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If you have an event or news that you would like to display on this page, please send an email to info@markhamvillagewriters.com. Although we are a Markham-based group, we also welcome information from areas outside of Markham. Please include the following information in your email: (1) Your name (2) Your email address (3) Your organization/company name (4) Your event/news details (include dates, times and contact information)
WRITING EVENTS & NEWS
for Winter/Spring 2010
Write to Win! Workshop with Dorothea Helms and Ruth Walker
Saturday, March 6, 10 am – 4 pm
J.P. Fitzpatrick & Son restaurant, Whitby Entertainment Centrum
75 Consumers Rd. (west of Thickson Rd. S.), Whitby
Write to Win is a one-day immersion in the art of entering writing contests and increasing your chances for winning. Two of WCDR’s most seasoned winners will share tips that will help you develop your own winning strategy. Participants are asked to bring the first page of their fiction, non-fiction or poetry they hope to submit to an upcoming competition. In this workshop, through a combination of lecture, demonstration and exercises, you will put your own work to the ‘writing contest’ test and see if it will make it past the first reading. Fee: $100($90 WCDR, WEN, HHWEN, PWAC Member). Maximum Participants: 16. More information at http://wcdr.ca/wcdr/?page_id=3073
Meet the author: Motorcycles & Sweetgrass, by Drew Hayden Taylor
March 10, 7:30 pm
Authors at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W., Toronto
Info: readings.org or 416-973-4000
Meet the author: The Antioxidant Prescription, by Bryce Wylde
March 10, 6:30 pm
Campus Zen, Keynote Workshop, York University, Keele Campus, Toronto. Info: homeopathicdoctor.ca
Wednesday, March 10: The Publicist and the Publicized
Two sides of the marketing story with advice and cautions.
CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers). General meetings in Toronto, September to June, second Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM
The Northern District Library‚ Second Floor‚ 40 Orchard View Blvd., Toronto
Everyone is welcome! Visit http://www.canscaip.org/ for more info.
The Insider’s Guide to Getting Published
March 11, 18 & 25, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Toronto Public Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd. (Yonge & Eglinton)
An intensive workshop for writers who want to know how to get published and how to understand the publishing process. Learn: what’s happening in Canadian publishing today and what it means for you; the pros and cons of literary agents and self-publishing; how to prepare covering letters and book proposals that get results; how to build your author profile and increase your sales; the publishing process from manuscript to bookstore (and online); how to market your book; how publishing houses make their acquisition decisions. Workshop Leaders: Cynthia Good is the former President and Publisher of Penguin Canada and the current Director of the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College. Jennifer Murray is the former Vice-President of Marketing at Penguin Canada and at Kids Can Press. Fee: $345.70. For information, contact: Cynthia Good, 416-675-6622, ext. 3462, or cynthia.good@humber.ca. If you’re unable to make these evening sessions, our next Insider’s Guide to Getting Published workshop will be held July 19 & 20 from 9:30 to 4:30 each day. This follows the annual Humber School for Writers Summer Workshop, which runs from July 10-16, 2010. You can use the same process to register for July. For further information, please see Humber’s part-time studies calendar at http://parttimestudents.humber.ca
Meet award-winning Children’s author, Anne Carter
March 13, 8:30 to 11:00 a.m.
J.P. Fitzpatrick & Son restaurant in the Whitby Entertainment Centrum, 75 Consumers Rd., Whitby
Why does a writer choose to write about sensitive issues and how is the material researched? The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region will welcome Anne Carter, who will talk about the background to writing her most recent novel about a young Palestinian girl: The Shepherd’s Grand-daughter. Anne Carter was born in Don Mills and left Canada at seventeen to work on kibbutzim in Israel. She returned home to complete her B. A., M. Ed., and to learn French. She has taught ESL for the Cree School Board in isolated villages in Northern Quebec and French Immersion in Southern Ontario. She has twice won the Canadian Library Association Best Book of the Year Award for Children, the Vicky Metcalf Award for best short story, The Mr. Christie’s Best Picture Book Award, the Toronto Star Short Story contest, and the Thistledown Press YA short story competition. Following the meeting Gwynn Scheltema will lead a mini workshop: “From Nancy Drew to Nancy Wrote” on learning how to decipher mastheads as a first step to selling more articles or getting short stories read for magazines and journals. WCDR monthly breakfast meetings are where experienced and aspiring writers gather to connect and hear authors and industry professional speak on the business of writing. Everyone is welcome. The cost, which includes an excellent and hearty breakfast, is $15 for members; $20 for guests. To attend, please register online at www.wcdr.org, by phone at 905-686-0211 or by e-mail at breakfast@wcdr.org, no later than noon on Thursday, March 11.
