The Shape of You: A Hermit Crab Writing Workshop with Leanne Toshiko Simpson - Online
Wednesday April 8, 2026 | Event: 6:00-7:30pm PDT | ONLINE via Zoom
Hermit crab essays have emerged as exciting and generative containers for personal storytelling over the past two decades. As their popularity has grown, these creative pieces have taken the shape of family recipes, instructional manuals, obituaries and other familiar forms, offering a protective space to begin the writing process and a chance to reimagine the cultural expectations of each shape.
As a mad writer, Leanne’s narration of her life has been challenging – both in the sense that she is often writing emotionally difficult stories AND stories that may be less recognizable for those who don’t share her lived experience. She finds that working within a “shell” – as Leanne did for her debut novel, Never Been Better, which uses the shape of a romantic comedy to explore mental illness – helps her understand and question the “rules of the game,” whether it’s the guiding structures of family, relationships, illness or even just the choreography of going on a date. It also makes for a very fun reading experience for those outside the story!
Members: $20 | Non-Members: $25
Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a Japanese Canadian writer, educator and psychiatric survivor from Toronto. She loves writing joyful and messy stories about living with mental illness, and the moments of hope that help us get out of bed day after day.
Leanne teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto and her debut novel Never Been Better won the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Romance and was longlisted for Canada Reads 2026.
Beth Aerts-Ives (she/her) is a neurodivergent and disabled social worker with a passion for storytelling. Beth is the founder of Beehives Therapeutic Services where she explores the helpful and hindersome narratives that impact her therapy clients.
She’s been writing professionally and “unprofessionally” for over a decade with features in The American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Humans Of the World, and her personal favourite – @BothSidesofBeehives on Instagram. Beth is writing her debut self-help book How to Be There while completing her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction at the University of King’s College.