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We say literary merit is a subjective topic, but do we really think that? Is it a matter of taste or is there criteria that defines why some works are thought to carry more literary weight than others? How do we decide which works deserve literary prizes, or what is included in the CanLit canon? How do we judge the qualifications of who does the judging for said prizes? Does how we define “literary merit” exclude genre fiction or marginalized writers? Since the topic seems to be so subjective, would we say determining literary merit is a community initiative? Join our September panelists as they examine these types of questions on the subject of literary merit and more. About Our Panelists Matthew James Weigel | Social Dr. Matthew James Weigel is a Dene and Métis author and artist from Edmonton. His debut poetry collection Whitemud Walking was the winner of the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Indigenous Voices Award, and the Alcuin Society Award for book design as well as a finalist of the Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize. Matthew’s multimodal work is situated in his relationship to the land and considers the historical, archival, and ecological connections between stories and place. His doctoral dissertation: On the Legibility of Trees works across genre and medium as Matthew endeavours to tell new stories in old ways, and share old stories in new ways. He currently works as an assistant professor of Indigenous literatures at the University of Calgary. Anne Logan | Website Anne Logan has been working in the non-profit sector for over 17 years as a festival programmer, fundraiser and book reviewer. She has previously sat on the board of directors of Calgary Reads and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta as Past President, and is currently the Vice-Chair of the Calgary Arts Development Board of Directors. In addition to reviewing books for CBC radio and television, her writing has also been published in Alberta Views, Quill and Quire, Write and WestWord Magazine. She is currently the Associate Director of Development at Calgary Public Library Foundation. Photo Courtesy of Sarah Bodri Jael Richardson | Website | Social Jael Richardson is the founder and Executive Director of the Festival of Literary Diversity or FOLD. She is the author of two books for adults, three picture books and an anthology for middle grade readers. Shawn Hamm | Bolo Tie Collective | Wordstock Shawn Hamm is an English instructor at MacEwan University, a writer, a Gothicist, and grave keeper. He founded the MacEwan publishing student-focused juggernaut known as The Bolo Tie Collective and is a fierce supporter of the Edmonton writing community through his Wordstock author showcase events. His research delves into the Gothic Mad Science of the Long 19th Century, which has fed his love of writing gothic folk horror and science fiction, often incorporating Frankensteining elements of both into academic and creative work. His fiction has been published through The Lamp and Bolo Tie, while his research and papers are regular fixtures through the International Gothic Association. He has recently unearthed the ethereal genre of non-fiction, entirely inspired by his work amongst the graves, and is currently working on two manuscripts of short story collections. Though much of his writing revolves around our relationship with death, he much prefers the living.

May 2026 Controversy at Noon: Is an online presence vital for today's writers by Writers' Guild of Alberta

2026 Alberta Literary Awards finalists online reading by Writers' Guild of Alberta

February 2026 Controversy at Noon: Are Children’s Writers the Ultimate Freedom Fighters? by Writers' Guild of Alberta

November 2025 Controversy at Noon: The Things They Never Told Me About Publishing by Writers' Guild of Alberta

Book banning across the country continues to concern the Canadian literary community, especially in Alberta where certain books are slated to be pulled from school shelves this Fall. What do these types of bans mean for writers and for readers, now and in the coming months? Years? What calls to action might help prevent the banning of books in the future? Join our panelists and experts as they explore the ramifications of banned books and more this August. The Panelists Gail de Vos Storyteller, author, librarian and educator, Gail de Vos has been an active promoter of the oral tradition of literature in Alberta for over three decades. Gail teaches courses on storytelling as well as courses on Canadian Children’s Literature, Indigenous Literature for Young Readers, Comic Books and Graphic Novels at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Library and Information Studies. Gail is the author of ten award winning resource books on storytelling and folklore in popular culture intended for educators working with students in Grade 6 and above as well as numerous guest chapters on comic books and graphic novels, storytelling, monsters, and folklore in popular culture for academic monographs. While her specialty is telling contemporary legends to young and not so young adults, she is equally at ease telling stories to young audiences. She is an active champion for intellectual freedom in her storytelling, writing, course material, and on social media. http://storytellerdevos.com/ Ira Wells Ira Wells is a writer and associate professor of literature at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, and the President of PEN Canada. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Globe and Mail, Guardian, The New Republic, and many other venues. His most recent book is On Book Banning. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children. You can find him at Unacknowledged Legislation on Substack. Peter Midgley Peter Midgley is the author of several books of poetry, children’s literature, non-fiction, and plays. He has received national and international recognition as a writer and editor. His latest book, let us not think of them as barbarians, is an elegy for Namibia, the country of his birth, and a meditation on the multiple legacies of colonialism. His scholarship includes investigations into the relationship between writing, publishing and ideology, and he has spoken internationally on the subjects of censorship and writing as resistance. https://www.midgley.ca/ Malcolm Azania Malcolm Azania (Minister Faust) is an award-winning novelist, award-winning print journalist, radio host-producer, television host and associate producer, sketch comedy writer, video game writer, playwright, and poet. He has spoken and taught workshops widely. ministerfaust.com

