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2025 Emerging Writers’ Courses

Emerging Prose facilitated by Conor Kerr
Emerging Poetry facilitated by Neil Aitken

Location: Online via Zoom

Dates: June 30 – July 9, 2026

Application Deadline: April 20, 2026

The Emerging Writers’ Course has been divided into two groups of writers to provide a smaller learning context:

  • Emerging Writers’ Prose Course
    facilitated by Conor Kerr
  • Emerging Writers’ Poetry Course
    facilitated by Neil Aitken

These online courses are designed for writers in any genre who need a nudge or to take the leap that will lift their manuscript to new levels. Part workshop, part discussion group, and part assignment writing, participants will learn the tools and techniques for mastering the mechanics of rewriting, rethinking, and revising. A practical, hands-on course for those who want to develop better writing, editing and self-editing skills. This course is meant to enhance your work and strengthen your writing towards a publishable state.

Please click on the headings below to reveal more information.

Online schedule elements

  • Classes usually meet for 1 to 2 hours each day, though they may meet every second day depending on the number of one-on-ones offered by the instructor.
  • Sessions will likely take place in the late morning / early afternoon, to accommodate the various time zones of the writers taking each course. 
  • Each writer will have at least two 1-on-1 sessions with their instructor during the program.
  • With online retreats, we understand that writers may continue to have responsibilities at home. We’ve found that the more time writers put into the program, including time set aside for personal writing and working with feedback received on their writing, the more they get out of the experience!

Application

Applicants will need to provide:
  • Applicant contact information
  • Emergency contact information
  • $30 Application Fee (payable by e-Transfer, Visa / MasterCard, or cheque)
  • Optional: A letter of application towards a bursary or scholarship
  • A one-page letter including:
    • Statement of interest
    • Current writing projects
    • Goals for the workshop
    • Any other information that you consider pertinent to your application
  • Five-page sample of your writing. Note: You do not need to be published in order to apply for the Emerging Writers’ Workshop.

Note:

  • Writing samples up to the page requirement will be reviewed by the jury. Pages in excess will not be reviewed.
  • Please combine all documents into one file to upload with the online application form.
  • PDF and Microsoft Word documents are accepted.
  • If you have trouble when attaching your application materials to the online form, please contact us.
Adjudication process:

All applications go through a competitive, independent peer jury process to maintain a high level of artistic merit in programs. Jury members weigh applications against set criteria to assess the quality of writing and readiness for the experience.

Acceptance is determined by:

  • Quality of work submitted
  • Project description
  • Experience and ability to carry out the proposed project
  • Literary CV and publication history
  • Which applicants would most benefit from attending Sage Hill at this point in their development

This adjudication process is usually completed about four weeks after the application deadline. You will be contacted with results after the jury has come forward with its decision.

Tuition

Application Fee: $30
Online Program Tuition: $895

What is covered?

  • Writing retreat in a small group format, led by an accomplished writer and program facilitator
  • 1-on-1 conferences and course time with your instructor
  • Critical feedback on your writing
  • Group sessions and discussions on the craft of writing
  • Access to programmed online readings and other community events
  • Invitation to online social activities with other writers

When and how to make a payment:

Please pay your application fee when you submit your application. Instructions will be provided.

After the jury has reviewed applications, you will be notified via email to let you know whether or not you have been accepted. Tuition payment deadlines / payment plan options will be expressed at that time.

Tuition payments can be made by:

  • E-transfer to (preferred)
  • Cheque mailed to: Sage Hill Writing, PO Box 1273, Saskatoon PO Main, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3N9
  • Visa or Mastercard (no Amex) by calling 306-537-7243. Please note that credit card payments are subject to a 2.4% processing fee.

Cancellation Policy:

  • There will be a $100 cancellation fee if you withdraw after accepting a spot in a course.
  • If you cancel 14 days or more prior to start date: 50% of tuition is due to Sage Hill. If your tuition has been paid, we will issue a refund of the amount paid less 50% of the total tuition amount.
  • If you cancel 7 days prior to retreat start date: 75% of tuition is due to Sage Hill. If your tuition has been paid, we will issue a refund of the amount paid less 75% of the total tuition amount.
  • Cancellations within one week of program start dates are non-refundable. However, if it is possible to fill your spot in the program, some refund will be available. 
  • Please note that credit card processing fees are non-refundable.

Sage Hill reserves the right to cancel upcoming or in-process programs due to unforeseen and unmitigable circumstances (e.g. public health and safety issues or mandates). If a program must be cancelled, payment will be refunded accordingly.

Emerging Prose Instructor: Conor Kerr

Conor Kerr is a national award-losing Métis/Ukrainian writer and bird hunter living in Edmonton, born in Saskatoon, and raised in Buffalo Pound Lake and Drayton Valley. He is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. His Ukrainian family are settlers on Treaty 4 Territory. Conor is the author of the novels Avenue of Champions (2021), which won the 2022 RELIT Award, was shortlisted for the 2022 Amazon/Walrus Debut Novel Award, and was longlisted for the 2022 Giller Prize, and Prairie Edge (2024), which was shortlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize and the 2024 Writer’s Trust Atwood Gibson Fiction Award and won the Crime Writers of Canada Best Novel award; as well as the poetry collections An Explosion of Feathers (2021), Old Gods (2023), which was shortlisted for the 2023 Governor General’s Award for Poetry and named one of CBC’s Best Books of 2023. His latest book is the poetic novella, Beaver Hills Forever (2025). He has a forthcoming novel, Duck Blind, coming out in spring 2027. 

Emerging Poetry Instructor: Neil Aitken

Neil Aitken is a writer, translator, and librettist of Chinese and Scottish-English ancestry. The founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review, he is the author of two full-length poetry collections Babbage’s Dream 2017) and The Lost Country of Sight (2008), winner of the Philip Levine Prize, as well as a poetry chapbook, Leviathan (2016), which won the Elgin Prize for Sci Fi Poetry. With fellow poet-translator Ming Di, he co-translated The Book of Cranes: Selected Poems of Zang Di (2015) and has worked on translations of poems from many other contemporary Chinese poets. His first full-length commissioned opera, Star Singer, a collaboration with distinguished composer Juhi Bansal, will debut in NYC’s Prototype Festival in 2028. 

Neil has facilitated workshops all over the US and Canada, and previously served as Writer-in-Residence for the Regina Public Library (2021-2022) and Virtual Writer-in-Residence for the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild (2021). He holds a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing, a multigenre MFA in Creative Writing, and a BS in Computer Science. He recently completed a Master’s in Library and Information Science at UBC and now works as a Data Librarian at the University of Toronto’s Map & Data Library.

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