Webinars

The Writers' Union of Canada presents webinars on a range of craft and business topics for writers. Past webinars have included sessions on grant writing, author branding, getting published in lit mags, taxes for writers, and much more!

All TWUC webinars are closed captioned. Learn more about accessibility at the Union. 

> Upcoming Webinars

Construction of a Story Arc: In Conversation with Danuta Gleed Winners and Finalists

Wednesday, May 18, 2022
12 pm PDT / 1 pm MDT, CST / 2 pm CDT / 3 pm EDT / 4 pm ADT / 4:30 pm NDT
60 minutes
Closed captioning available
 
Registration: $10 / Free for members
 
 
Getting from the beginning to the end. What makes a good story and what makes a strong narrative arc? Join 2020 Danuta Gleed Award Winner Jack Wang and Finalists Frances Boyle and Sidura Ludwig for a discussion about the construction of a short story arc. Moderated by award-winning author Natasha Deen, this webinar runs 60 minutes including a Q&A period.
 
TWUC members who are unable to attend will have access to a recording of the webinar for 30 days. Non-member ticket buyers will have access for 48 hours.
 
 
Jack Wang is the author of the story collection We Two Alone (House of Anansi Press, 2020; HarperVia, 2021), winner of the Danuta Gleed Literary Award from the Writers’ Union of Canada for best debut collection in English. His fiction has appeared in Brick, PRISM international, The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, The Humber Literary Review, and Joyland and has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and longlisted for the Journey Prize. In 2014–15, he held the David T. K. Wong Creative Writing Fellowship at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and he is a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts. His novel-in-progress, The Riveters, received a Research and Creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. He holds an MFA from the University of Arizona and a PhD from Florida State University, and he is an associate professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College. Originally from Vancouver, he lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife, novelist Angelina Mirabella, and their two daughters.
 
Frances Boyle is the author of two books of fiction. Her Rapunzel-infused novella, Tower, was published by Fish Gotta Swim Editions in 2018, and her short story collection, Seeking Shade, from Porcupine’s Quill in 2020 was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Award and the ReLit Award, and won the Miramichi Readers’ Very Best! Award for short fiction. Frances third book of poetry, Openwork and Limestone, is forthcoming with Frontenac House in fall 2022. Her previous poetry books are Light-carved Passages (BuschekBooks, 2014) and This White Nest (Quattro Books, 2019). Frances’s short stories and poetry have appeared in journals and anthologies throughout North America and internationally. Raised in Saskatchewan, she now lives on unceded unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, colonially known as Ottawa.
 
Sidura Ludwig writes fiction for children and adults. Her debut picture book, Rising (illustrated by Sofia Vincent Guy), is being published by Candlewick Press, May 2024. Her adult short story collection You Are Not What We Expected (House of Anansi, 2020) won the Vine Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Her debut novel, Holding My Breath (Key Porter Books, 2007), was shortlisted for the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and was a finalist in the CBC Cross-Canada Bookshelf. Recently, she graduated with her M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults through the Vermont College of Fine Arts in July 2021. 
 
Guyanese-Canadian author Natasha Deen writes for kids, teens, and adults. Her books have been chosen as CCBC Best Picks for Kids and Teens as well as Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections. Her YA novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani, was a Red Maple Honour Book and won the 2020 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award. When she’s not writing, she teaches Introduction to Children’s Writing with the University of Toronto SCS and spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house. Visit Natasha at www.natashadeen.com and on Twitter/Instagram, @natasha_deen.
 
 

Working with an Editor: Kidlit Edition

Tuesday, June 14, 2022
12 pm PDT / 1 pm MDT, CST / 2 pm CDT / 3 pm EDT / 4 pm ADT / 4:30 pm NDT
60 minutes
Closed captioning available
 
Registration: $10 / Free for members
 
 

Working with an editor can help take your manuscript to the next level and ready for publication. Join Michelle Barker and David G. Brown of the Darling Axe as they guide you to working with an editor and what to expect from them. This session will focus specifically on kidlit and the differences in middle grade, YA, and adult editing. Hosted by award-winning author Mahtab Narsimhan, this webinar runs 60 minutes including a Q&A period.

Members will have access to a recording of the webinar for 30 days; ticket holders who are not members will have access for 48 hours.

Michelle Barker’s most recent novel My Long List of Impossible Things (2020) is published by Annick Press and is a Junior Library Guild gold standard selection. Her previous novel, The House of One Thousand Eyes (2018, Annick Press) won numerous awards, including the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award, and was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. She is also the author of A Year of Borrowed Men, finalist for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. Her poetry, short fiction and non-fiction have been published in literary reviews around the world.  Michelle is represented by Hilary McMahon (Westwood Creative Artists) and works as a senior editor with the Darling Axe. She holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC and lives in Vancouver, BC. Learn more at www.michellebarker.ca

David G. Brown is the founder of Darling Axe Editing and Darling Indie, a marketing service for authors. He is an award-winning short fiction writer, his debut novel is represented by the Donaghy Literary Group, and he is a recipient of a 2022 Canada Council for the Arts grant for his work-in-progress. He has published poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in a number of magazines and literary journals, and he volunteers for the Malahat Review where he interviews writing judges and screens contest entries. He holds a BA in anthropology (UVic) and an MFA in creative writing (UBC). As an editor, he pays special attention to structure, relationship arcs, and voice. David lives in Victoria, Canada, in the traditional territory of the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. 

Mahtab Narsimhan is an award-winning author with numerous critically acclaimed books, nominated for several awards, including The Third Eye which won the Silver Birch Fiction Award. She is inspired by the desire to make sense of the world through stories and is deeply committed to representing diversity in her books.  Please visit www.mahtabnarsimhan.com for more information.

 

> Past Webinars

  • Preparing to Publish: Making the Right Choice with Lynn Duncan and Bill Arnott (May 10, 2022 - public webinar)
    > Exclusive for members: Click here to access the webinar recording until June 10, 2022 (login required).
     
  • Archives for Mid-Career Writers with Sarah Hillier and Dr. Ramabai Espinet (April 26, 2022 - member exclusive)
    > Exclusive for members: Click here to access the webinar recording until May 26, 2022 (login required).
     
  • From Page to Stage and Screen (and the Detours Along the Way) with Emil Sher and Jamila Pomeroy (April 12, 2022 - public webinar)
     
  • Writing the Other: Including Diverse Characters in Our Stories with Natasha Deen, Tonya Liburd, Peter Midgley, and Winnie Yeung (March 24, 2022 - member exclusive)
     
  • Taxes for Writers with Hannah Lund of Givens LLP, hosted by Lilian Nattel (March 8, 2022 - public webinar)
     
  • In Conversation with Freedom to Read Award Winner David A. Robertson, hosted by Danny Ramadan (February 24, 2022 - public webinar)
     
  • In Conversation with YA Authors Tanya Boteju and Liselle Sambury, moderated by Michelle Kim (February 15, 2022 - public webinar)
     
  • Managing Your Careeer Without an Agent with Nadia L. Hohn, hosted by Rebecca Diem (January 27, 2022 - public webinar)
     
  • Getting that Grant! with Joanne Gerber, hosted by Terri Favro (January 11, 2022 - public webinar)
     
  • Building a Strong Author Brand with Lee Edward Födi, hosted by Rukhsana Khan (November 23, 2021 - member exclusive)
     
  • How to Win NaNoWriMo with Karma Brown, hosted by Thea Lim (October 12, 2021 - public webinar)