A group of accomplished writers from across Canada is gathered at St. Peter’s Abbey for a special collaborative writing experience to help refine works in progress or spark the flame of new collections. The Sage Hill Writing Spring Colloquium is led by renowned Canadian Métis poet Marilyn Dumont at the Abbeys’ retreat centre.
Sagehill Writing takes its name from the first location where it gathered writers in a retreat setting at the onetime Sagehill Centre, the former Air Force facility near Dana. Since then, the program has set up residence in various retreat centres, mostly rural, to allow writers to gather and focus on their work. St. Peter’s Abbey has been one of those inviting locations says Acting Executive Director Caitlin Terfloth.
“It’s a very important place for us to come to particularly with the closure of other retreat venue options,” says Terfloth. “We’re looking for a place where writers can really be at home and have all the facilities and amenities they have here, and at a rate that artists can typically afford.”
It’s in this idyllic natural centre that these seasoned writers have set up shop, many of whom are working on the finishing touches of poetry manuscripts. The collegial atmosphere has these poets reading each other's work, meeting in workshop fashion, and considering published work as inspiration for new directions.
It’s all under the guidance of facilitator Marilyn Dumont, the 2018 recipient of the Lifetime Membership from the League of Canadian Poets for her storied contributions to the Canadian poetry scene. She’s produced four award winning collections of poetry and has released her newest, South Side of a Kinless River published by Brick Books, in 2024.
For her work, she draws on her family history and stories of Alberta Métis settlements which have been somewhat lost in the evolution of the country’s history. Her pull toward poetry was a natural function of her growing up, Dumont explains.
“Growing up as a teenager, I read poets, and it seemed to me I always went to them when I wanted to hear somebody tell the truth. I’ve always been drawn to poets; they seem to be my people in terms of where they position themselves in the world. Poets are quite often the canaries in the coal mine; they’re the ones speaking up about things that are maybe not spoken about.”
Whether it’s political strife, social injustice, or environmental degradation, poets house the proverbial watchtowers, she says.
Like any artist, Dumont’s work, by her own admission, has shifted from self-referential and narrative poetry to new avenues where she finds herself working in different ways. It’s simply a matter of progression through learning, experience, mistakes and the influences of other writers and thinkers. In a large sense, that’s the power of the colloquium – a type of experiential immersion in a condensed format.
“The poets we have here are very accomplished writers,” Dumont affirms. “They’re writers who have either published a book, or they have a chapbook. And they are people who read poetry. That seems to be critical in terms of writing poetry. We have to read other poets to learn from them what to do, what not to do. We have a very strong cohort of poets here working on diverse subject matter. It’s very exciting; I love it.”
That dedication and enthusiasm shows in the outcomes of each writer's work, and it’s reflected through Marilyn’s spirit and approach to poetry. She speaks enthusiastically about the spoken orientation to poetry – the beauty in the sonics of a language. Poetry is best appreciated and supported as part of a community, and she asserts that there is a strong community of poets and poetry lovers in the country whose collegial values are important to the development of new work.
Marilyn will be reading alongside Sask Book Awards nominated Courtney Bates-Hardy at the Humboldt and District Gallery on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.
“We have a new partnership we’ve just established with the Humboldt and District Museum who will be hosting this event,” explains Caitlin Terfloth. “It’s a great new partnership because we bring writers from all over Canada working with us, yet we haven’t had a lot of interaction with the community, and we know there is a writing community in Humboldt. So, I think this will be a great opportunity to get out there and meet with local writers.”
The event is free and open to the public. Join the Sagehill Writing community as the Gallery welcomes Marilyn Dumont and Courtney Bates-Hardy.
Enjoy the full conversation with Caitlin Terfloth and Marilyn Dumont.