Welcome to the SWG’s 2025 Conference Seeding! All events are held at in Saskatoon at the Park Town Hotel (924 Spadina Crescent East). Free events and livestreamed options are noted. Registration required.
Friday, October 24, 2025
7:00 pm - 2025 John V Hicks Long Manuscript Award in Fiction Ceremony
Oak Room + Livestreamed
This event is free and open to the public
It’s a celebration of the winners of the 2025 John V Hicks Long Manuscript Award in Fiction! The first, second and third place winners will read from their work. Winners will be announced by late September.
8:00 pm - Fast Friends: Building Connections Reception
Oak Room
This event is free and open to the public
Do you find it easier to make up characters than to make real-life friendships? Are you so shy or new to the Saskatchewan writing community that you put the green into introvert or extravert? Do you appreciate telling stories under deadline? We’ll help writers who’ve been waiting for an excuse to talk to other writers become Fast Friends through guided conversation that will dig beyond surface level small talk (but no stress – you control how deep you want to dive!) Part speed dating for friendships, part (adult) musical chairs, part low-stakes storytelling, this evening community building event will give you the chance to make yourself the protagonist and find your next writing bestie.
Open to beginning, emerging, or established writers. Includes an appetizer reception.
Saturday, October 25, 2025
8:00 am - Breakfast
Oak Room
The coffee’s on and the food is hot! Join Guild Board Members, staff and other writers for a hearty breakfast to kick off our Saturday conference events. Breakfast menu TBA. Included in full conference pass.
9:00 am - Annual General Meeting
Oak Room
Did you know that the SWG has over 650 members in Saskatchewan and beyond? That our staff of 8 run programs all year round that reach almost 5000 people? That our volunteer board of directors plays a vital role in the governance of the Guild? Attend our Annual General Meeting to learn more about Guild operations and programs for 2024-25 and help us set directions for the new year. Your participation is important!
SWG Members who attend the AGM can claim their return mileage at $.22/km: please speak to SWG staff about submitting a claims form after the AGM.
10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Concurrent Workshops
"Writing From the Seed" Short Fiction Workshop with Dwayne Brenna
Oak Room
The workshop will consist of two parts.
First, we will discuss character webbing and the difference between multi-dimensional characters and one-dimensional characters. How does a writer of short stories create characters with dimension? We will explore character in terms of values, using character webbing as a tool to create greater tension in a story.
In the latter part of the workshop, we will focus on descriptive passages. How do you write descriptive passages that readers can’t forget? Description is the live wire that transmits the electricity of your story. It’s easy to fall into cliches when describing emotions, and it’s common to see character descriptions as a list of physical attributes. We will discuss how to avoid those pitfalls.
Participants will have the opportunity to write a descriptive paragraph, using the tools we have discussed, and share it with their fellow writers.
OR
“The Best Kind of Tetris: Assembling Your Poetry Collection” Workshop with Leah Horlick
Maple Room
Join award-winning poet Leah Horlick for this interactive workshop on how to put together a collection of poetry— from chapbooks to full-length manuscripts. Whether you’re published many times or totally new to poetry, whether your collection is nearly complete or just beginning to take shape— this workshop has something for you! We’ll explore how poems talk to each other across a text, which poems might like to be neighbours (or not), how to choose a title for your collection, and more. No experience necessary! If you have them, bring a big sheaf of poems to play with.
12:15 - 1:00 pm - Lunch
Oak Room
Catch up with old and new writing friends during buffet lunch.
Lunch menu TBA.
Included in full conference pass.
1:00 – 2:00 pm - 2025 Caroline Heath Memorial Lecture - “Seeding the Creative Spark” with Lawrence Hill
Oak Room + Livestreamed + Available on SWG Youtube channel post-conference
“Seeding the Creative Spark” by Lawrence Hill
Just as a green thumb can nurture a basil plant, it can also tend to the creative spirit. When are we most productive, as writers? How do we cultivate our best selves? Lawrence Hill will describe his own journeys into creativity – especially during his adolescence and early adulthood – and share thoughts on the art of seeding and mining the imagination – in students, in developing writers, in people who are incarcerated, and in oneself.
