Run Time: August 8–12, 2022. 10:30am–4:30pm

Location: Rusty MacDonald Branch Library, 225 Primrose Dr, Saskatoon, SK

Cooper Skjeie (/shay/) is an educator and poet from Treaty 6 and Métis Territory. An alumnus of the 2019 Banff Centre’s Emerging Writers Intensive, he won first place in the 2020 Saskatoon Indigenous Poets Society Slam Invitational, third prize in the 2020 Short Grain Contest for Poetry, and was shortlisted for the 2020 Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize. His work appears in Grain Magazine, PRISM international, and Augur Magazine, among others. Of Métis and German-Norwegian ancestry, he lives in Saskatoon.

Guest Author: Kirk Bueckert

Kirk Bueckert is a poet and playwright living on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. His work has been published by Coffin Bell, Timber Ghost Press, Tyche Books, the League of Canadian Poets (LCP), and long-listed for a ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Prize in 2021.

Partners and Sponsors: Many thanks to the Saskatoon Public Library, Community Initiatives Fund, City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, and SaskLotteries.

Run Time: July 11–15, 2022. 10:00am–4:30pm

Location: Online delivery

Tara Gereaux (Métis-Settler) has published a novel, Saltus (Nightwood Editions, 2021) and a teen novella, Size of a Fist (Thistledown Press, 2015), which have been nominated for several Saskatchewan Book Awards. Her writing has appeared in various literary magazines and has won awards, including the City of Regina Writing Award twice. After graduating from the University of British Columbia’s MFA creative writing program, Tara worked as a story editor and writer in film and television for ten years. From the Qu’Appelle Valley, Tara is a descendant of the Red River Métis and a member of the Métis Nation in Saskatchewan.

Guest Author: Sarah Ens

Sarah Ens is a writer and editor based in Treaty 1 territory (Winnipeg, MB). Winner of The New Quarterly’s Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest and Room Magazine’s Short Forms Contest, she launched her debut collection of poetry, The World Is Mostly Sky, with Turnstone Press in 2020. Her second book, a long poem titled Flyway, was released this past spring.  Sarah earned her MFA in Writing from the University of Saskatchewan and is inspired by her walking along rivers, birdwatching, and her cat. She believes poetry is for everyone.

Partners and Sponsors: Many thanks to Regina Public Library, the City of Regina, Community Initiatives Fund, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, and SaskLotteries.

Run Time: July 11th–15th, 2022. 10:00am–4:00pm

Location: Online delivery

Kristine Scarrow is the author of the four young adult novels The Gamer’s Guide to Getting the Girl, The 11th Hour, If This Is Home, and Throwaway Girl, all published by Dundurn Press. Kristine has a special interest in writing as a healing art. She is the writer-in-residence at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon and conducts online journal and writing workshops as the founder of Creative Soul Writing Academy.

Guest Author: Brian Francis

Brian Francis’s most recent work, Missed Connections: A Memoir in Letters Never Sent, was published in August, 2021. The book was inspired by his play Box 4901 which premiered in 2020 to sold-out audiences and was nominated for three Dora Mavor Moore Awards. His most recent novel, Break in Case of Emergency, was a finalist for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Awards and his first novel, Fruit, was a 2009 Canada Reads finalist.

Partners and Sponsors: Many thanks to the Saskatchewan Festival of Words, Community Initiatives Fund, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, and SaskLotteries.

Run Time: August 8–12, 2022. 10:00am–4:00pm

Location: Online delivery

ecoaborijanelle aka Janelle Pewapsconias (she, they) is a multidimensional nehīyaw spoken word artist based in Treaty 6 Territory. Inspired by the Earth, she performs, and designs, and shares stories influenced by Cree oral storytelling customs. Janelle has done a TEDx Talk in 2017, has competed slam poetry nationally twice with the Tonight it’s Poetry slam team, and once in 2019 for the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam. Janelle has published their work zines such as Red Rising Magazine, scholarly journals such as the American Indian Culture Research Journal, and has self-published chapbooks.

Janelle lives in her home community of Little Pine First Nation with her son and dog, surrounded by the endless living skies, horses, and rolling prairies.

To check out their latest news, visit www.linktr.ee/ecoaborijanelle or follow @ecoaborijanelle on social media.

Run Time: July 18– 22, 2022. 10:00am–4:00pm

Location: Online delivery

Madonna Hamel is a writer – performer who works in a variety of genres including radio documentary, one-woman monologues, poetry, screenwriting, nonfiction essays, and short stories. Her column “Ask Your Life” has been adapted into a memoir-writing course and tailored to teens. Her touring show “Mother’s Apron” was showcased last summer at The Lyric, toured BC and Saskatchewan last year, and is now being adapted into a novel.  For three years, she wrote a weekly column called “The Story Pool” for Maple Creek News. She was awarded the 2020 Wallace Stegner House residency.

Madonna encourages students to find the format that works for them, to understand their inclination and direction. Her workshops are very enjoyable for students; many return every year, have formed strong bonds, and are always welcoming to new students. Madonna encourages clarity and originality in writing through a strong focus on word choice, so students start every class with new words they’ve found – or just recently realized they love.

Guest Author: James R. Page

James R. Page is the author of Wild Prairie: A Photographer’s Personal Journey, published by Greystone Books (Vancouver, BC). During a long career as a freelance writer-photographer-teacher, he has been the photo columnist for Explore magazine, a features writer for various other magazines, and has taught at the Western Academy of Photography (Victoria) and led independent photo workshops in both BC and Saskatchewan. In 2022, he was featured in the independent documentary film Wild Prairie Man, directed by George Tsougrianis of Overtime Studios in Swift Current and nominated for awards at major film festivals worldwide (Cannes, Montreal, and Yorkton). He currently lives in Val Marie, Saskatchewan, on the edge of the wild prairie, where he can spend time with wild critters in the vast unpopulated spaces of one of North America’s most threatened ecosystems. You can find his recent work at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pageworld/.

Partners and Sponsors: Many thanks to the Swift Current Chinook Regional Library, Community Initiatives Fund, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, and SaskLotteries.

Run Time: July 25–29, 2022. 10:00am–4:00pm

Location: Online delivery

Beth Gobeil lives, works and writes in Prince Albert. She has published her poetry provincially and nationally on CBC radio, and in several journals. Her first book of poems, Breathing Room, (Hagios Press, 2015) was nominated for a Sask Book Award in 2016. In addition to writing, Beth enjoys gardening, fishing, exercising, spending time with her family and her energetic labradoodle, Echo.