Keynote Speakers
Robert Runté
Robert Runté is Senior Editor with EssentialEdits.ca where he specializes in SF&F and academic editing. Before that he was Senior Editor with Five Rivers Publishing, a small Canadian press. A former professor, he has won three Aurora Awards for his literary criticism and currently reviews for the Ottawa Review of Books. His own short fiction has been published over 90 times, with several of his short stories have been reprinted in "best of" collections.
Darcy Tamayose
Darcy Tamayose is a writer, graphic designer, and PhD student. Her recent short story collection, Ezra’s Ghosts (NeWest Press) was finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize 2022 and included in CBC Books Best Canadian Fiction of 2022. Her work, which includes the novel, Odori (Cormorant Books), and youth fiction book, Katie Be Quiet (Coteau Books) received the Canada-Japan Literary Award, and has been shortlisted for both the Alberta Writer’s Guild Georges Bugnet Award and Foreword Indie Juvenile Award. Learn more at https://darcytamayose.com/.
Board Members
Jenna Greene
Jenna Greene has been writing since before she could hold a pencil. Once she could pen a tale, she composed poetry and short stories, finding that she was best at writing novels. Her first fantasy story, Imagine, came to her in her first year of university, and she drafted it between essays, mid-terms, and reading assignments. Once finished university, with a B.A. in English as well as a B.Ed, she began her career as a teacher and also found time to return to her writing. Jenna won the 2019 Moonbeam Children’s Book award (gold) for her Reborn series. Having moved to teaching younger students, as well as the addition of a daughter to her family, Jenna has been recently inspired by Children’s Books. In 2021, her first picture book was released: Winston, the Well-Dressed Wombat. Find Jenna at https://jennagreene.ca/ or Facebook @jennabutrenchukgreene.
Ashley Postman
Ashley is a freelance editor with a graduate certificate in publishing from Ryerson (Toronto Metropolitan) University. She offers a spectrum of editing services through her business, Aspen Editorial: Developmental (Structural) Editing; Stylistic (Line) Editing; Copy Editing; Proofreading; Stylistic/Copy Combo Edit; and a First Three Chapters Edit. Ashley is an avid fan of YA/NA fantasy, romantasy, and adventure. Her sole goal while editing is to polish an author's book until it reflects all the hard work and love poured into completing it. You can find out more about her on her website (aspeneditorial.com), or on Instagram @aspeneditorial.
Emily Victoria (Kundrik)
Emily Victoria is a Canadian prairie girl who writes young adult science fiction and fantasy. When not word-smithing, she likes walking her over-excitable dog, drinking far too much tea, and crocheting things she no longer has the space to store. Her two novels are This Golden Flame and Silver in the Mist. Find her on Instagram @avictoriantale, Hive @avictoriantale, or TikTok @avictoriantale.
Rebecca Piazza
By day she is simply Rebecca Piazza — Medical Claims Adjudicator and artist. By night, she is Rebekah Raymond, Alberta writer of thriller/horror, romance, science fiction and fantasy. Rebekah lives in Airdrie, AB Canada. She is wife to her once High School sweetheart and mother of a young daughter and son and many creatures. She is a strong advocate of literature exposed to all, and overcoming challenges in being a creative. Rebekah is the author of the thriller Life’s Series and the disjointed comedic tale, "Sticky Paycheque." She is a frequent participant at Owl's Nest's Open Mic Night with her "Half Baked Truths" and is the most complemented when viewers have no words in response. Her artwork is influenced by movies and literature, as well as literature we love to have and hate to love. She has illustrated for several pieces of literature and presentations. With her writing, Rebekah attributes her wildly inventive plots and vivid characters to dissociative writing and the question of "what if.” You can find her on her website, http://rebekahraymond.com
Mandy Michelle
Mandy Michelle is a contemporary romance author who lives in Southern Alberta, Canada, only a short drive from the mountains where she finds inspiration. Her first novel, Ready to Burn (Scarsdale Publishing) was released in 2020 and her short story Wrong Address was published in Sinners MC: A Motorcycle Club Anthology (Limitless Publishing) in 2020. She holds her BA in History and Religious Studies and her MA in Ancient History. Mandy also studied with Winghill Writing School, has been a member of her local writing club, The River Bottom Writers, for over ten years, and has successfully completed National Novel Writing Month for the last eight years. Besides writing and reading, she loves dogs, woodcarving, and Instagram. Find Mandy on Facebook under Mandy Michelle and on Instagram @awordycupcake.
