8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Arrival at F.R. Haythorne—students confirm registration 

9:00 - 9:15 a.m. 

Assemble in gym—welcome, introduction and announcements         

9:15 - 10:45 a.m.

Session 1

10:45 - 11 a.m.

BREAK and book sale* 

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Session 2

12:30 - 1:15 p.m.

LUNCH and book sale

1:15 - 2:45 p.m.

Session 2

2:45 p.m.

Conference evaluation

2:50 - 3:15 p.m.

Book signing and sale

3:00 - 3:30 p.m.

Student pick-up

Students are responsible for bringing their own bag lunch and snack.

* Books available for approximately $8 to $23.

Let’s Create Characters!

ELEMENTARY: 3 Sessions

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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. Lorna 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 in the Arts/Fine Arts programs. Since 2006 Lorna 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. This will be a hands-on session with Mike drawing right alongside you and giving you 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. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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 Mike and his work, check out 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-ton rock will land on your toes! Build the pyramid right, and you’ll have a 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sigmund Brouwer is the author of 20 novels for adults, and dozens of books for children. He visits over 150 schools per year to deliver his Rock and Roll Literacy presentation, reaching about 60,000 students per year. He is 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 YA novel, Deadman’s Switch was 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, Marty shares tips on how to craft a scary story that will keep your readers on the edges of their seats.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marty Chan writes plays for adults and books for kids. He has two new books, Infinity Coil and Keepers of the Vault. 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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.

The Totally True Story of the Thing that Never Happened

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

Ever struggle to find a story idea? Feel frustrated with those first sentences? Join Natasha and learn how everyday events can help transform your blank page into a great story!

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!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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 will move through a progression of drawing and doodling exercises and leave with the basic skills needed to enjoy and improve their cartooning.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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 is not thinking up Betty strips for Gerry Rasmussen to draw, Gary 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. 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!  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rita Feutl loves to write. She writes for newspapers, magazines and websites. Her favourite, though, is writing kids’ books. 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: 3 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. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joan Marie Galat is the author of nearly a dozen 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 objects in the night sky to nature on our own planet. Joan also enjoys reaching for new heights as a nearly nine-foot tall stiltwalker at festivals and literacy events. www.joangalat.com 

Super Heroes With or Without Capes

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

Super stories need superheroes - characters willing to take risks (the wrath of MOM), embark on epic quests (like sneaking into the “haunted” house next door), and face their greatest 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/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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

International award-winning author of 19 novels, Jacqueline Guest 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. This workshop will focus 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colleen Heffernan has been writing for young people for fourteen years. Her third book, A Kind of Courage is a YA 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. Colleen is also an educator and a mom with three fabulous sons. Colleen teaches in Athabasca and lives in a cabin in the woods at Island Lake.

Yikes... Break the Block!

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions

Skull cramps? Crossed eyes? Patchy baldness from pulling your hair out because you don’t know what’s going to happen next? These are all symptoms of Writer’s Block. If you’ve ever stared at a piece of paper so long it actually yellowed, join us and we’ll show you how making a plan can put the fun back into writing and your eyes back in your head.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Duanne and Darcy Jahns are twin brothers who write together. Authors of How I Survived My Summer Vacation, The O-Team and Mother, May I?, they have also been humour columnists for several western Canadian publications and CBC Radio. On very still nights they can still be heard whining about something.

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!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathy Jessup is an Edmonton 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 very 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 Kathy’s website: 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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.

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 that every good fiction story has some sort of gripping conflict. To get you writing, Lorna lets you play a game. Oh yeah! This workshop includes all types of genres from western to sci-fi and everything in between! It is hands-on, get down and dirty workshop. But tons of fun.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lorna Schultz Nicholson loves to write!  She has published picture books, middle-grade fiction, YA fiction and hockey non-fiction.   Many of her books have been nominated for awards.  Her fiction books are about kids: and their friendships and school and family life and emotions and feelings and… well, the ups and downs of life. We all have those ups and downs, don’t we?  Lorna 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!

Cartooning

ELEMENTARY: 2 Sessions
JUNIOR HIGH: 1 Session

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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 – 1990.  He and Gary are currently busy producing Betty, a daily comic strip which is distributed by Universal Uclick and appears in more than eighty newspapers around the world, including the Edmonton Journal.

Creepilicious

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/or (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 = goose bump raising

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gail Sidonie Sobat is an award-winning author of eleven books for children, YA and adult audiences. In addition, she is the creator and long-time coordinator of YouthWrite and WordsWorth (camps for kids who love to write) and the creator/director of SWYC (Spoken Word Youth Choir). An international presenter and performer, Gail has presented throughout Canada, the US, in 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 YA 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. Gail is the Metro Edmonton Federation of Public Libraries 2015 Writer in Residence and a Global TV Woman of Vision (2017).

Show Me Some Emotion!

ELEMENTARY: 1 Session

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! 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Spafford-Fitz is the author of three books for middle-school and teen readers. Saving Grad, Vanish and Dog Walker are all set in Edmonton, as is her fourth novel, Unity Club, which is being released in October 2018. Her books all feature real-life teenagers working through real-life problems and challenges--Spafford-Fitz’s grateful she has fewer problems than her characters. A former junior high teacher, She has spoken to thousands of students about the transformative power of books, reading and writing. When she’s not speaking at schools or writing in her studio, Spafford-Fitz’s often training for her next half marathon

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 U.S. Canadian border during the Prohibition era of the 1920’s. Global News anchor, Gord Steinke, shares tips on the research and writing of his recent book, Mobsters and Rumrunners of Canada. Gord will also offer students a look at his award-winning series Your Town that explores the colourful history of communities across Alberta.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gord Steinke has been working for Global TV as the six and eleven news anchor and senior producer for over 25 years. He has a BA in Journalism and Communications from U of R. 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/reporter on a national all-news channel. After three years, he returned to Canada and the Global news team.