2:30 – 3:45 pm – Concurrent Panel
“Saplings: A Debut Authors Panel” with Victoria Koops, Theressa Slind, Betty Ternier Daniels and host Jeanette Lynes
Oak Room
Putting your debut book into the world involves its own ecosystem: ideas, drafts, manuscript, editor, designer, publisher, friends, the local writers’ guild, the snacks that keep you going—oh, the seed list goes on. Becoming a debut author requires water from various watering cans, but sometimes we don’t realize what we need in order to flourish. Join us for a panel discussion with debut authors Victoria Koops, Theressa Slind, Betty Ternier Daniels and with host Jeanette Lynes, on the essential seed packets of growing into a debut author. This panel will discuss the soil that nourishes a debut book into being (the who and what helped you become a debut author), as well as the root systems of ideas that become the manuscript itself.
OR
"Seed Savers: Keeping Knowledge for the Writing Community” Panel
with Rita Bouvier, Tenille K Campbell, Verna St. Denis and host Mika Lafond
Maple Room
Planting your seed ideas when you start writing is one of the most important things to nurture as a writer. Some seeds planted will grow and some won’t, in time this process of planting, ripping out weeds will help grow new thoughts, new stories. Join Rita Bouvier, Tenille K. Campbell, Verna St. Denis and host Mika Lafond in a panel discussion on how challenges are part of gardening/writing and saving knowledge (seeds) helps foster deeper engagement with learning and encouraging the garden bed of writers to flourish.
4:00 – 5:15 pm – Concurrent Panel
“Companion Planting: Mentorship and Growing Community” panel with Maria Campbell, Dave Carpenter, Lawrence Hill and host Bev Brenna
Oak Room
You’ll find as many different kinds of writers in a literary community as you’ll find plants in a garden. How do we build community amongst different kinds of writers? How are mentors and teachers important? What opportunities are available to emerging writers to seek growth? Join our panel discussion with Maria Campbell, Dave Carpenter, Lawrence Hill and host Bev Brenna as we discuss mentorship, the role of teachers and guides, and how we can support each other in our writing journeys.
OR
“On the Same Page: Writing While Neurodivergent” panel with Delane Just, Alice Kuipers, Tonia Laird and host John Loeppky
Maple Room
Writing while neurodivergent can be like seeding in a thunderstorm—our words may not grow where they’re initially intended but may gain ground in unexpected and delightful ways. When we incorporate the necessary roots and shoots of writing life—a collaborative ecosystem of support, a little bit of sunshine, and regular reminders to break hyper-focus and drink water—our work flowers and can break molds, crack open expectations, and take readers into wildly imaginative frontiers of expression and creativity. Join us for a panel discussion with writers Delane Just, Alice Kuipers, Tonia Laird and host John Loeppky as they discuss the joys and jeopardies of crafting and drafting while neurodivergent for audiences of every kind.
7:00 pm – Seeding the Next 200: Grain's 200th Issue Celebration and Launch with editors Elena Bentley, Taidgh Lynch and Credence MacFadzean
Oak Room + Livestreamed + Available on SWG Youtube channel post-conference
This event is free and open to the public
The Grain magazine team enthusiastically invites you to join us in-person, or virtually, to celebrate the launch of Grain’s 200th issue (Fall 2025, Vol. 53.1). For 200 issues, Grain has continued to harvest the best in eclectic writing since its founders first seeded the magazine in 1973. This event is free and open to the public, and will feature readings by Saskatchewan writers and poets followed by a reception where you can partake in snacks and refreshments, mingle with Grain authors and editors, and secure your copy of this milestone issue!
Reception to follow.
8:15 pm - Community Stage Open Mic with host Dash Reimer
Oak Room
This event is free and open to the public
Have you heard the amazing range of talent in our writing community? Have you been itching for a chance to share your own work with fellow writers? Our Community Stage Open Mic is a chance for all writers to share new or old, unpublished or published writing. Writers of all genres and experience levels are invited to perform a 3-minute piece or just listen with your writing community. Hosted by Dash Reimer.
