Category: News

Dave Williamson National Short Story Longlist Announced

The longlist for the inaugural Dave Williamson National Short Story Competition has been announced!

Our 13 longlisters (in alphabetical order according to author’s last name):

Bicycle Pete. Donna Besel. Lac du Bonnet, MB
Return to Chrysalis. Bruce Cinnamon. Edmonton, AB
Sketches. Gaylene Dutchyshen. Gilbert Plains, MB
Legend of the Magpie: An Original Métis Story. Clarence Merle Klyne. Ashern, MB
Eyes. Savithri Machiraju. Edmonton, AB
TEOTWAWKI. Rowan McCandless. Winnipeg, MB
The Redhead. Sharon McInnes. Cumberland, BC
The Other Side of the Map. Eleonore Schonmeier. Ketch Harbour, NS
Saskatchewan. Mitchell Toews. Rennie, MB
Last Trip to the Drive In. D. G. Valdron. Winnipeg, MB
Fallen From Grace. Thila Varghese. London, ON
On the Edge of My Couch. Thila Varghese. London, ON
Cutting School. Leslie Wakeman. Lac du Bonnet, MB

Note:
From the first set of readings by our preliminary judges to the final reading of our lead judges, the Guild followed the process of blind-judging. The only information the judges had was the title and word count of each story.

Whenever judges realized, from reading the story, the identity of the author, they immediately recused themselves from discussions and votes related to that story.

WATCH FOR THE SHORTLIST TO COME OUT!

Financial assistance provided by the Manitoba Arts Council.

Between a Mass of Ice and a Rage of Water

By Sharon Hamilton

On March 24, Roxane Anderson, author of Moving the Flood, took her audience through an historical journey of Manitoba floods, particularly of the acreage of Lot 95, north of Selkirk, where she has lived for many years. It wasn’t flooded in the Great Flood of 1826; it wasn’t flooded in the Flood of the Century in 1997. But it was flooded, for the first time ever, in 2009. Why?

Continue reading “Between a Mass of Ice and a Rage of Water”

Exploring Elements of Fiction: Influential Author Series

Manitoba Writers’ Guild partners with Creative Manitoba for group mentorship program.

Ainsley McPhail with Andrew Dutfield and Carrie Hatland

Ainsley McPhail with Carrie Hatland

Ainsley McPhail with Michael Redhead Champagne

Ainsley McPhail with Michael Hutchinson

Book Chats

Our first Book Chat of 2023 will take place on February 8th at 7 pm. Our featured author will be Méira Cook. To receive the Zoom instructions to join us, email us at .

Méira is the award-winning author of the novels ‘Once More With Feeling’; ‘The House on Sugarbush Road’, which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award; and ‘Nightwatching’, which won the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. She has also published five poetry collections, most recently ‘Monologue Dogs’, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Lansdowne Prize for Poetry and for the 2016 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. She has won the CBC Poetry Prize and the inaugural Walrus Poetry Prize. She has served as Writer in Residence at the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture, and the Winnipeg Public Library. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, she now lives in Winnipeg.

Margaret Laurence Award winner, ‘The Full Catastrophe’ is a compassionate and funny novel about defining yourself, the communities that support us, and the journeys that secrets propel.

Charlie Minkoff, a thirteen-year-old boy born with intersex traits, would be happy to be left alone. Living with his artist mother in a derelict loft in downtown Winnipeg, perpetually wondering about the father who abandoned him, and tormented in school because of his differences, Charlie navigates the assorted catastrophes of his life. He’s helped along by the love of his beloved grandfather, Oscar, and the makeshift family who surround him: his mother’s best friend; a couple of elderly shut-in neighbours; a mysterious girl in his class who has secrets of her own; and his desperately needy and perpetually hungry dog, Gellman.

When a school project leads him to discover that Oscar never had a bar mitzvah, Charlie decides to right the historical wrong and arrange a belated ceremony. But this quest will be more than he bargained for, and meanwhile everyone from his doctor to his Ancestry Studies teacher keeps insisting that Charlie needs to learn to tell his own story. 

2022 AGM, October 15th, at 11:00 a.m.

(photo courtesy of: By Blogtrepreneur - Legal Gavel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50979400)

This meeting is open to all members of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild. If you plan to attend, please email for the Zoom instructions.

What is an AGM?

For those who are new to the Manitoba Writers’ Guild, our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a time to:
1. Meet the current Board Members, who give their yearly reports about what they have done over the last year.
2. Share your views on new policies and programs they might want to implement
3. Vote in new Board Members.

We are always looking for additional Committee Members so, if you want to help plan Programs, work with the Financial Committee, have ideas about how to promote the Guild through social media, or want to communicate with fellow rural members, please let us know. We can use the extra hands to help lessen our load!

The AGM is open to anyone who’d like to peek behind the curtain, meet other members and help us make decisions on what the Guild might do for you going forward. However, to vote on any issues that might be brought up at the AGM or vote for in-coming Board Members, you must have joined or renewed your membership 60 days prior to the AGM (by August 15th, 2022) and be over 18 years of age.

Normally, the AGM is held at a public place but, despite things ‘opening up a bit’, we decided to hold the meeting virtually, like we did last year. This also allows those who live outside of Winnipeg to take part.

