Toronto Treasures for Writers
Our writing group starts every “new year” by declaring writing goals at our first meeting. This September, we made vows to finish specific projects, commitments to writing x numbers of thousands of words a week and resolved to learn more about the craft of writing. Happily, Toronto offers wonderful resources for writers to help us achieve our goals. The more formal options can be expensive, but many special events, conferences and workshops are affordable or free.
Most of us have taken writing courses at the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto (That’s our Shila Desai on the website!). Classes are small and led by professional authors who work in many genres.
Toronto Public Libraries offers lively programs for writers at branches across the city, including:
· Writer in Residence Program See Alison’s account of her experience.
· Book Clubs and Writers’ Groups
Word on the Street is a wonderful, FREE, day-long festival of author readings, presentations and workshops with a rich marketplace of Canadian publications. Between 11 am and 5:45, the Humber School of Writers hosts a Wordshop Marquee of one-hour lectures on writing and publishing. If you’re brave, you may submit one page of prose for public critique in the How Do You Like My Writing? Workshop. Sunday, September 22nd, 2013 at Queen’s Park.
For those interested in writing for children, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) offers Packaging Your Imagination, an annual one-day conference. November 16 at Humber College.
The next day, CANSCAIP and the Humber School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA) are running a Get Published Bootcamp! This follow-up workshop will be led by Cynthia Good (Insider’s Guide to Getting Published) and children’s publishing expert Vikki VanSickle.
And of course, it’s very hard to choose from among the many readings, interviews and roundtables at the International Festival of Authors (IFOA). October 24 to November 3, 2013.
In June, we’ll review our vows and commitments to see how well we’ve learned from this treasure trove of resources.
Bathurst Muses 
Very useful blog.