Thorsten Nesch
Thorsten Nesch was born in Solingen, Germany, and now resides in Lethbridge, Alberta with his family. His published novels include My Totem Came Calling, and five traditionally published novels in Germany at Rowohlt Verlag and Mixtvision Verlag, including Dystopian novel Der Drohnenpilot, which is currently mandatory read at high schools in German Language Arts. His first novel was nominated as Best German Debut, later winning the Hans-im-Glueck-Literary-Award. Thorsten is also a musician, and his musical work can be found on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms. Follow Thorsten at www.thorstennesch.com and TikTok/Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook @thorstennesch.
Connie Penner
Connie (C.P. Hoff) lives in southern Alberta with her husband and children. She has written for the local paper, which might be impressive if she lived in New York, and if anyone read the local paper. Hoff is a founding member of WordBridge – Lethbridge Writers’ Conference. Her novel, A Town Called Forget, was longlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal For humour. Her novels West of Ireland and Canterberry Tales, respectively, were named in Kirkus Review’s Best Books of 2020 and Best Books of 2021. Find her on her website, https://cphoff.com/
Panelists
Monica Sagle Zwikstra
Monica Sagle Zwikstra is the author of two epic fantasy novels, Dragons Flight, and Alban’s Choice. Monica’s writing skills extend to short stories as well, with her story Storm House being published in the anthology A Haunting of Words and her flash fiction Terminated in Polar Borealis Magazine # 29, Humanity appearing in Polar Borealis Magazine #7 and the Best of Borealis Magazine Anthology Stellar Evolutions under her pen name Monica Sagle. Besides writing, Monica loves gardening, cats, exploring the world of dragons, and learning ASL sign language. She lives with her husband in a tiny Hamlet nestled within the rolling foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta. Website: http://www.monicazwikstra.com/ Facebook: Monica Sagle Zwikstra
Trisha Loehr
Trisha Jenn Loehr is a romance writer and Author Accelerator certified book coach who helps busy women who want to write romance novels without guilt or shame prioritize their writing, develop their craft, and find joy in the journey toward their publishing dreams. Connect with her on Instagram @trishajennreads and at trishajennreads.com.
Chris Bice
Chris Bice resides in the small community of Coalhurst, Alberta, Canada. In 2017 Chris joined the River Bottom Writers in Lethbridge, Alberta. 2021 saw Chris publishing his first book, “Escaping the Darkness: Running from my Dreams” with Dark Myth Publications. Besides growing his skills in poetry, Chris enjoys fishing and camping.
Edward Willett
Edward Willett is the Aurora Award-winning author of more than sixty books of science fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction for readers of all ages, including twelve novels for New York’s DAW Books. In 2018, he founded Shadowpaw Press (shadowpawpress.com), a new traditional publisher, a member of the Asssociation of Canadian Publishers and Literary Press Group, that offers new work by new and established authors and new editions of notable, previously published work in a variety of genres; in addition, he offers editorial and other publishing services through Endless Sky Books (endless-sky-books.com). Ed hosts the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers (theworldshapers.com), featuring interviews with authors about their creative process and their latest books. In addition to his writing and editing activity, he’s a professional actor and singer. He is currently vice-president of SaskBooks, the professional association of publishers in Saskatchewan. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Danika Stone
Danika Stone is an author, artist, and educator who discovered a passion for writing fiction while in the throes of her Masters thesis. A self-declared bibliophile, Danika now writes novels for both teens: Switchback, Internet Famous and All the Feels (Macmillan, 2016, 2017, and 2019); and adults: The Waterton Trilogy (Stonehouse, 2016, 2018, and 2020) and Inescapable (Stonehouse, 2023). When not writing, Danika can be found hiking in the Rockies, planning grand adventures, and spending far too much time online. She lives with her family and a houseful of imaginary characters in a windy corner of Alberta, Canada. Ms. Stone is represented by both Stacey Kondla of The Rights Factory and Moe Ferrara of BookEnds Literary.
Susan Bohnet
Susan writes; she can’t help it. She has a weekly newspaper column called Family Frenzi in the Claresholm newspaper. She has also had short stories, novels, young adult novels, and spiritual non-fiction published—some with traditional publishers and some indie published. She has an associate degree with a major in psychology from Ricks College and a bachelor of science in human resource development from Brigham Young University. She also took a novel writing course from the University of Alberta. She has five children and nine grandchildren. Pop over to her website susanbohnet.com for more info.