Meet the authors: Never Look Away, by Linwood Barclay; The Snowman, by Jo Nesbø
March 17, 7:30 pm
Authors at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. Toronto.
Info: readings.org or 416-973-4000
Meet the author: The Smart Cookies’ Guide to Couples and Money, by Angela Self
March 19, 9:00 am
Rotman Commerce, Women in Business Conference,
Four Seasons Hotel, 21 Avenue Rd., Toronto
Contact Rotman Commerce Women in Business for event and ticket information.
Meet the author: The Antioxidant Prescription, by Bryce Wylde
March 22, 6:30 pm
Campus Zen, Keynote Workshop, University of Toronto, St. George Campus, Toronto. Info: homeopathicdoctor.ca
Meet the authors: The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, by Alan Bradley; and The Penalty Killing, by Michael McKinley
March 24, 7:30 pm
Authors at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W., Toronto.
Info: readings.org or 416-973-4000
Meet the author: The Golden Mean, by Annabel Lyon
March 25, 12:30 pm
Toronto Public Library Eh List Author Series
Toronto Reference Library
Info: torontopubliclibrary.ca
Meet the author: Where We Have to Go, by Lauren Kirshner
March 25, 7:00 pm
Toronto Public Library Eh List Reading Series
Barbara Frum Branch, Toronto
Info: torontopubliclibrary.ca
Meet the author: Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor
March 26, 9:00 am
Leading Edge Seminars, Toronto
Secular Buddhism: Introduction, Exploration, and Practice. Info: leadingedgeseminars.org
It’s Not What You Earn‚ It’s What You Keep!
Taxation Tips for Writers‚ with Gwynn Scheltema
Saturday, March 27, 10 am – 4 pm
Whitby/Pickering area
Being a writer means more than coming up with great plot lines and sizzling dialogue; if you get paid for your writing, it also means dealing with Revenue Canada and taxes. How does Revenue Canada define ‘freelance’? If I win a writing contest, is that money considered income? Can I deduct research expenses? How do I value a work-in-progress? Do I have to register for GST? Fee: $95($85 WCDR Member). More information at http://wcdr.ca/wcdr/?page_id=3073
Meet the author: The Essential Engineer, by Henry Petroski
March 28, 10:00 am
Globe and Mail/Ben McNally Brunch Series,
King Edward Hotel, 37 King St. E., Toronto
Tickets $45. To reserve: 416-361-0032. Info: benmcnallybooks.com.
Meet the author: The Antioxidant Prescription, by Bryce Wylde
March 30, 6:30 pm
Campus Zen, Keynote Workshop, Ryerson University, Toronto.
Info: homeopathicdoctor.ca
Kama Reading Series with authors, Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson
March 31, 6:30 PM
Park Hyatt Toronto, 4 Avenue Road, Toronto
Doors open 6:30; reading 7:00. Tickets: $60. Info: worldlit.ca
Barbara Kyle’s third annual Master Class: Your Novel in Workshop
April 10-11, 9:30 – 5:00 PM
Toronto Writers’ Centre, 627 Bloor Street West, Toronto
You write in isolation, and feedback from friends and family can only take you so far. Every writer needs the informed comments of other writers to take their work to the next level. If you have a novel-in-progress and want to take it to that next level, you will benefit from this workshop. It’s an intensive weekend – we workshop part of each participant’s novel-in-progress. But it happens in a relaxed give-and-take with your peers. You’ll also get a personal, one-on-one evaluation session with Barbara to discuss your work’s strengths and weaknesses. Cost: $250. For more information, visit www.barbarakyle.com or to register, email bkyle@barbarakyle.com or call 416-435-3318. Registration is limited to 10 participants. To be accepted please send a five-page sample of your work.
Known for her dynamic workshops, Barbara Kyle is the author of the Tudor era novels The Queen’s Lady and The King’s Daughter which have sold internationally, and the forthcoming The Queen’s Captive (August 2010). Barbara won acclaim for her contemporary novels under pen name ‘Stephen Kyle’ including Beyond Recall, a Literary Guild Selection. Over 300,000 copies of her books have sold.
Writing the Breakout Novel with Donald Maass
April 10, 9 AM – 4 PM
Toronto
For writers who want to take their fiction to the next level, this workshop shows them how. This is an intensive, hands-on workshop for advanced fiction writers. Maass explains the elements that all breakout novels share and shows readers how to use these elements to write a novel that has a good chance of succeeding in a crowded marketplace. Participants should bring a WIP and writing materials. More information at: http://www.torontoromancewriters.com/schedule.html#Feb
The East End Writers Group presents…
“Writing Your Life” and other true stories
Saturday, April 10, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
World’s Biggest Bookstore, 20 Edward St, Toronto
(A block north of Dundas, just west off Yonge St.)
Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public, don’t miss this workshop. Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including our guest speaker, Ross Pennie, author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s memoir of Papua New Guinea (Manor House Publishing). Dr. Pennie has also signed a contract with ECW Press for three medical mystery novels. The first of these, Tainted, came out last April; the next will be out in 2010. Dr. Pennie will speak on how to turn ordinary life into dramatic material and will answer questions about how he wrote his memoir and got it published. Fee: $39.05 plus gst = $41 paid in advance or $42.86 plus gst = $45 if you wait to pay at the door. To register, please make out a cheque to Brian Henry and mail it to: Brian Henry, 110 Reiner Road, Toronto, ON M3H 2L6. To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca
April writing retreat at Elmhirst’s Resort promises to inspire
April 16-18
Elmhirst’s Resort in the Kawarthas
It’s the writers’ lament: “I wish I had more time to write.” Writescape’s Spring Thaw writers’ retreat strips away the excuses and the distractions that prevent writers from putting pen to paper. Spring Thaw offers participants the luxury of focusing on their writing while the resort takes care of the rest. The all-inclusive weekend retreat offers writers guided writing exercises, private time for writing and reflection, and Writescape’s amazing “inspiration station” to stimulate their creativity. Writers also receive a private manuscript consultation with valuable written feedback from two professional editors. The retreat is led by Ruth E. Walker and Gwynn Scheltema. This dynamic duo have taught a full range of programs from half-day workshops to weeklong retreats to college level credit courses. Scheltema is an award-winning freelance writer and poet, and a founding editor for the Canadian journal LICHEN Arts & Letters Preview. Walker is an award-winning writer, poet and playwright with fiction, poetry, and non-fiction work published in Canada, the US, and the UK. Elmhirst’s Resort, located near Peterborough, offers a relaxing combination of cosy cottage accommodations and spectacular gourmet meals with amenities like an indoor pool and onsite themed pub. The lakefront resort is set on gently rolling hills beside beautiful Rice Lake, a mere 90 minutes east and north of Toronto. The price for the weekend retreat is $595 which includes all meals, a private room in cottage accommodations, resort amenities and the three-day retreat program. Writers within commuting distance can take advantage of the non-residential rate of $385. Members of accredited writers’ associations are entitled to a $30 discount. For full retreat details and online registration, visit www.writescape.ca, e-mail info@writescape.ca, or phone 905-728-7823.
Meet the Author: Elizabeth Elwood
Saturday, April 17, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Chapters, Kennedy Commons,
20 William Kitchen Road, Scarborough
Read an interview with Elizabeth Elwood in our ‘Focus On’ section! More info at 416-335-4311. Elizabeth is the author of To Catch an Actress and A Black Tie Affair. She is also a playwright and her plays, Renovations and Casting for Murder, have been produced in several cities in Canada. Born in England, Elizabeth lives with her husband and family in Vancouver, British Columbia. Visit her Website at www.elihuentertainment.com.
Kama Reading Series with author, Peter Mansbridge
April 21, 6:30 PM
Park Hyatt Toronto, 4 Avenue Road, Toronto
Doors open 6:30, reading 7:00. More details at worldlit.ca
Meet the Author: Elizabeth Elwood
Saturday, May 1, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Chapters, 76 Barrie View Drive, Barrie
More info at 705-735-6735. Elizabeth Elwood is the author of To Catch an Actress and A Black Tie Affair. She is also a playwright and her plays, Renovations and Casting for Murder, have been produced in several cities in Canada. Born in England, Elizabeth lives with her husband and family in Vancouver, British Columbia. Visit her Website at www.elihuentertainment.com.
