Writers Retreat & Conference

Participants will immerse themselves in the craft of writing, connect with other writers, and hear from authors through readings and workshops.

Join novelist and playwright, Fran Kimmel, as she welcomes participants. 

Explore crafting ‘The Unreliable Narrator’ with Katie Bickell by deconstructing Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (supplied). Using this classic text as a jumping off point, author Katie Bickell will offer tips on using the technique of The Unreliable Narrator in their own work. Participants are expected to read the short story prior to class and participate in friendly conversation on the text and on the writing subject following the lecture.

Write Small Moments with Rayanne Haines. This generative writing workshop explores how powerful stories can grow from small, everyday moments. Participants will learn how writers use observation, sensory grounding, implication over expectation, and object attention to transform ordinary experiences into vivid scenes on the page. Through brief readings and various prompts, the workshop will focus on noticing the intimate moments of daily life and translating them into compelling writing. Rather than building large plots, participants will experiment with capturing a single moment in time with clarity and depth. Writers will practice techniques such as slowing time, compression, and describing emotional connections to objects to bring small moments to life.

Time will be set aside after each workshop for self-guided writing. Participants can stretch their legs and explore the facility and yard to find their perfect place to write. Writing prompts will be available to anyone needing inspiration.

Participants will be guided through a brief sound meditation, cleansing their palettes before breaking for lunch (provided).

The day will end with an opportunity to share some work and last thoughts.

Full schedule (times may be adjusted slightly, finalized timelines will be sent out prior to the retreat)

Friday, May 22 
6:30 PM Books & Banter: An Evening with Author Friends of LPAC. Readings, Q&A, and Mingling with light hors d'oeuvre. Author Guests include Blaine Newton, Leslie Greentree, Laurel Deedrick-Mayne, and Miji Campbell

Saturday, May 23
8:30am Doors open, coffee & muffins
8:45am Welcome by Fran Kimmel
9:00am Workshop 1 followed by self-guided writing time
11:30am Sound Meditation
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Workshop 2 followed by self-guided writing time 
3:30pm How to Get Published with Katie Bickell

Price includes lunch. 
Limited spots available.
Ages 16 & Up

Facilitators:

Fran Kimmel has worked an eclectic mix of jobs including youth worker, career counsellor, proposal writer, and a ten-year stint as VP for a career consulting firm. Her short stories have appeared in literary journals from coast to coast, and her plays have been produced for both theatre and radio. Fran has published two novels. The Shore Girl landed on the CBC Top 40-Book List and won the Alberta Reader’s Choice Award. No Good Asking, shortlisted for the 2019 Georges Bugnet and ReLit Awards, has been translated for international markets. Fran’s third novel will hit bookshelves in the spring of 2025.

Katie Bickell emigrated from England to northern Alberta in 1990. Her first novel, Always Brave, Sometimes Kind, was released in 2020. Since then, she has professionally written two ghostwritten memoirs, Vertical Lift: A Help-Pilot’s Mission for Freedom, Family, and Success (2022) and Life in Repair: One Mechanic’s Path to Prosperity and Purpose (2024). She is currently penning her sophomore novel, Alskling.

Katie’s work has received several awards, including the Alberta Literary Award’s 2020 Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction, the Alberta Literary Award’s Howard O’Hagan for Short Story, The WGA’s Emerging Writer Award, The Alberta Views Fiction Prize, The Voices of Motherhood Essay Contest, two Alberta Foundation of the Arts Individual Artists Grants, and a Canadian Council of the Arts Grant. In 2024, Katie served as Metro Edmonton Federation of Library’s Regional Writer in Residence for the communities of Strathcona County and St. Albert, and she has served as a Mentor in both the Writers Guild of Alberta’s Mentorship Program, and Alexandra Writer’s Society’s Story Maker program.

Rayanne Haines is an award-winning hybrid author and pushcart nominated poet, producer and podcaster. She is the author of Tell The Birds Your Body Is Not A Gun (Frontenac House), winner of the 2022 Stephan G. Stephansson, Alberta Literary Award for Poetry and shortlisted for both the BPAA Robert Kroetsch Award, and the ReLit Award. She's also the author of the poetry collections The Stories in My Skin (2013), Stained with the Colours of Sunday Morning (Inanna, 2017), and now, What Kind of Daughter? (Frontenac House, 2024) a poetry and essay memoir exploring grief, identity, and gendered trauma. Rayanne served as the 2022 Writer in Residence for the Edmonton Region Federation of Libraries, is the recipient of an Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award, host of the Crow Reads Podcast, President of the League of Canadian Poets, and an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University. She has been published in various anthologies and journals including the Globe and Mail, Minola Review, Fiddlehead, Grain, FreeFall, Prairie Fire and others.