Who Is Speaking? Voice, Authenticity and the Writer-Soul with Victoria Hetherington

The Story

What makes writing sound like someone ? A distinctive voice that reaches you? It can emerge from surprisingly small-seeming choices, which we'll explore: rhythm, syntax, vocabulary, perspective; you can also find it in the things a writer habitually or intentionally leaves unsaid. In this workshop, we’ll look at how writers construct voices and personas, and experiment with imitation, disguise, exaggeration and literary ventriloquism to see how much a voice can change before it stops feeling like the same person. We’ll also consider what happens to our ideas about voice and authenticity when machines can convincingly reproduce some of these signals. What, if anything, makes a voice feel genuinely one’s own? ***   Victoria Hetherington  is the author of The Friend Machine and host of the CBC podcast Understood: Artificial Intimacy *** Accessibility:  VPL is committed to making our programs accessible for all. If you have an access need that we have not addressed here, please email us at [email protected] The expected noise level is moderate Participants are welcome to move and take breaks as needed. There will be designated quiet tables, and all participation is voluntary For information on physical access, view the Accessibility information on the Central Library Page .