Writer, filmmaker & multi-platform storyteller Brenda Keesal is creating a virtual gathering space called the Village that brings people from all over the world together to share their life stories, to cultivate connection, creativity and love.
In 2015, Brenda founded Storytime, a diverse oral storytelling group in a neighbourhood café. As a creator of transformative gatherings, she leads groups of strangers through the drama and hilarity of their life stories, and helps weave them together.
Brenda’s film work is character-driven and emotionally-charged. Her award-winning fiction WANKER garnered cult status and rave reviews, voted one of the best movies of the year in her home town Montréal. The polarizing, interracial feature JACK & ELLA played in festivals all over the world.
Brenda learned to write for the internet and share her own voice with a global audience on her popular, award-winning blog BURNS THE FIRE, showcased by WordPress five times (Discover, Freshly Pressed, Editors’ Pick). She has a book on the back burner- Some of My Best Friends are Old Men – based on one of BTF’s much loved series. She lives to uplift, inspire and connect.
Photo by Ezra Soiferman.
Check her out on Huffington Post
Contact: team@burnsthefire.com
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Burns the Fire Header Photos: Brenda Keesal
Arted up by: Sara Lomas
Special thanks for your help to Eric Robillard, Sara Draws, Mehdi Bouhalassa, Ned Bouhalassa.
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50 Responses to About
Your blog is amazing, inspiring, emotional.
Like you 🙂
So good to see you the other day. xo
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Naomi, thank you.
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Brenda,
Your site looks neat.
Le Clown
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Le Clown,
WTF is neat? Thanks to you and Sara Draws.
bbb
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WTF is neat… ha ha 🙂
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Oh yeah! Appropriately gorgeous and bold…
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Smooch. Thanks, Kat.
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Brenda, your blog looks great! I love the new look. – Amy
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Thanks, Amy! Now to fill it.
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It’s so nice to take a walk down a random road on the blogosphere, only to find young talented people who are in actuality, right next door! 🙂 Loving your little corner of paradise, happy to have found you 🙂
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I like a random road. Thanks, Peace! Looking forward to checking out your blog and bumping into you.
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Hi Brenda-
Great site/blog! I am quite glad my late night internet surfing brought me here. You have a happy new follower.
Much success!
-Andrew
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Blushing and pleased. Thanks, Andrew!
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[…] in the first collage, the Steve McCurry child in a blue alley just above. Years ago Brenda from Burns the Fire made me the one below – it has faded with the years but still makes me […]
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[…] Brenda from Burns The Fire – I think you are the single best nonfiction storyteller I know. Given how much stories mean […]
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[…] About […]
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I like the way your blog looks, Brenda, but where the hell is that comment you were talking about? In other words, where on this blog is it – and mine – to which yours is/was an answer.
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Look at the comments below this post:
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I was recently nominated for my first blog award and I’ve nominated you for the WordPress Family Award as well!
More about it here: http://tessa-rose.com/awards/
Tessa
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Tessa, thank you so much! Your support is dearly appreciated. On my way over to your site to learn more.
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Arrived at your cyberspace via Freshly pressed. Lovely post on Marquez. I saw a reflection of his words in yours. Would like to read more.
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Thank you. Please do.
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Just want to say thanks for following my blog. It’s all for entertainment, no serious rants and raves. Hope you like it.
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“Quality over quantity.” Love it and love your blog. An authentic creative force. Thanks for the escape from innocuous writing splatted all over.
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Thanks, Catherine! I do love love.
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I like your the art of and express themselves
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I stumbled across your blog, and fell head-over-heels in love. I am just beginning to blog, was having second thoughts on whether or not I even wanted to blog, and yours has inspired me to go with my gut and do it. did I mention that I love your blog? 💗
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There is nothing I covet more than love – does it show? Thanks for your heart-growing comment, I urge you to bust it out with your blog!
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Yes it does show! & thank you for following my blog! peace & love always, all-ways.
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This indeed is a really great and inspiring blog. I love how it’s shaped and organized. I’m new to blogging, but I hope to sometime figure out how to configure my site, as fun and compelling as this one. Thanks a lot!
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maybe we’ll run into each other at a cafe…lol
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Brenda;
First of all congratulation for creating this wonderful blog. Though, still I have not gone through your blog’s all the posts but your “ABOUT” page and specifically this sentence compelmed to write to you, whenever, you have spare time, please feel free to visit my blog, and if possible leave a comment on it, it may lead us to building best blogging friendship, remember everything is optional.
“Brenda Keesal follows her own road”
Wishing you all the best…………………………..
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Thank you for your lovely comment; I hope you spend some time on my road and I look forward to yours!
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BRENDA;
SURE, NOW WE ARE OFFICIALLY FRIENDS SO IT IS QUIET OBVIOUS FOR BOTH OF US TO STAY IN CONTACT WITH EACH OTHERS, BY THE WAY I HAVE GONE THROUGH YOUR SOME OF THE POSTS AND IT IS AS DYNAMIC,VIBRANT AND COLORFUL AS YOUR PERSONALITY.
WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST…………….
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Your blog is wonderful, it lives and breathes. The stories, the passion, the fire, I love it!
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Thank you. Happy to see you here.
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You are very welcome. And thank you very much for following my blog.
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Now, both of you are my friend, what a small world???????????????
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[…] About […]
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[…] all get by with help from our friends. Artist/author/ filmmaker Brenda Keesal, known to you through her blog Burns the Fire, wrote a piece in The Huffington Post recognizing […]
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Hi Brenda,
looking around in this overwhelming treasure of interesting blogs recommended by wordpress I found yours and decided to subscribe after a fairly short time. It is so inspiring, you speak about themes which touch me a lot (love &squalor … I just came back from Israel/Palestine after two months). And you write with passion and loving attitude. Thank you for this present. Charlotte
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Present, indeed. What a nice comment to wake up to! Thank you and welcome, Charlotte.
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Hello Brenda,
Being new to this site, I’ve never seen your previous format so I have no comment about the new look. I admit its bizarro initially. So are you a writer or a filmmaker or both?
And my other question is: […] What’s with all the encased ellipses? […]
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So Cool! I just started my own writings coming from a very conservative country and now living in NY being sexually free and not judged, so liberating! It would be nice if you could check it out 🙂
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Hey! This is, hopefully, the most automated comment you will ever-ever receive from me. I’ve popped over to say I finally put together the blogroll for NanoPoblano, I wanted you to check it out, and make sure that (1) you still want to participate and (2) your blog name is written as you want it written, and (3) I didn’t leave out super important information. Then, leave a comment introducing yourself. This is the page I’ll be directing people to through the month, so I’m hoping they’ll see your comment and be excited to go check you out. It should say something like, “Hey, Cheer Peppers– I’m So&So. I write about such&such. Come by and say hey.” I’ll be pruning comments on that page so it’s just link backs from posts, positive Pepper messages, and your intro. I’ll be sharing the page tomorrow night, all over town, so if you can put something up before then, that’d be awesome. If not, no worries, we have a whole month to go. https://rarasaur.wordpress.com/nanopoblano-2015/ ❤
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[…] the powerful simplicity and rich images of her prose. A year later, she throws me a curve: this author and indie filmmaker creates art possessed with the eyes, flashes, and patterns of a peacock in full bloom. […]
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Hi, nice to be here viewing your blog.
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It’s lovely to have you here. Welcome!
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[…] Video: Brenda Keesal […]
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Thanks for this blog posst
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