The current trade war between the United States and Canada–including tariffs focused on the book and publishing industry– has people thinking about buying products made in Canada and supporting local companies that keep our money in Canada. With Canadians paying closer attention to how our money is spent, is there now a fresh opportunity to get the word out there about reading books authored by Canadian writers that are also published in Canada? Join our group of panelists as they consider the potential for upward trends in buying local, and the impact the current climate could have on the Canadian literary scene and publishing industry overall. Laura Rock Gaughan – Panelist Laura Rock Gaughan serves as the executive director of the Literary Press Group of Canada (LPG), a national arts service organization that supports Canadian-owned literary publishers and promotes the growth of Canadian literary culture through All Lit Up and many other projects. She’s also a writer, with fiction and essays published in Canadian, Irish, and US journals and anthologies. Her first book, MOTHERISH, is a short story collection published by Turnstone Press. Jay Millar – Panelist Jay Millar is the co-owner and co-publisher of Book*hug Press, a Toronto-based independent literary publisher working at the forefront of contemporary book culture. He currently sits on the board of the Ontario Book Publishing Organization as Treasurer. Jay operates a secret bookstore called Apollinaire’s Bookshoppe, specializing in the books that no one wants to buy, and is the author of seven collections of poetry, the most recent of which is I Could Have Pretended to be Better than You: New and Selected Poems. Katie Lafreniere – Panelist Katie Lafreniere is an Assistant Professor of marketing at the University of Alberta. She has a MSc in management and PhD in business. She studies language and communication, both among consumers (e.g., product reviews) and between consumers and firms (e.g., how managers should respond to reviews). Her research has been featured in Harvard Business Review, CBC, and the Wall Street Journal. Hazel Millar – Panelist Hazel Millar is the co-owner and co-publisher of Book*hug Press, a Canadian independent literary publisher working at the forefront of contemporary book culture. Hazel has been working in the publishing industry since 2009. In addition to her work at Book*hug Press, she is the Past Chair of the Board of the Literary Press Group of Canada and sits on several publishing-industry boards and advisory committees. She lives in Toronto with her husband, Jay Millar (aka the other half of Book*hug Press), their sons, and a cool, diva calico cat named Tess.

Alberta Literary Awards Finalists Online Reading by Writers' Guild of Alberta

Please join us for a virtual conversation with Kit Dobson and David A. Robertson for Freedom to Read Week. The authors will discuss the importance of intellectual freedom, and share their own experiences with writing, teaching, and reading banned and/or challenged books. About the Speakers: David A. Robertson is the author of When We Were Alone (2017 Governor General’s Literary Award), The Barren Grounds (2020 Governor General’s Literary Award finalist), and Back Water, winner of the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction and the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and currently lives in Winnipeg. Kit Dobson is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Calgary. His book Field Notes on Listening was one of the CBC’s top non-fiction titles of 2022. His first novel, We Are Already Ghosts, was released in spring 2024. In the fall semester of the 2024-2025 academic year, he taught a course on banned and challenged books that will inform his comments for this discussion.

