The Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild is pleased to announce the recipients of our 2026 Summer Writers Retreat scholarship and bursary.
The Judy McCrosky Bursary provides an emerging Saskatchewan writer with program fees for one week’s retreat and is awarded at both the Winter and Summer Retreats.
Andreas Lohstraeter is an emerging writer currently based in Saskatoon in Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.
At St. Peter's Abbey, Andreas will continue working on a collection of poems that attempts to reckon with the colonial history of the nation (with a specific focus on Saskatchewan) and the reality of environmental degradation via resource extraction. The poems operate under the belief that the two issues are inextricably intertwined and, ultimately, stem from a lack of connection to the natural world. As such, the project is driven by a desire to connect with the land in order to more intimately know the place Andreas calls home.
The Anne Campbell Memorial Scholarship provides one recipient with $500 for the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild Summer Retreat. The scholarship is intended for an emerging Saskatchewan writer working on poetry or short stories.
Over more than twenty-five years as a professional storyteller, Danica Lorer has delighted audiences of all ages. She has been struck by lightning, a moose, a rogue semi-tire, vehicles, and the odd, strange idea.
She has had stories and poems published in untethered, Poetry All Over the Floor, Grain, antiLang, and Spring. Danica has presented hundreds of writing and storytelling workshops to people from 0 to 103 years. In the last two years, she has been performing and writing music with her partner Jay Semko. She is the most recent recipient of the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts Colleen and Allan Bailey Memorial Endowment Fund Literary Award.
Danica is getting very close to a polished book-length collection of short stories. 'Out Loud, Softly' revolves around the experiences of women of various ages, backgrounds, and situations of health and care. They represent the women around us and the women inside of us. She will spend the week at the retreat writing and revising, appreciating the great gifts of time and quiet.
The SWG’s Summer 2026 Writers’ Retreats will be held at St. Peter’s Abbey in Muenster from July 17-31, 2026. More information about the retreats and these scholarships is available at https://skwriter.com/retreats/writer-retreats.
Congratulations, Andreas and Danica!