Chase F. Degenhardt
Author, Professional Wrestler, and former World MMA and Muay Thai Champion Chase Degenhardt/Frank Hardt is the author of three novels, including The Bachelorette: Murder Island. Chase had always dreamed of becoming a novelist and finally achieved it in 2022, after publishing Witch. When he’s not traveling around the world wrestling and doing seminars, Frank loves to explore the mountains near his home in British Columbia. You can find more about Frank at litworldevents.com/frank-hardt
Charles K. James
Charles James writes thrilling science fiction adventure novels. His debut novel First Command had been described as, "Fresh, fast and addictive!" In his day job, Charles works as a Medical Physicist and is an adjunct professor with the University of Calgary. He lives in Lethbridge with his amazing wife, two awesome kids, and a couple of Guinea pigs that have been conducting experiments on him from their habitat for several years now.
Pamela Donison
Pamela Donison, JD, has been a writer in one iteration or other her entire life. Her short fiction has been published by The Dillydoun Review, Drunk Monkeys, and included in Crime Wave 2: Women of a Certain Age and the upcoming Crime Wave 3: Dangerous Games. Her first full-length novel, Death Comes for Christmas, is a murder mystery set in Regina, Saskatchewan, and the first in the Camelia Belmont Mystery series. The second in the series, Death At The Crossroads, will be released in early 2024. Currently a freelance attorney, she is a former award-winning military journalist and acquisitions manager for a division of Harcourt Brace. Her work has been published in numerous legal periodicals, as well as chapters in three legal anthologies. Pamela is the current president of Sisters in Crime Canada West Chapter, and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Writers Guild of Alberta, the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, as well as a member in good standing of the State Bar of Arizona. Pamela and her spouse, Brian, live and work in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, on the ancestral and traditional Indigenous territories of the Blackfoot and the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III. Website: www.pjdonison.com
D'arcy Kavanagh
D’Arcy Kavanagh started his writing career in journalism in 1973, working for newspapers in Alberta and British Columbia. After a decade, he left the newsroom world and turned toward freelance writing, producing stories for publications in Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. For several years, he also taught a few classes at Lethbridge College. After another decade, he became a full-time instructor in journalism at the college and a part-time freelancer. In 2012, after almost 40 years in the journalism field, he retired from the college. On a cycling trip the next year in France – D’Arcy has been a lifelong cyclist – his wife Lynda persuaded him to write a mystery novel set in Europe. He gave it a shot, published it and was greeted with a strong response, prompting him to write four more mystery novels, all of them featuring ex-pro cyclist Paul Burke from Montréal – D’Arcy’s hometown – who lives on the French Riviera and encounters a variety of deadly events linked to various cycling endeavours. The series has been picked up by an American publisher and the first novel, The Bastard is Dead, has also been turned into an audio book. D’Arcy is busy working on his sixth Paul Burke novel plus a travel book and a novella set against If Day, an actual mock disaster that took place on a massive scale in Winnipeg during the Second World War.
.jpg)
Mickey Mikkelson
Mickey Mikkelson is the founder of Creative Edge Publicity.
In 2006, he began his work in the literary and bookseller industry as the Special Events Manager for Chapters/Indigo, Canada’s largest bookstore chain, in St. Albert, Alberta. Ten years later, he formed Creative Edge Publicity, an aggressive publicity firm that specializes in advocating for both the traditional and independent artist. Since founding Creative Edge, Mickey has signed some of the top talents in the literary industry, including multiple award-winning authors, New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, and successful indie authors, many of whom have become international bestselling authors while working within the Creative Edge brand.
Adam Dreece
Adam Dreece is an award-winning author known for his steampunk meets fairy tale series, The Yellow Hoods, and his post-apocalyptic dark fantasy series, The Wizard Killer. The author of more than 14 books has also written science fiction, a non-fiction book about being successful at book signings, and most recently supplements for Dungeons and Dragons. A busy father of 3 and technology executive by day, Adam is always happy to invest his time in helping new, and struggling, writers.
Heather Firth
Heather Firth has been an audiobook narrator since 2018. She graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a BFA in Dramatics Arts in 1999. In 2015 she was invited to see the movie Fifty Shades of Grey with friends. She discovered at the end of the movie she didnt like cliffhangers and went out and bought the trilogy in paperback the next day. She then became an avid romance reader, audiobook listener and book blogger. It was while listening to Colleen Hoovers November 9 that she discovered that audiobook narrators work from home! At that moment she realized she could combine her love of reading with her love and acting and embarked on her new career as a voice actor. She has performed almost 200 audiobooks, primarily in the romance genre.
