Each year over 400 selected students in grades 4 to 9 from both Elk Island Public Schools and Elk Island Catholic Schools are invited to spend the day with a variety of well-known children and young adult authors, illustrators and graphic artists—working with them and learning the tricks of the trade.

This year the conference will take place:

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2020

F.R. Haythorne Junior High
300 Colwill Blvd., Sherwood Park, AB

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Selection and Registration

Students who show special interest or aptitude in the areas of writing and illustration are invited by their teacher to attend the conference. Attendance is teacher selected and there is no open registration, however, every attempt is made to give opportunities to those students who would value most from this experience. 

If you have been selected, please return your parent permission form to your school's YAC representative, you will then be provided with the information to complete your registration. 

Elementary Registration Form

Junior High Registration Form

Conference Schedule

Sessions and Author Bios

Let’s Create Characters!

ELEMENTARY: 3 Sessions

Do you love to draw and create your own characters? Come to Lorna Bennett’s session and practice your drawing skills to bring characters to life. Learn new illustration tips and some of the secrets to creating your own characters.

Lorna Bennett has worked as a designer, writer, illustrator and animator. Her illustrations in Sandwiches for Duke won her a nomination for the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award, and Dot to Dot in the Sky: Stories of the Moon won an Alberta Book Award. Bennett currently devotes most of her time to artwork for children’s picture and educational books, greeting cards, novel covers, technical illustration, multimedia and animation. She attended Grant MacEwan Community College and the University of Alberta (U of A) in the arts and fine arts programs. Since 2006, Bennett has worked as a staff artist on the wards at the U of A Hospital, bringing art making to the bedside of adult patients.

Telling Stories with Pictures! 

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

What do picture books and comics have in common? Both use illustrations to help tell the story in a sequential format! Mike’s workshop will take you through the creative process of visual storytelling in picture books, comics and graphic novels. The hands-on session includes Mike Boldt drawing with you and offering useful assistance along the way. From word balloons to dynamic page layouts, the goal is to equip you with the right tools so you can let your own imagination and artistic style run free with this sequential art form.   

Mike Boldt loves ice cream, comics, cartoons and creating picture books. As an author and illustrator, he has been creating products for children for the last 16 years and has worked with Scholastic Canada, Harper Collins, Random House, Bloomsbury and others. For more information on Boldt and his work visit www.mikeboldt.ca.

The Power of the Pyramid

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Build a pyramid the right way with the right material, and it will be an amazing piece of work, admired by all. Build it the wrong way or with the wrong material, and, well, you know what will happen. Writing is the same—except for worrying about whether a ten-tonne rock will land on your toes! Build the pyramid right, and you’ll have great story. You’ll have a fun time with Sigmund Brouwer learning exactly what you need as you construct any of your writing pieces, from short stories to essays to novels.

Sigmund Brouwer is the author of 20 novels for adults, and dozens of books for children. Each year, he visits more than 150 schools delivering his “Rock and Roll Literacy” presentation, reaching about 60,000 students annually. He is the writer-in-residence for 80 plus schools through www.writerinresidence.org. His latest novel, Thief of Glory, was the 2015 Alberta Readers Choice Award winner and his young adult novel, Deadman’s Switch, was named the 2015 Arthur Ellis best juvenile mystery in Canada.

Thrill Your Reader

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Have some fun scaring your readers with Marty Chan’s secret to writing suspense stories. Inspired by his supernatural thriller, Chan shares tips on how to craft a scary story that will keep your readers on the edges of their seats.

Marty Chan writes plays for adults and books for kids. He has one new book, Shadow and Spell. For more information visit www.martychan.com.

Seven Basic Plots

ELEMENTARY: 1 Session

Most stories fall into seven basic plots. In this session, we will take a look at what those plots are. Discussions include determining the plot of
well-known stories and their key elements. As students write their own
stories, they’ll want to consider the kind of tale they’re telling and how to make it unique.

Building Story

JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

You know your characters. You’ve got a storyline. Now how do you weave the tale to be full and exciting? In this workshop, participants will learn about key elements of stories such as rising action and symbolism. We’ll discuss how foreshadowing plays a key role in storytelling. Group discussion will include well-known stories such as Harry Potter and The Hobbit as examples of how these elements can be interwoven into writing with exciting results.

Laura Comfort is a freelance writer whose works include fantasy novels, script writing and educational resources such as Gamed Academy. She has been a guest speaker at schools, youth groups and conferences. Her passions include writing, creating digital artwork and educating wherever she can. Always exploring and trying new things, some of her adventures include skydiving, caving and climbing the Mayan Ruins.

Riddle Me This

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

Want to play with your reader? Hide the answer to your story puzzle in plain sight? Join Natasha and see how you can hide clues about character and plot in your story, and create story puzzles that will keep your readers turning the pages!

