This CALL group is based on the idea that it is essential to hear both women’s and men’s voices. Historically, women’s voices were not valued. As Elizabeth Lesser puts it in her book Cassandra Speaks, when women’s voices are heard, the full scope of human experience is shown.

The group focuses on the short fiction (and occasional non-fiction) of the foremost women writers mainly from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries

The meetings pay close attention to such qualities as the narrator, tone, mood, theme, symbolism, imagery, word choice, character creation and motivation in order to deeply understand and learn from the writer’s vision.

In past years we have read such international award-winning writers as Alice Munro, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, Doris Lessing, Carol Shields, Joyce Carol Oates and Sharon Butala. If you are interested in seeing the archival list of authors and stories discussed, email Zina Rosso.

Participants will have read the stories ahead of the meeting. Each month, a short work by one of these authors will be sent you as a PDF or link and a group member will facilitate the discussion.