Controversy at Noon: Writers Against AI by Writers' Guild of Alberta

Expanding on our September Controversy @ Noon discussion, which focused on traditional publishing vs self-publishing, our December panel will address questions WGA members and fellow literary folks submitted on the topic. Panelists will also have the opportunity to share their views, insights, and experiences with self-publishing, traditional publishing, and/or hybrid publishing. Submitting Questions: Our December panel will be pre-recorded, but in an effort to keep things interactive, we would love for you to send any topic-related questions you have to Ashley Mann at [email protected]. We will have our panelists answer your questions – and more – during their discussion. We will be accepting one question/submission per person, and we will attempt to cover as many questions as possible during the panel discussion. Questions should be submitted no later than November 22, 2024 Moderator: Barb Howard Panelists: Naomi K. Lewis, Charlene Carr, and Jaima Fixsen About The Panelists Jaima Fixsen Jaima Fixsen is a USA Today and International best-selling author living and writing in Edmonton. Her novel, The Girl In His Shadow (co-authored under the pen name Audrey Blake), was selected as Libby’s 2022 Big Library Read, and has been translated into eight languages. Jaima studied Occupational Therapy at the University of Alberta, and her experiences learning anatomy and dissecting cadavers began her fascination with the history of medical science, which often figures in her stories. Her debut crime novel, The Specimen, released this year. Jaima still works in health care supporting children with disabilities and their families. She loves history, snow, reading, snow, mountains and snow. And Diet Coke. Website: http://jaimafixsen.com/ Instagram: @byjaimafixsen Barb Howard Barb Howard has published five books and more than 50 short stories and essays in magazines, journals, and anthologies across Canada. She has been President of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, Writer-in-Residence for the Calgary Public Library, editor of FreeFall Magazine, and a board member for Calgary Arts Development. Barb is currently a mentor in the Newcomer Arts Professional Program operated by the Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation. Website: www.barbhoward.ca Facebook: @barb.howard.50115 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barb-howard-ab542120/ Charlene Carr Charlene Carr studied literature at university, attaining both a BA and MA in English, including a study program at Oxford. She has independently published nine novels and her first agented novel, Hold My Girl, sold to HarperCollins Canada, Sourcebooks Landmark (US), Welbeck Publishing (UK) and Alma Littera (Lithuania). It was named one of the Best Books of 2023 by CBC Books, was an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Literature and Fiction, was shortlisted for both the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and the Dartmouth Book Award, and has been optioned for adaptation to the screen. Charlene received grants from Arts Nova Scotia and Canada Council for the Arts to write and revise her most recent novel, We Rip The World Apart, and is working on her next book. She lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia with her husband and young daughters. Instagram: @charlenecarrauthor Facebook: @charlenecarrwritinglife (Charlene Carr – Writing Life) Naomi K. Lewis Naomi K. Lewis writes fiction and nonfiction, and also works as an editor, currently at Freehand Books. Instagram: @na.oh.mee Facebook: Naomi K. Lewis Website: https://www.naomiklewis.com/

Do newcomers and immigrants to Alberta face more pressure to write about current issues in their place of origin (eg, Gaza, Ukraine, Venezuela, etc.) than other writers? How do writers, especially immigrants and refugee writers, deal with the many giant global “distractions” enough to write about anything else? Should current events and related topics be prioritized by all writers in all genres? Why or why not? Join our panelists as they discuss the complexities of writing through a diasporic lens and more in November’s Controversy @ Noon panel. About The Panelists Kelly Kaur Kelly Kaur grew up in Singapore and lives in Calgary. She was recently awarded the 2024’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrant award. Kaur’s poem, “A Singaporean’s Love Affair,” landed on the moon on February 22, 2024, as part of the Lunar Codex — the first historic library of its kind, declared an Artemis Accords Heritage Site. Her novel, Letters to Singapore, which chronicles the experiences of a newcomer to Canada, will also be going to the moon on the Astrobotic Griffin/NASA VIPER mission in September 2025. Her creative works have been published around the world. Her poems were exhibited in North Dakota, United States, in a one year travelling exhibition that went to art galleries and museums, and other poems were even danced to by the Voices Dance Project in Ottawa who set her poetry to music and choreography. Kaur has a passion for human rights, and she is an editor and judge for the International Human Rights Art Movement, New York (IHRAM). She is an editor for their upcoming fourth quarterly magazine, December 2024: Indigenous Voices of Canada: Heart, Hope and Land. Other anthologies Kaur edited were Her Rights, Our Stories: An African Women’s Anthology and From Africa With Love: Voices of a Creative Continent. She has an upcoming children’s book, Howdy, I’m Singh Hari, the story of a pioneer Sikh rancher in Alberta. Kaur’s poetry collection, to be published by the University of Calgary Press, will be out in 2026. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelly.kaur.98 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellykaur3/ Mila Bongco-Philipzig Mila is a writer, visual artist, and community organizer. Her children’s books, poems, essays and podcasts have been published in Canada, USA, the Philippines and Germany. The diaspora of the global majority is a recurring theme in her writings. www.milabongco.com IG: @milabillabong FB: Mila Bongco

