Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Fall into Focus program / NOVEMBER 2023
Lesley Trites
Canada
www.lesleytrites.com
About
Lesley Trites is a fiction writer based in Montreal, Canada.
She is currently working on a novel that explores themes of
artistic ambition, intimacy, grief, and desire. The author of the
short story collection A Three-Tiered Pastel Dream (Véhicule
Press, 2017), which appeared in French as Fulminologie
(Marchand de feuilles, 2019), and the poetry collection
echoic mimic (Snare Books/Invisible Publishing, 2011), she
also works as a freelance editor.
Fenestrations
I arrived at Arteles in a state of depletion. What a gift it was
to soak up the silence, solitude, and sleep as I settled in to a
routine of meditation, writing, snowy forest walks, and sauna.
Body unwinding, mind expanding. I wrote a satisfyingly large
chunk of my novel and submitted proposals for opportunities
that would help shape my next year and keep the writing
momentum going.
More important than word count or project goals, though,
was the more spiritual shift I experienced at Arteles, and the
moments of connection with fellow residents, our shared
awe at this opportunity to (re)commit to seeing ourselves as
artists. In this environment, I was able to regain focus and
reconnect with my creative spirit.