THE HORROR OF IT ALL!

JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Want to creep out your readers? Make them sleep with the lights on? Make them too afraid to even GO to sleep? Natasha Deen’s session will show you how to write the kind of scary that will leave your readers screaming…
for more! 

Natasha Deen loves stories—exciting ones, scary ones and especially funny ones! Her most recent stories include Lark Holds the Key, CCBC Best Pick for Kids & Teens Starred Selection; Guardian, Sunburst Award Nominee and Moonbeam Award Selection; and Gatekeeper, Alberta Reader’s Choice Nominee and Moonbeam Award selection. When she’s not working on her books or visiting schools and libraries, she spends a lot of time trying to convince her dogs and cats that she’s the boss of the house. Visit her at www.natashadeen.com.

Cartooning with Gary

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Students will be introduced the fun of cartooning through learning to see the world through the eyes of a cartoonist. They’ll move through a progression of drawing and doodling exercises and leave with the basic skills needed to enjoy and improve their cartooning.

Gary Delainey is a cartoonist, artist and writer. He is half of the cartooning duo responsible for Betty, an internationally syndicated daily comic strip, published in newspapers and magazines around the world. Locally, Betty appears in The Edmonton Journal. When he’s not thinking up Betty strips for Gerry Rasmussen to draw, Dalainey enjoys spending time with his family and taking his dog, Roscoe, to the Strathcona Dog Park.

Travel to the Future

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

A box of crazy items showed up last week and they’re not from this century. 

Where are they from? Who had them last? What are they for? Let author and journalist Rita Feutl show you tips and tricks to that will help a present-day character time travel into the future. We’ll build a scene, add your character and see what happens!

Rita Feutl loves to write. She writes for newspapers, magazines and websites. But what she likes best of all is writing books for kids. Rescue at Fort Edmonton is a historical novel about a 12-year-old who time travels at Fort Edmonton Park. With author Debby Waldman, she’s also written a picture book called Room Enough for Daisy. Rita’s novel Bike Thief is about a 16-year-old who’s forced to steal bikes to pay off a debt. She is working on Rescue in the Rockies, the sequel to Rescue at Fort Edmonton.

Tell a True Story

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

You’re more interesting than you might think! Find out how to tell a true story, with you as a key character. You’ll discover fun and easy ways to come up with ideas, build scenes and organize facts. The session begins with a creativity game that sets the mood for muse. 

Joan Marie Galat is the author of more than 20 books that contain facts, true stories and not-so-true stories, including the Dot to Dot in the Sky series. She loves to explore nonfiction topics from things in space to nature on our own planet. Joan’s book Dark Matters includes true stories set in Sherwood Park, where she grew up. Her book on wild and wacky engineering shows how to do fun things like stop a candy thief. Joan also enjoys reaching for new heights as a nearly nine-foot tall stiltwalker at festivals and literacy events. www.joangalat.com 

SuperHeroes With or Without Capes

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

Super stories need superheroes with characters willing to take risks—the wrath of MOM; embarking on epic quests such as sneaking into the haunted
house next door; and facing fears, dodgeball tryouts anyone? Capes are completely optional. Discover the various types of characters that already exist in books, film and TV, and how you can use these ARCHETYPES to develop your own heroes worthy of fandom.

Horror Fiction to Die For

JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Young adult paranormal and thriller author, Judith Graves, helps you dig deep and unearth the killer themes lurking in your horror and thriller fiction. This genre isn’t just writing tales of blood and guts—it’s creating fiction to DIE for. Learn how to get under your reader’s skin, play on their primal fears and hold mirrors up to their own inner monsters. These FANGtasic tips will keep your readers turning the page, to the dire end.

Judith Graves is a school library technician, publisher, an award-winning author and screenwriter based in Alberta. She kinda loves words. She reads as much as she writes, devouring, at least, two books a week. She enjoys heated debates over character motives—she’s been kicked out of several book clubs for just this reason. If she’s not reading, she can be found writing and sipping coffee with her faithful dogs snoozing at her feet.

How to Dress Up a Skeleton

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

What’s the “skeleton” of any story? On top of these bare bones, how do you dress it up to make it special? The workshop will show the important steps required to turn your bare bones skeleton into a show stopper. 

Write it Right!

JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Whether you want to write novels or just a great paragraph, this session will show you how. It’s packed with easy to use info that writers at all levels can use. You’ll learn how to get started, create awesome characters, what’s really important in your writing, plus how to put it all together. If you want to write it right, this is the session for you.

