Welcome to the SWG’s 2024 Conference Mirrors! All events are held at in Regina SK at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel (1975 Broad Street). Free events and livestreamed options are noted. Registration required for all in-person events.
Friday, October 25, 2024
7:00 pm - Opening of the 2024 Conference with Stories Under a Living Sky Showcase
Swift Current Room + live-streamed + video available upon request
This event is free and open to the public
Saskatchewan is an evolving story. Kaleidoscope skies dance across limitless horizons, checkerboard prairies ripple with passing cirrus clouds, and a legion of wriggling waters run. Prairie poets pen the personal and the profound, the everyday and the once-in-a-lifetime, the subtleties and the nuanced and the truth as it’s discovered (or always known.) These stories are not only for us, they are about us.
With performances by Austin “The Noble Savage” Ahenakew, Geanna Dunbar, and Eric Gabriel aka Gabriel “ArchAngel” Ehijie. Hosted by Peace Akintade-Oluwagbeye.
8:00 pm - 2024 John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award in Poetry Ceremony
Swift Current Room + live-streamed + video available upon request
This event is free and open to the public
It’s a celebration of the winners of the 2024 John V Hicks Long Manuscript Award in Poetry! The first, second and third place winners will read from their work. Winners will be announced by late September.
Reception to follow.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
8:00 am - Breakfast
Swift Current 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
Swift Current 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 ~9400 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 2023-24 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
"Beyond the Reflection"
Fiction Workshop with Anne Lazurko
Swift Current Room
Mirrors provide the only living image we see of ourselves, but that picture comes to us backward, disappearing the moment we walk away. Writing fiction can be like that, a backward glance at unreliable memory: personal, collective, historical. How then can our writing reflect what we see in a way that gives depth and shape to our characters?
Join Anne in an interactive workshop designed to give writers the tools to push beyond the surface image and plunge into the richness of our interior lives, the inner drama of relationships or the depth of a moment to craft complex characters with meaningful stories.
Be prepared to write, share, and have some fun as we tackle the ways we use reflection in fiction.
OR
“Looking-Glass Selves”
Poetry Workshop with Medrie Purdham
Prince Albert Room
In “Looking-Glass Selves”, we try to merge poetic self-portraiture with portraiture of another, so as to understand the presence of ourselves in others and others in ourselves. This workshop will explore this topic through poetry examples and opportunities to freewrite to find unlikely resemblances to random archetypes (i.e. self as Godzilla, self as Medusa) and to people we know.
12:15 - 1:00 pm - Lunch
Swift Current 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 - 2024 Caroline Heath Memorial Lecture - “Who is that Woman in the Mirror?” with Lorna Crozier
Swift Current Room + Live-streamed + Available on SWG Youtube channel post-conference
"Who is the Woman in the Mirror" by Lorna Crozier
I used to be the youngest writer performing at literary festivals. Now I’m the oldest. What does that mean? How does growing old change one’s writing and public persona? Does the older writer still have anything to say, and if so, will it interest anyone else or feel out-of-date and out-of-touch? My talk will delve into these questions as I face the senior citizen I hardly recognize staring back at me from the mirror.
2:30 – 3:45 pm – Concurrent Panel
“Imagination’s Looking Glass” Panel
with Bev Brenna, Heather O’Watch, Sharon Plumb and host Elaine McArthur
Swift Current Room
Children’s literature is an amazing world of imagination, seeing, curiosity, wonder, and so much more! Enjoy as children’s and YA writers Bev Brenna, Heather O’Watch, Sharon Plumb and host Elaine McArthur engage in a discussion and explore how this reflects seeing the world.
OR
"Clearing the Smoke and Mirrors: On Writing Hard Topics and Caring for our Mental Wellness” Panel
with Peace Akintade-Oluwagbeye, Suzy Krause, Iryn Tushabe and host Rhea McFarlane
Prince Albert Room
How do writers protect their mental health and encourage their creative energy while writing emotionally hard topics? While potentially dealing with their own mental health challenges? This panel with Peace Akintade-Oluwagbeye, Suzy Krause, and Iryn Tushabe will explore the challenges in writing about complex issues in a complex, diverse world and sharing strategies for taking care while doing so. Hosted by Rhea McFarlane.
4:00 – 5:15 pm – Concurrent Panel
“Mirror Image: How Poetry Reflects and Distorts” panel with Lorna Crozier, Robert Currie, Courtney Bates-Hardy and host Michael Trussler
Swift Current Room
Sometimes a true reflection, sometimes a fantastical distortion, poetry has the ability to mirror life in a myriad of ways. Join poets Lorna Crozier, Robert Currie, Courtney Bates-Hardy and host Michael Trussler as they discuss how poetry can reflect ourselves and our world and how poets can attend to the spectrum of impressions through literary art.
OR
“Beyond the Black Mirror: Society and Genre Fiction’s Influence” panel with Heather Polischuk, Jes Battis and host Marie Powell
Prince Albert Room
Fiction holds a mirror to society. Critiques, commentary, and cultural anxieties are reflected through prose that acts, at times, like a warped funhouse mirror. Join authors Heather Polischuk, Jes Battis, and host Marie Powell as they discuss how genre fiction captivates, unnerves, inspires, and impacts our world in surprising ways.
7:00 pm – Fast Friends: Building Connections reception
Swift Current 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.
Free! Open to beginning, emerging, or established writers. Includes a dessert reception.
8:15 pm - Community Stage Open Mic with host Dash Reimer
Swift Current 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.
