Literary arts

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta Annual 2025 Spring Conference will explore major influences on genre and form through time. We will look at how writers continue to be inspired and influenced by those before them, and how we shape the landscape for those who come after us. Workshops, masterclasses, and panels will also delve into the business of writing and how to strengthen craft skills. 

Proposed pathways will guide participants — novice, intermediate, and established — on ideal offerings according to where they feel they are on their literary journeys. However, all sessions are open to everyone in attendance; there is no right way to attend the conference. The weekend will be self-directed, and participants are encouraged to attend any sessions they desire.

Most importantly, come prepared to connect and network with other local writers. 

Learn more and register: writersguild.ca/wga-2025-conference-genre-and-form-through-time-june-7-8/ 

Unleash Press

Deadline to submit: July 15, 2025

The Unleash WIP Award offers writers support in the amount of $500 to supplement costs to support the completion of a book-length work of fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Writers will receive editorial feedback, coaching meetings, and an excerpt/interview feature in Unleash Lit.

Guidelines

Submit up to the first 25 pages of your WIP (.DOC, .DOCX) and answers to the following questions in the same document:

• Who are you as a creative person, and what is your creative vision? (No CV or resumes here)
• Who is your intended audience for this project, and why?

Entries will be judged on originality, emotional resonance, and the author’s vision of the work they’d like to create. Please keep your name off all attachments. Share who you are as a creative, without disclosing your name.

Submissions will be accepted until July 15, 2025.

For more information and to submit visit unleashpress.submittable.com/submit/279757/work-in-progress-contest.

Join Deborah Willis, author of MacEwan’s 2024-25 Book of the Year, for an intimate reading of Girlfriend on Mars. Following the reading, there will be time for a question-and-answer session with the author about her writing process and the book. 

The conversation will be with MacEwan’s 2024-25 Writer in Residence, Jenna Butler. Willis will also be available to sign copies of Girlfriend on Mars which will be available for purchase. Light refreshments will be served.

March 21, 2025: 5:30 pm – 7 pm
CN Theatre (Building 5)
5-142, City Centre Campus
10700 – 104 Avenue
Edmonton, AB

MacEwan.ca/MacEwanBook 

This research was conducted in six waves over the course of 2020 and 2021. This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the sixth wave of research are now available.

Findings for Alberta organizations from Wave 6 results include:

• Comfort has developed into a very predictable pattern that follows case numbers and now vaccine rates.
• Albertans will return at their own pace; participation hinges on personal comfort but also personal risk tolerance.
• There is a consensus that there will be less of a return to “normal” but rather a new way of doing things moving forward.
• Because Albertans have spent the past year and half discovering new things to do, the selection of what they can choose from now is quite vast.
• Spending habits are in flux, and at this point it is difficult to predict where Albertans will direct their money in the short term.

What are the implications for Alberta organizations?

• Even as restrictions have been removed, organizations still need to deal with comfort. As it stands, there is clear hesitancy in the audience and it will be important to communicate safety measures to make audiences comfortable when re-engaging.
• Organizations should keep in mind that public sentiment is a more useful barometer over government announcements. Gauging expectations for increased participation to occur will be based on a combination of comfort and risk tolerance.
• Organizations should expect more permanent (structural) changes to stick around – specifically related to organizational transparency, flexibility with refunds, new payment options, etc. These should be things that organizations consider keeping even if they are no longer required by the government.
• The main consideration for organizations remains flexibility – in terms of payment options, participation options, etc. This will allow for consideration on different levels as Albertans suss out how they want to direct their spending.

Download the reports:

• Alberta Report
• Calgary Report
• Edmonton Report

About the project

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is pleased to be a funding partner in this collaboration with Stone-Olafson and other community leaders to develop a long-term research investigation and evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts and culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

The initiative was funded by:

• ActiveCITY Collective
• Alberta Foundation for the Arts
• Angus Reid
• ATB
• Calgary Arts Development
• Calgary Foundation
• Edmonton Arts Council
• Edmonton Community Foundation
• Rozsa Foundation
• Stone-Olafson
• Travel Alberta