Jacqueline Guest is an international award-winning author of 19 novels. She has stood on an iceberg, flown a kite in a hurricane and dodged hungry lions all while on the job as a writer. Her fast-paced novels have topics that range from deadly video games to comic book superheroes and mysterious meteorites! She has loads of experience working with students of all ages and has taught reading and writing workshops across Canada, the United States and as far off as Africa. In 2017, Guest was awarded the Order of Canada. Her motto: READING ROCKS!

Pursuing Adventure

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

A writer’s guide to courageous characters, heroic feats, the mystery and magic of writing. A variety of writing exercises will help students discover their own heroes, adventure plots and settings.

Rattling the Cage: Finding Your Author’s Voice

JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Passion, courage and experimentation are all part of finding your author’s voice. The workshop focuses on how young adult writers can rattle the cage and express themselves as themselves. Writing exercises are designed to stretch boundaries and to develop confidence.

Colleen Heffernan has been writing for young people for 19 years. Her third book, A Kind of Courage is a young adult novel set in 1918 that explores the issue of conscientious objection in Canada. KOC was listed on the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 2006, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice catalogue and was awarded the 2006 R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s literature in Alberta. Other publishing credits include early chapter books; Mill Creek Kids and Dinosaurs in the Attic; short fiction; and poetry. Heffernan’s also an educator and a mom with three fabulous sons. She teaches in Athabasca and lives in a cabin in the woods at Island Lake.

Castaway: Writing from a Desert Island 

ELEMENTARY: 1 Session
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Even though being lost on a desert island might sound pretty good in the middle of winter, it isn’t just warm beaches and beautiful sunsets. In this fun session, we’ll be looking at survival—writing the shipwreck/storm story that got us lost in the first place, hunting for water and food, using salvaged objects in creative ways, coping with animal attacks and brainstorming rescue strategies. And just when you think rescue is at hand, we might flip things around and write a travel brochure for your own private island paradise. 

Alison Hughes is an award-winning writer, recently nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, who has published 14 books. She read a lot as a child, and not only because her brother hogged the TV. Even though she was once completely lost on an island in Thailand, she still enjoys travelling. But she can usually be found at her computer with a cup of tea, two lazy old dogs by her side, and sometimes a cat on her shoulder. She lives with her family in Edmonton.

WRITE ON!

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

How do you start your story off with a bang instead of a bore? How do you create great characters that come alive on the page? How do you juice up a story so readers will hang on every word? Budding writers will learn some easy tips and techniques that can make a good story even better!

Kathy Jessup is an Edmonton-based children’s writer and storyteller. She has toured schools, libraries and festivals across Canada and internationally, entertaining audiences with her original stories. Her student writing workshops are also popular. Kathy’s storytelling CD LISTEN UP! Tellable Tales for Hungry Ears is recommended in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre guide “Best Books for Kids & Teens.” Visit Jessup’s website at www.kathyjessup.com.

The Gingerbread Teacher: Chasing a Dream

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

It takes a lot of work to make your dream come true! If you are interested in being a children’s author, illustrator or both, come spend some time with author and illustrator Tamara Martin Spady. Learn how Martin Spady took her stories and turned them into children’s picture books. During the workshop, you’ll learn to draw one of the characters from Martin Spady’s books and how to work on character illustration development to create your own characters for your own stories.

Tamara Martin Spady is an author, illustrator, artist, teacher, consultant and speaker. She has a passion for art and has created four children’s step-by-step drawing books that teach young children the basic skills to draw. Tamara has published two children’s storybooks—The Gingerbread Teacher and The Hairy Fellows: A Rabbit’s guide to drawing. Martin Spady is the recipient of Elk Island Public Schools Terry Gunderson Award for the promotion of lifelong learning through professional development. 

Cartooning

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

An introduction to the fun and fascinating world of cartooning! The workshop will show you the basics of how to construct your own cartoon characters and start you thinking like a cartoonist.

Gerry Rasmussen has been working on cartoon projects since 1976. In that time, he created, along with Gary Delainey, Bub Slug, a comic strip that ran in The Journal colour comics from 1985-90. He and Delainey are currently busy producing Betty, a daily comic strip distributed by Universal Uclick and appears in more than 80 newspapers around the world, including The Edmonton Journal.

Play a Game; Write a Story! 

ELEMENTARY: 1 Session
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

What makes a good story great? Writing fiction is about creating amazing characters, setting the place, hatching plots and adding real life dialogue. Plus, we can’t forget every good fiction story has some sort of gripping conflict. To get you writing, Lorna Schultz Nicholson lets you play a game. Oh yeah! The workshop includes all types of genres from western to sci-fi and everything in between! It’s a hands on, get down and dirty workshop. But tons of fun.

