Kingston WritersFest

Immerse yourself in the 2025 edition of Kingston Writersfest! This pass is valid for all Onstage and Reader Salon Events. Limited number available!

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Madeleine Thien and Canisia Lubrin with Eric Friesen.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Otoniya J. Okot Bitek with Merilyn Simonds.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Paul Vermeersch, Callista Markotich, and Terese Mason Pierre with Jason Heroux.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Ira Wells with David Moscrop.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Catherine Bush, Deepa Rajagopalan, and Jamal Saeed with Sarah Tsiang.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Katherine Ashenburg and Jeanne Beker with Brett Christopher.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Nita Prose and Kate Hilton with Wayne Grady.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Linden MacIntyre and Jack Wang with Eric Friesen.

Join us onstage for a conversation featuring Eric Andrew-Gee with Anne Collins.

Join us for an onstage discussion featuring Carol Off, David A. Robertson, and David Moscrop with Elamin Abdelmahmoud.

Join us for an onstage conversation featuring Anne Collins with Merilyn Simonds.

Join us for an onstage conversation between Ian Williams and Maria Reva.

Join us for an onstage presentation of "Walking with Beth" by the author, Merilyn Simonds.

Join poet Paul Vermeersch as he deconstructs some of his favourite poems and reveals how these poems have inspired his own writing.

Join us for a glimpse into the art of translation with award-winning novelist and translator Wayne Grady.

Join award-winning poet Sadiqa de Meijer as she explores the ways in which reading becomes transformative.

Explore literary techniques that spring fact-based writing to life. 

Suitable for emerging writers. Instructor: Mark Abley

A festival first, this master class focuses on the craft of writing picture books. 

Suitable for emerging writers. Instructor: Y.S. Lee

Embrace a sense of play and delight with poetry.

Suitable for novice writers. Instructor: Sarah Tsiang

This master class bridges the worlds of technical craft and spiritual practice in writing.

Suitable for writers at every level and all genres. Instructor: Sarah Selecky

Comedy is like magic—you’re not supposed to explain how it works. But in this class, Trevor Strong does.

Suitable for all levels. Instructor: Trevor Strong

This class will explore seven general principles of good memoir writing, and where the fears, snags, and dead ends arise.

Suitable for novice and emerging writers. Instructor: Beth Kaplan

This workshop will provide participants with tools to keep characters and the world in motion to create liveliness and lifelike-ness on the page.

Suitable for novice, emerging, and experienced fiction writers. Instructor: Catherine Bush

Webinar survey of the requirements, benefits, and limitations of traditional publishing, do-it-yourself publishing, and self-publishing with services, and help you prepare well for whichever option you choose.

Suitable for writers at all levels and of all genres. Presenter: Bret Newton of FriesenPress

How do we tell a story that is singularly ours? How do we learn from the masters and still center ourselves in our stories?

Suitable for novice writers. Instructor: Deepa Rajagopalan

Learn how to raise the levels of suspense in your story so that readers keep turning pages into the night.

Suitable for novice writers. Instructor: Howard Shrier

This intensive class offers a chance to explore the beautiful practice of ekphrasis (writing that engages with a work of visual art). 

Suitable for emerging and experienced writers. Instructor: Sadiqa de Meijer

Through a series of writing exercises and lively discussion, explore what makes a believable, relatable, character on the page.

Suitable for emerging writers. Instructor: Tim Wynne-Jones

In this workshop, participants will use prompts to produce new work in their preferred genre, all around the idea of change.

Suitable for emerging and experienced writers of all genres. Instructor: Ian Williams

A class designed for writers who wish to explore and articulate the complex narratives passed down through generations.

Suitable for emerging writers. Instructors: Caroline Topperman and Liisa Kovala