In order to ratify any issues and officially vote in new Board Members, we must have quorum (10% of our voting membership) in attendance, so please help us continue to keep the Guild running smoothly by supporting us and attending the AGM.

*Don’t forget to ask for the Zoom instructions so you can attend!*

Once registered, you will receive an agenda, minutes from the last AGM, reports from all the Committees and other documents pertinent to the meeting, such as the info on potential new Board Members. Hope to see you there!

(photo courtesy of: By Blogtrepreneur – Legal Gavel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50979400)

Self- Publishing Basics – from page to book

Are you thinking about self-publishing your novel but have no idea what steps to take? Join Dennis Valdron as he walks you through the steps* in his workshop series.

In this exciting new 7-week hybrid program (in-person & online), he will discuss how to get an ISBN number (and why you need one!), the choices of companies that self-publish and their formats, cover designing, what the tax implications are, how to upload and requisition print books, how to read those sales reports, requisitions and other functions to keep track of your e-books.

The final class will be your Book Launch at ArtSpace, where you can bring your book, introduce it and sell it to those in attendance.

*Keep in mind, you should bring a fully edited version of the book you want to have published in order to have a book polished enough to interest readers by the end of the 7 weeks. However, even if your manuscript isn’t ready to publish within the 7 weeks, you will still have the know-how and can come out on the 7th class to support your fellow writers.

About your instructor:

Dennis Valdron is a speculative fiction writer, pop-culture essayist and aboriginal rights lawyer, living and working in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a writer, his short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies in North America, Britain, Australia and Russia.  He has several collections of speculative fiction and horror stories and novels. He’s also published extensive nonfiction about Canadian Sci Fi – LEXX and Starlost, Cult television and movies, including Doctor Who, and topics as diverse as writing, publishing, self publishing, 1930’s pulps, Lovecraft, Burroughs, Godzilla and nerd culture. His website and blog are at denvaldron.com.

Classes begin on Sunday, February 5th at 1 pm (CST) and each subsequent Sunday until the Book Launch, which will take place on Sunday, March 19th and will include refreshments. Email the Manitoba Writers’ Guild at for more info. Registration will be through EventBrite (https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/self-publishing-basics-tickets-411520979327 )

Our First Book Launch with Fisher Lavell

On September 25, Fisher Lavell’s A Seven Year Ache made MWG history as the first book to be launched in our newest benefit for members.

The Boardroom at Artspace buzzed with eager anticipation as attendees from urban and rural Manitoba filled the seats. A coterie from Swan River, where Fisher Lavell lives and where her novel is situated, formed an appreciative fan base, while others, drawn to the event by curiosity and interest in Lavell’s writing, listened eagerly to Fisher’s evocative reading, followed by a Q & A conversation with well-known Manitoba author Donna Besel.

Hosted by the program’s facilitator, Sharon Hamilton, the event progressed smoothly, capped by wine and cheese and homemade butter tarts accompanying conversations that didn’t want to stop.

Follow Fisher on her website www.fisherlavell.ca

Our next launch will take place on October 23 at 2:00, again in the Boardroom at Artspace, with B. A. Bellec presenting Pulse: Book One. More information will be forthcoming but bear in mind: it is not coincidental that Hallowe’en follows one week later.

Poetry Adventure at Tall Grass Prairie

On September 24th, 2022, the Manitoba Writers’ Guild sent representatives to the Tall Grass Prairie to support Turnstone Press and the Nature Conservancy of Canada to promote Sarah Ens’ poetry book, Flyway. Despite the rain, Susan Rocan and Anna Valdron headed south to meet up with a group of poetry and nature enthusiasts. Just as Sarah finished reading lyrical poems from Flyway, the grey clouds thinned, the rain stopped and the group was able to explore the beautiful prairie landscape with conservationist, Norm Gregoire, who led them through “one of the most biologically diverse and productive grasslands in North America”.

(To learn more and keep up to date with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, you can sign up for their e-newsletter, The Leaflet. To donate to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, please visit their online donation page.)

Once back at the Interpretive Centre, Sarah posed questions  as writing prompts to the group who, in turn, wrote about and shared their experience, how the prairie landscape inspired them, each one expressing their love of nature.

Guild member Phyllis Cherrett described the experience, “It was a grey day, but perfect weather for a guided tour of the Tall Grass Prairie reserve after a brief introduction to Sarah Enns’ thoughtful poetry. The ground was soft and slightly squishy underfoot, pillowed with tussocky grass alive with tiny frogs. Birds stood out clearly against the low-slung clouds and flung themselves through the air.

“After the tour Sarah offered several writing prompts, and time to follow them in, and the writing time was well judged-just long enough to get some work done, but too short to get really nervous about the product. Several of us read from what we had written.

“Lots of fun, new information, and possibly the beginning of another chapbook, depending on how the pictures turned out.”

(To purchase Sarah’s book, Flyway, please visit Turnstone Press.)

The afternoon was enjoyed by all who attended the event. Some participants, who were unfamiliar with us, dropped by our table to learn a little more about the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and we shared information about the Guild and upcoming programs, such as the Creating a Docudrama workshop series beginning October 20, 2022 and Dennis Valdron’s Self-Publishing workshop series beginning in February. For further information on our programs, please email .

 

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