Lorna Schultz Nicholson loves to write! She has published picture books, middle grade fiction, young adult fiction and hockey non-fiction. Many of her books have been nominated for awards. Her fiction books are about kids—their friendships, school, family life, emotions, feelings and, well, the ups and downs of life. We all have those ups and downs, don’t we? Schultz Nicholson has recently moved to Edmonton with her hubbie and two dogs, a whiny bichon shih tzu and a sort-of-naughty puppy she rescued from Mexico. Her entire family, including fur babies, love Edmonton! Oh, and her latest book is a story about Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid and how his extraordinary talent equals extraordinary hard work!

Creepilicious

ELEMENTARY: 1 Session
JUNIOR HIGH: 2 Sessions

Wanna scare the pants off someone? Tell a hair-raising tale? Pump up those pulses with piloerecting* ghost stories? Creating tension and, gulp, terror in a story crosses all genres: mystery, adventure, speculative fiction, fantasy, horror, even romance. So let’s dabble in wordplay that raises the stakes, vampires beware; curdles the blood; and gets right to the action of your scariest scenes. Discover just when gore is creepilicious and when it’s too much!
*piloerecting = goosebump raising

Gail Sidonie Sobat is an award-winning author of 11 books for children, young adults and adult audiences. In addition, she is the creator and long-time co-ordinator of YouthWrite and WordsWorth, camps for kids who love to write, and the creator and director of Spoken Word Youth Choir (SWYC). An international presenter and performer, she has presented throughout Canada; the United States; Doha, Qatar; Bern, Switzerland; Finland; and most recently, Hanoi, Vietnam. Her critically acclaimed Ingamald fantasy trilogy was nominated for a number of awards, and her young adult novels, Chance to Dance For You and Gravity Journal are Moonbeam Award winners and White Pine Honour Books. Spyder Yardley-Jones illustrated her children’s picture book, In the Graveyard, and her graphic novel, Jamie’s Got a Gun. Sidonie Sobat is also the Metro Edmonton Federation of Public Libraries 2015 Writer in Residence and a Global TV Woman of Vision (2017).

Show Me Some Emotion!

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

Want to write high-stakes stories that hook your readers to the very end? That grab them by the heart and the throat and won’t let go? Then think EMOTION! Whether you’re into fantasy, mystery, contemporary problem stories or other genres, learn how to make your readers experience fear, shock and rage alongside your characters. Prepare to join in with Karen Spafford-Fitz’s original role-playing game called, “Poor, emotional me!” Discussion and fun writing exercises will further help you dial up the emotion in your writing. Now buckle up, and let’s get emotional! 

Karen Spafford-Fitz is the author of five books for kids and teens. Her two newest titles, Unity Club and Push Back, were released in fall 2018. Karen finds humans endlessly fascinating and her books deal with real-life teenagers working through real-life challenges. Her stories are set in Edmonton, which she has called home for many years. A former junior-high teacher, Karen has spoken to thousands of students about the transformative power of books, reading, and writing. When she is not crafting words in her studio, Karen is often training for her next half marathon with her rambunctious German shepherd. www.karenspafford-fitz.com.

Who Says Canadian History is Boring?

ELEMENTARY: 1 Session
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

Canadian history comes alive as big money and lots of booze flowed freely across the Canada-United States border during the Prohibition era in the 1920s. Global News anchor, Gord Steinke, shares tips on the research and writing of his recent book, Mobsters and Rumrunners of Canada. Steinke will also offer students a look at his award-winning series, Your Town, that explores the colourful history of communities across Alberta.

Gord Steinke has been working for Global TV as the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news anchor and senior producer for more than 25 years. He has a bachelor of arts in journalism and communications from the University of Regina. He began his journalism career at CBC radio in Regina. After reporting and anchoring for CBC and Newsworld, he landed a job in Minnesota as an anchor and reporter on a national all-news channel. After three years, he returned to Canada and the Global News team.

Volunteer

Our volunteers help make the Young Authors' Conference the success it is year after year! Take a look at the volunteer opportunities available and click the link below to sign up. 

Parent and staff volunteers are needed for general help on the day of the conference.

As a general volunteer, you will supervise and direct students before and after sessions, distribute snacks and set up for various sessions, or help with book sales. General volunteers can choose between an all day (8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.), morning (8 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.) or afternoon (12 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.) time slot. If you are volunteering as a teacher, who also has a child attending, please clearly state if you wish to be slotted as a parent volunteer or as a chairperson. 

Staff volunteers are needed to fill chairperson roles.

As a chairperson, you will introduce and thank authors and generally assist during the presentation. Chairpeople can select one, two or all of the sessions (see chart above for session times). Please indicate on the volunteer registration form if you have a preference for a particular author(s), we will ATTEMPT to place you with the author, but cannot guarantee preference. 

Lunch will be provided for full day volunteers.

Volunteer Now