TD Culture Lab and Mississauga Arts Council, October 26, 2024

I had the opportunity to attend a one day workshop titled Breakthrough to Writers’ Success. It was a sold out event for writers and poets to learn more about the writing and publishing industry.

Here are some highlights of the day:

• The day started with an introduction to the event by Wali Shah (Poet and Public Speaker) who was also the MC of the event
• This was followed by a Keynote Address by author Eric Walters (https://ericwalters.net). Eric is tall enough to look like an NBA player and has a commanding voice. He spoke to the room of 200 people by walking among them, he did not stand still even for a minute of this one hour long talk and enthralled the audience with his writing process.
• The next event was a Publisher’s Panel discussion moderated by Mary Ellen Koroscil (Courtney Park Writer’s Group) with four panelists who spoke about the the business of publishing from an Canadian independent publisher’s point of view
• Debby de Groot (Assembly Press)
• Jay Millar (Book*hug Press)
• Bala Menon (Tamarind Tree Books)
• Jeremy Luke Hill (Gordon Hill Press and The Porcupines Quill)
• We then jumped to a talk by Mika Colins (Screenwriter and Producer) who spoke about adapting creating words to the screen.
• The last event of the day was another illustrious panel about self-publishing, promotion and staying motivated as a literary artist.
• Belinda W. Thomas (http://www.belyndasbooks.com)
• Wali Shah
• Kern Carter (https://www.kerncarter.com)
• Cheryl Rankin (Fit for Business)

I was seated at a table with three amazing people:

• Barry Brissenden (Author of Pray for the Condor)
• Natalee Johnson (Teacher and Author)
• Lucas Durelle (Poet and Writer)

I also got to say hi to author Anjula Evans.