Amanda West Lewis Writers in Residence Archives
Amanda West Lewis is the author of seven books for young readers, including September 17, which was nominated for the Silver Birch Award, the Red Cedar Award and the Violet Downey IODE Award. Her new novel, These Are Not the Words, is available from Groundwood Books. She is a writer, theatre director, calligrapher, and drama teacher. She is the founder of the Ottawa Children’s Theatre, and she has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Born in New York City, she now lives in Brooke Valley, Ontario, with her husband, writer Tim Wynne-Jones.
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March 31, 2022Stepping Off the Treadmill
Ten years ago, Tim and I decided to step sideways.I was Artistic Director of a theatre school for children and youth. I was dedicated to the job, but it was completely wearing me down. Tim was teaching ...
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March 28, 2022What's Beyond: Writing as an Actor, Part 2
One of the important exercises we do in theatre is called “What’s Beyond.” It’s a Viola Spolin exercise to help actors understand the full, inner life of their characters. Viola Spolin is credited ...
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March 25, 2022Writing as an Actor
I went to theatre school when I was 18. In many ways it was the worst choice I could have made. I was not temperamentally suited to the life of an actor. But the lessons I learned in theatre school have ...
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March 22, 2022Writing as a Calligrapher
The word calligraphy comes from the Greek. Kali, meaning beautiful, and Graphos, meaning writing. Beautiful writing. It’s a term that was coined after the invention of the printing press, after the ...
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March 17, 2022Waking Up My Writing with a Jolt of First Love
I don’t think you ever get over falling in love with a horse.That first love is all absorbing. It awakens every sensation. Sense of smell, taste, touch, hearing –– all vibrate. It is all consuming, ...
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March 14, 2022Writing from Pictures
I use photographs as a starting point for writing. Maybe that’s because my writing is historically based. But it’s also because I am interested in starting from a real person and spinning off into ...
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March 11, 2022Writing What You Don't Know
Write what you know. It’s an adage you are always told as a beginning writer.My first book was definitely written because of what I knew. I had been teaching a studio course on the development of Western ...
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March 09, 2022Rejection
No one likes rejection. I’ve been told that some people handle it better than others. It depends on your baggage.I had my first official manuscript rejection when I was nine years old. I received a ...
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March 07, 2022Writing From Life
These Are Not the Words is a semi-autobiographical novel.That means there are real people in it who do imaginary things, and imaginary people who do real things. I am not Miranda Billie Taylor, but we ...
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March 04, 2022Late Bloomers
I come from a family of late bloomers.Or at least, that’s the story I tell myself when I try to deal with the disappointment of not having been an outrageous success in my 20s and 30s, when I was precocious ...