We’re pivoting a bit and looking to have some fun with our October Controversy @ Noon Panel; this may be our most controversial discussion to date! We want to know: Who is the greatest horror writer of all time? From the gothic pages of Stoker and Shelley, to King’s twisty endings or Rice’s description-laden vampire tales, who really takes the cake when it comes to making us squirm, scream, cry, or throw our pages across the room in unabated anger? There are too many writers to list here, but you catch our drift. What makes for excellent horror writing? Are there formulas and tropes we should follow as writers to successfully reach our audience, or is creating timeless horror an innate ability? What do we love to see in horror writing? What do we loathe? Join our panelists this October as they hunt down the nuances of great — and not so great — horror writing. Moderator: Susie Moloney Panelists: Richard Van Camp, Jacqueline Baker, and Francine Cunningham

The publishing world has gone through tremendous change in recent years, especially post-pandemic. Even established authors who have found great success being traditionally published have aired their grievances about the hardships and uncertainty in the industry moving forward. Self-publishing has become a popular alternative for writers who want more control and autonomy when publishing their work, but it can be expensive and there still seems to be a level of ambiguity that plagues the process. Both avenues have their pros and cons, but what does it really entail to have your work traditionally published? To self-publish on your own? Is one better than the other, or are they simply different? Are works that are traditionally published valued more? If so, why? Which route might be best for you? Join our panelists this September as they delve into the often polarizing topic of traditional publishing vs self-publishing.

Marty Chan (Moderator): Marty Chan writes books for kids, theatre for adults, and social media posts for fun. The 2024 recipient of the WGA’s Golden Pen Award, Marty has written dramas, comedies, fantasy, and suspense. He works and lives in Edmonton with his wife Michelle and their two cats, Minnie and Hugo. For more information about Marty, visit martychan.com. Social handles: X: Marty_Chan Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/martychan.bsky.social Threads: @martychanwriter Facebook: MartyChanAuthor Instagram: martychanwriter Julie Sedivy (Panelist): Julie Sedivy is a writer and linguist whose love of language extends to many literary genres and whose work often intertwines aesthetic and scientific perspectives. Her publications include three books of nonfiction, a forthcoming children’s picture book (co-authored with Souad Shehab), a non-boring textbook on the psychology of language, and an edited volume of personal essays (co-edited with Rona Altrows). Her book Memory Speaks was shortlisted for the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Eggleston Award for Nonfiction. She has published dozens of essays and articles in outlets such as Nautilus, The Literary Review of Canada, Scientific American, Discover, Politico, as well as in various anthologies. She occasionally writes and performs poetry as well. She is preparing to launch her scientific memoir, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love, in October 2024. Farah Heron (Panelist): Farah Heron is a critically acclaimed romance author for adults and teens. Her books have been named as best books of the year by CBC books, USA Today, and NPR, and have been praised in Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, and Teen Vogue. She writes contemporary romances and romantic comedies full of huge South Asian families, delectable food, and most importantly, brown people falling stupidly in love. Her adult books include ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED, JANA GOES WILD, and JUST PLAYING HOUSE, and her young adult books include TAHIRA IN BLOOM and HOW TO WIN A BREAKUP. Farah lives in Toronto with her family. Social Handles: Instagram: farahheronauthor X: FarahHeron Facebook: FarahHeronAuthor Conor Kerr (Panelist): Conor Kerr is a Métis/Ukrainian writer living in Edmonton. He is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. His Ukrainian family are settlers in Treaty 4 and 6 territories in Saskatchewan. He grew up in Saskatoon, Edmonton, and other prairie towns and cities. In 2022 he was named one of CBC’s Writers to Watch. He is the author of the poetry collections An Explosion of Feathers and Old Gods, which was shortlisted for the 2023 Governor General's Award and named one of the Best Poetry Books of 2023, as well as the novel Avenue of Champions, which was shortlisted for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, longlisted for the 2022 Giller Prize and won the 2022 ReLIT award. He recently published his second novel Prairie Edge. Social Handles: Instagram: Millcreekcowboy