Fostering the next generation of writers in Saskatchewan.

Check back this spring for 2025 summer programs.

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We are proud to showcase a selection of our 2024 youth program participants’ writing. Click here to read the youth publications.

Summer 2025 Programs

Teen & Young Writers’ Workshops are held each summer. In 2025, you can choose from in person and online options.

Prepare to learn about about writing both as a craft and as a profession. Each workshop offers up to 14 young creative minds the opportunity to develop their creative writing skills with a professional writer as instructor. You will be guided through writing activities in various genres, can connect with your local and online writing communities, and will have the opportunity to discuss with instructors the writing life, professional pathways, and publication.

You do not have to plan to become a professional writer to attend a Sage Hill Youth Workshop!
You just need to enjoy writing and have a desire to develop your skills.

These workshops are offered free of charge to participants and are held in partnership with local libraries and festivals. To support these programs, please consider making a donation here.

How to Apply

Application Deadline: To Be Announced. The application period will open this spring.

Applicants are asked to write a few sentences about why they would like to attend the program, and to upload a short sample of their creative writing.

Applicants to Teen Writing Workshops should be 14–18 years old at the time of the program.

Applicants to Young Writers’ Workshops should be 11–15 years old at the time of the program.

Programs are open to applicants from any location.

  • For Online programs, you will need access to a computer or similar device with an internet connection and speakers. A microphone and webcam are strongly recommended, so that you can fully participate.
  • In Person programs are offered in a day-camp style; if you do not live in the program location, you will need to arrange your own transportation and place to stay.

Have any questions about the programs or the application process? Contact us.

Teen Writing Workshops

IN PERSON in Regina – with Marie Powell┃Ages 14-18

Run Time: Dates To Be Announced. 10:00am–4:30pm

Location: To Be Announced, Regina, SK

Marie Powell’s castle-hopping adventures across North Wales resulted in her award-winning medieval fantasy series Last of the Gifted, set in 13th C Wales. She is also the author of 40+ children’s books with such publishers as Scholastic, Amicus, and Crabtree. Her short stories and poetry appear in literary magazines like Room and subTerrain, and her nonfiction appears in more than 70 magazines and online markets. Among her five university degrees, Marie holds a Creative Writing MFA from UBC. Her hobbies include experiments in gardening, medieval cooking, and cat whispering.

Guest Author: To Be Announced

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.

IN PERSON in Saskatoon – with Cooper Skjeie┃Ages 14-18

Run Time: Dates To Be Announced. 10:30am–4:30pm

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

Cooper Skjeie (/shay/) is a writer and teacher of Métis and German-Norwegian ancestry raised on Treaty 6 and Métis Territory in Saskatoon. His poem, bleach, was published by Prairie Fire Magazine and is a finalist for a 2024 National Magazine Award. An alumnus of Sage Hill Writing, he won the 2023 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Poetry and an Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Poetry in English that same year. Skjeie currently sits on the Board of Directors at Poetry in Voice and is completing his MFA at the University of British Columbia.

Guest Author: To Be Announced

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.

ONLINE – Instructor To Be Announced┃Ages 14-18

Run Time: July 14-18, 2025. 10:00am–4:00pm

Location: Online delivery via Zoom

Guest Author: To Be Announced

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.

Young Writers’ Workshops

IN PERSON in Prince Albert – with Shauna Eveleigh Harris┃for Ages 11-16

Run Time: Dates To Be Announced. 10:00am–4:00pm

Location: John M. Cuelenaere Public Library, Prince Albert, SK

Shauna Eveleigh Harris is a poet and Somatic Therapist whose work has been published in Spring magazine, untethered magazine, The Prairie Journal and online at The Fieldstone Review. Her poems have won the second place prize (twice!) in the Tisdale Writers’ Group Contests and her poem “Girl at the Bar with High Heels” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2019. She is currently working on two simultaneous debut manuscripts: a collection of haiku about her trip to the high desert, and a collection of lyric poems. She lives in Prince Albert with her family and books.

Guest Author: To Be Announced

Partners and Sponsors: Many thanks to the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library, Prince Albert & Area Community Foundation, Community Initiatives Fund, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, and SaskLotteries.

ONLINE – with Madonna Hamel┃for Ages 11-16

Run Time: Dates To Be Announced. 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, and nonfiction essays. Her documentary “She Moves Between Worlds” won A World’s Best Radio Award at The New York Radio festival. Her doc “Portrait of Lincoln with the Wart” is cited in various sources as a primer on Americana music. Her touring show “Mother’s Apron” was showcased at The Lyric, and toured BC and Saskatchewan, and is now being adapted into a novel. She was awarded 2020 weekly columnist of the year for her column, Pop 89, in Your West Central Voice. She was awarded the 2020 Wallace Stegner House residency where she wrote “Hearth Day”, which was awarded Prairie Fire‘s first prize for Creative Non-Fiction in 2021.

Madonna helps students find the format that works for them, and to understand their inclination by paying attention to every little thing. Students enjoy her workshops; many return every year, have formed strong bonds, and are always welcoming to new students. Rather than focus on “originality”, which ends up being a wild goose chase after “novelty”, she stresses authenticity and honesty. In that vein, she encourages young writers to “dare to be clear”. One way of achieving clarity is by focusing on word choice, so students start every class with new words they’ve found – or just recently realized they love.

Guest Author: To Be Announced

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.

Did you know that it costs Sage Hill Writing $325 per student to offer this workshop for free? 

Donations of any amount help us continue to support young writers and keep the program accessible to everyone! 

If you would like to donate, please visit https://sagehillwriting.ca/support-sage-hill/.

Sage Hill’s Teen and Young Writers’ Workshops are made possible by generous donors, funders, and community partners.

Many thanks to the Community Initiatives Fund, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, SaskLotteries, Prince Albert & Area Community Foundation, the City of Saskatoon, the City of Regina, the Saskatchewan Festival of Words, Saskatoon Public Library, Regina Public Library, John M. Cuelenaere Public Library (Prince Albert) and the Swift Current Chinook Regional Library.

Do you want to offer a teen or young writers’ program in your community?

Sage Hill partners with organizations that can contribute an accessible program venue, on-site coordination, and program cost-sharing. If your organization would like to work with us, please contact info.sagehill@sasktel.net.

If you are interested in instructing a Teen or Young Writers’ Workshop, please send your resume/C.V. and cover letter to sage.hill@sasktel.net.