The Humber School for Writers
Correspondence Program in Creative Writing
Starts May 2010
The Correspondence Program in Creative Writing, offered by The Humber School for Writers, gives aspiring writers the rare opportunity to work on a novel, book of short stories, volume of poetry, or piece of creative non-fiction with one of the School’s distinguished faculty. Students receive extensive feedback via either regular or electronic correspondence and learn to refine their craft. Students may also share their experience in a closed web lounge. This 30-week program is specifically designed for those who prefer working at their own pace and in their own environment. More details at http://creativeandperformingarts.humber.ca/content/writers_correspondence.html
2010 Ontario Writers’ Conference, May 1, 2010
Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Facility, Ajax, Ontario
Where else can Ontario writers rub elbows with world-famous authors like sci-fi giant Robert J. Sawyer, funny guy Richard Scrimger, and historical fiction writer Barbara Kyle? Experienced and aspiring writers can hone their skills in interactive workshops; receive manuscript feedback in one-on-one mentoring sessions; and fire publishing questions at a panel of editors, agents, authors and publishers. The open-to-the-public Festival of Authors evening features readings from noted authors like Catherine Gildiner and Barry Dempster, as well as a marketplace and mingling with conference literati. The $210 conference fee includes full day program, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and Festival of Authors. To register by mail, send form and cheque/money order to: Ontario Writers’ Conference, 85 Chambers Drive, Unit #5, Ajax, ON L1Z 1E2. Visit us at www.thewritersconference.com.
The Uxbridge Public Library presents…How to Get Published
Saturday, May 8, 10: 00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Uxbridge Public Library, 9 Toronto Street South, Uxbridge
If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a published author, this workshop is for you. We’ll cover everything from getting started to getting an agent, from getting your short pieces published to finding a book publisher, from writing a query letter to writing what the publishers want. Bring your questions. Come and get ready to be published! Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing teacher for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors. Special Option: Participants are invited to bring a draft of a query letter you might use to interest an agent or publisher in your book. You don’t need to bring anything, but if you do, 3 copies could be helpful. Fee: $39.05 plus gst = $41 paid in advance or $42.86 plus gst = $45 if you wait to pay at the door. To register, please make out a cheque to Brian Henry and mail it to: Brian Henry, 110 Reiner Road, Toronto, ON M3H 2L6. To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca
Kama Reading Series with author, Lyman MacInnis
May 26, 6:30 PM
Park Hyatt Toronto, 4 Avenue Road, Toronto
Doors open 6:30, reading/talk 7:00. More details at worldlit.ca
IABC World Conference Toronto, ON
June 6 to 10, 2010
The IABC World Conference is the leading international forum of its kind. More than 1,500 business communication professionals-decision makers in leading industries around the world-gather annually to learn the latest developments and best practices in communication and make connections that will advance their communication programs and careers. Visit www.iabc.com for more information.
Haliburton School of the Arts, Fleming College
Retreat to the Highlands of Haliburton for summer writing inspiration! Weeklong courses run Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm and cost $275.03 plus taxes. Saturday Workshops run from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and cost $79.66 plus taxes. Please visit our website for full course descriptions. Accommodation assistance is available! www.HaliburtonSchoolofTheArts.ca or call 1-866-353-6464 or 705-457-1680.
Saturday, June 5 – Creative Writing Workshop with Jane Bow
July 5 to 9 – Creative Writing: Ignite Your Potential, with Nora Zylstra Savage; Song Writing, with Ian Tamblyn
July 12 to 16 – Creating Written Memoirs, with Nora Zylstra Savage
July 19 to 23 – Creative Access, with Jane Bow; Writing Children’s Books, with Ted Staunton
Saturday, July 24 – Freewriting Workshop, with Chris Kay Fraser
July 26 to 30 – Creating Written Memoirs II, with Nora Zylstra Savage
August 2 to 6 – Travel Writing, with Kate Pocock
Saturday, August 7 – Selling Your Travel Writing, with Kate Pocock
August 9 to 13 – Creative Writing, with Catherine Graham
Weekly Writers’ Workshop at U of T
Fridays at 6 PM
Hart House, University of Toronto’s St. George Campus
Critique, discussion, creation and marketing of original poetry and prose. Workshop features guest authors and is involved in literary events and publications. Free. Email: uoftwritersco-op@hotmail.com
The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region (WCDR)
Monthly breakfast meetings
We hold monthly breakfast meetings, where experienced and aspiring writers gather, learn and connect. Join us throughout the year to hear authors and industry speakers, to enjoy a special event, and to broaden your networking circle. Everyone is welcome. Meetings run from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the J.P. Fitzpatrick & Son restaurant in the Whitby Entertainment Centrum at 75 Consumers Rd. (west of Thickson Rd. S.). The cost, which includes an excellent and hearty breakfast, is $15 for members; $20 for guests. (Ask us how, by becoming a member, you can save!) For more details, visit www.wcdr.org. The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region (WCDR) is dedicated to raising the profile of writers of all kinds, and at all levels, by offering a forum through which they can find support, education and networking opportunities. As a non-profit umbrella organization, WCDR has worked since 1995 to draw together individuals and groups with common interests in promoting the art and skill of writing, fostering literacy, and providing moral support to our members. To find out about the many writing-related activities WCDR offers, please explore www.wcdr.org