Join us for an author panel discussion about craft. Writers from across genres will talk about moments in their manuscripts when their writing faltered, fizzled and then…stopped. What made that section so difficult to write? What thinking, learning, imagining or reimagining was needed to move forward? Join us for a conversation about banging your head against a metaphorical wall, hard-won writing victories and all the strange and beautiful things we learn along the way.
This session is in person and will also be livestreamed via Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. The event will not be recorded.
About the Panelists
Joseph Kakwinokansum is a writer, creator, and storyteller. A member of the James Smith Cree Nation, Joseph grew up in the Peace Region of northern BC. He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio and The Writer’s Studio Graduate Workshop. He was selected by Darrel J. McLeod as one of the Writers Trust of Canada’s Rising Stars of 2022. His short story Ray Says, was a finalist for CBC’s Nonfiction Prize in 2020 and his manuscript Woodland Creetures was awarded the 2014 Canada Council for the Arts Creation Grant for Aboriginal Peoples, Writers, and Storytellers. His debut novel, My Indian Summer, loosely based on his own childhood was winner of the 2023-2024 First Nations Communities READ Award and shortlisted for the 2023 ReLit Award for fiction. His work has been published in the Humber Literary Journal, the anthology Resonance: Essays on the Craft and life of Writing, Emerge; The Writer’s Studio anthology, and Better Next Year: An Anthology of Christmas Epiphanies. Joseph was also selected as the 2024 Storyteller in Residence for Vancouver Public Library. Joseph lives and works on the unceded territory of the Sooke Nation on Vancouver Island.
Christina Myers is a writer, editor and former journalist. Her work has been widely published in magazines, a dozen anthologies, newspapers and online, garnering a number of journalism and literary awards over the years. Her novel The List of Last Chances (2021) was longlisted for the 2022 Leacock Medal, shortlisted for the 2022 Fred Kerner Book Prize, and won the fiction prize in the 2023 Canadian Book Club Awards. She was the editor of the award-winning non-fiction anthology BIG: Stories About Life in Plus-Sized Bodies (2020). Her next book, a collection of essays titled Halfway Home: Thoughts from Midlife is forthcoming this May from House of Anansi. She is the co-organizer of the reading series Words in the Burbs and an alumnus of the Writer’s Studio at SFU.
Loghan Paylor is a queer, trans author who lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Their short fiction and essays have previously appeared in Room and Prairie Fire, among others. Paylor has a Masters in creative writing from the University of British Columbia, and a day job as a professional geek. The Cure for Drowning is their first novel and was released in January 2024.
About the Moderator
JJ Lee is a former CBC broadcaster and art critic. He wrote the memoir The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit. He is the editor of the Christmas-themed anthology series Better Next Year and is the acquisitions editor for New Westminster publisher Tidewater Press. He produces the true crime podcast Stand Up Eight with Lenore Rattray. It peaked at #18 in True Crime charts. He teaches nonfiction at Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio and writing and podcasting at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
Karine Abergel is a Waldorf Early Childhood Educator who is passionate about connecting children with nature and holding space for them to lovingly blossom and thrive. Karine ran her own nature preschool on Vancouver Island and now lives in Port Coquitlam with her husband and two sons, exploring the endless beauty around them and growing as much as they can from their little garden plot. Karine is the founder of 
This biography of Mary’s life and tragic death is narrated by Margaret, her younger sister. From Mary’s early childhood in rural B.C., it charts the evolution of a young nurse from social worker to symbol for those dedicated to prison reform. Mary’s experiences are fascinating reading for any adult interested in local history, law enforcement, mental health awareness, and criminal justice. Her work as a psychiatric nurse in hospitals and institutions across Canada led to her introduction to prison life, which sparked her fierce determination to improve the inmate experience, prisoner justice, and prison reform. Sprinkled throughout with personal anecdotes and quotes from important people in Mary’s life, Between Blade and Bullet is a compelling, deeply emotional, and thought-provoking look into the life and death of one heroic woman. Searchingly honest, it examines how Canadian institutions closed down to protect themselves, and the consequences of justice for those left on the outside.
Poet Elliott Slinn was named New Westminster’s fifth (and youngest) Poet Laureate in June 2021, actively beginning his tenure that August. Slinn was born and raised in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood of New Westminster and still resides in the Royal City today. Slinn, in addition to being a poet, is also a singer-songwriter. Slinn’s poetry and lyrics focus on the existential events of our day-to-day existence. Slinn’s work has been described as immediate and accessible, as he aims to transform his personal tale into a shared experience.
Meet Frank. He’s green, shaped like a box, and looks just like everyone else on planet Xob.