgent and meaningful
Time to speak from a place of heart and soul.
To take with you, a piece of your own writing worthy of your time and respect
How can we block out the clamour around us so that we can hear our thoughts? How do we get from our bleeding hearts to words on a page? How do we get from a raw first draft into a crafted thing of beauty? How can we rejoice in the journey instead of obsessing about getting published? How do we express our respect for our mother tongue and hear all our voices in relation to each other?
You are called to submit your artwork and writing to Issue 18 of The Polyglot by August 10, 2026, so in this workshop, you may explore what it means to respect and preserve threatened Indigenous languages. Is maintaining respect for yourself and others important to you? Why? Why not?
Please join Naomi McIlwraith for this active two-hour session that will give writers a chance to ponder these questions. Anyone with a pen and a notebook—physical or virtual—is invited!
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, 4 August 2026, pen and notebook or laptop in hand! We will meet at the Sprucewood Library in the heart of Naomi’s neighbourhood from 6:30 - 8:30. The address: 11555 - 95 Street, Edmonton, Alberta.
Bio:
Naomi McIlwraith is dedicated to bringing Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous people together to wrestle with the truth of Canada’s colonial origins and to leave a better story for our descendants to tell about how we are healing a broken relationship. A Métis educator, poet and essayist, Naomi gratefully uses her education to build a more peaceful world. She lives in amiskwacî-wâskahikan, Plains Cree for Beaver Hills House, also known as Edmonton, Alberta.