Steve Campbell
Steve Campbell is a Canadian Narrator, versed in British and American accents, who has recorded over 135 titles, totaling over a thousand finished hours of audiobooks, equal to 10,000,000 words. He won the Independent Audiobook Award in 2019 for YA (Watcher by AJ Eversley - co-narrated with Chelsea Stephens). Steve has also been interviewed for an article in the Wall Street Journal and has been on multiple podcasts and is a member of SAG-AFTRA.
Steve is happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have two sons together. He’s a huge fan of movies and comics, and didn’t discover his love for reading until he was 20 and hasn’t looked back.
Audible:Steve Campbell.
Twitter: @stevecampbellvo
FB: @stevecampbellvo
Instagram: @stevecampbellvo
Discord: Campbell’s Corner
Joy Norstrom
Joy Norstrom (she/her) is a fiction writer and social worker residing in Treaty 7 Territory, Calgary Alberta. Her picture book, Marjorie Magic (Dixi Books Ltd) was released in 2023. Joy also writes short stories and novel length work. Her books Flying the Nest (2020) and Out of Play (2016) feature quirky characters and contemporary settings. Joy enjoys hiking with family, chatting with friends over cold cider, and reading late into the night when she should be asleep. Website: https://www.joynorstrom.ca/
Diane Bator
Diane Bator began writing as a kid when she fell in love with storytelling. After ten years with various traditional publishers, she’s created her own company, Escape With a Writer Publishing to relaunch her previous work plus many new titles. She is also a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, The Writers Union of Canada, and International Thriller Writers. Diane is a proud mom of three, a Reiki Master, a blue belt in goju-ryu karate, and an artist who loves stopping at odd places on road trips. Her website is https://dianebator.ca/ Join her newsletter and Escape With a Writer! She is represented by Creative Edge Publicity.
Allison Gorner
Allison Gorner is an author and screenwriter living in Alberta, Canada with her husband and four children. When she is not writing, she enjoys hiking in the mountains, spending time with her family, and secretly wishes she worked in a top secret lab. Her passion for storytelling is seen in her children’s books, screenplays, and short stories. You can visit her online at www.allisongorner.com.
Jacob Lee Bachinger
I’ve had the good fortune to call many places across Canada home, but now I live with my family in southern Alberta on the edge of coulees and the Oldman River. My poems have been published in The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire, Riddle Fence, and The Malahat Review, among other journals and magazines. Earth-cool, and Dirty (Radiant Press) is my first collection of poetry. When not writing, I teach at the University of Lethbridge, and I can often be found hiking through the fields near my home while trying not to tread on well-camouflaged rattlesnakes.
Jenny Hoops
Jenny Hoops is an audiobook narrator and producer, working with indie authors to bring their words to life. She has narrated over 50 audiobooks and thousands of hours of news articles for Audible, and she has worked with scores of authors to publish their self-narrated audiobooks. In her spare time, she is busy trying to launch her two university-aged kids into independence, markets her own books and narrator-training programs, and sews quilts with hidden messages.
Halli Reid
Halli Reid is a neurodiverse, ace author with works published with Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy, Renaissance Press, Lintusen Press and many others. Her specialties include horror, steam punk, speculative fiction and poetry. She has edited for Coffin Hop Press and Essential Edits. She is also an artist, librarian and nightmare enthusiast.
Robin van Eck
Robin van Eck writes fiction - literary, contemporary, horror, weird and offbeat - and creative nonfiction. Most recently, her short fiction has appeared in Solstice in Purgatory ( The Seventh Terrace, November 2023), WonderShift - 40th Anniversary Anthology of the Alexandra Writers Centre, 2021, Forbidden Fruit from The Seventh Terrace and Very Much Alive, stories of resilience from The Selkie UK and LampLight Magazine, among many other online and print publications both in Canada and internationally. Her first novel, Rough, was released in November 2020, with Stonehouse Publishing and her second novel is near completion. She lives in Calgary and acts as the emotional support human to a very anxious dog.
Robin is represented by Stacey Kondla, The Rights Factory. For more information visit www.robinzvaneck.com
Alison McBain
Alison McBain has 250+ short stories, poems, and articles published worldwide. Books she’s penned have won/been finalists in multiple awards, including the Foreword INDIES, Canadian Book Club Award, Readers’ Favorite Book Award & more. When not writing, Ms. McBain is associate editor for the magazine ScribesMICRO and draws all over the walls of her house with the enthusiastic help of her kids.