Writing Fiction to Change the World

Speaker: Robert J. Sawyer

Percy Bysshe Shelley called poets “unacknowledged legislators of the world,” but that can equally apply to writers of fiction — and yet so many are afraid to take a political or moral stance in their work, lest they lose readers. Join bestselling science-fiction writer — and Order of Canada member — Robert J. Sawyer as he discusses how to get your points across without hitting people over the head.

Robert J. Sawyer — called “the dean of Canadian Science Fiction” by both the Ottawa Citizen and the CBC — has won the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards for Best Novel of the Year; a record-setting 17 Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras“); the top science-fiction awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and an Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada.

Rob’s 25 novels include Quantum Night (longlisted for Canada Reads), The Downloaded (starred review in Publishers Weekly), and Flash Forward (basis for the ABC TV series of the same name). His books have appeared on the Globe and Mail and Maclean’s bestsellers lists and have hit #1 on the Calgary Herald, Winnipeg Free Press, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Palm Beach Daily News, and Locus bestsellers lists.

A past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers America, he was one of the initial nine inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Rob has taught creative writing at the Banff Centre, the University of Toronto, the Humber School for Writers, and Ryerson University. He is a member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.

Schedule
9:00 – Doors open
9:30 – Opening remarks and land acknowledgement
9:35 – Split-second scribble and sharing
9:50 – News and kudos
10:00 – Solution stations (NEW!)
10:20 – Coffee/snack break
10:30 – Guest speaker
11:30 – Networking

Date: December 13, 2025
Time: 9:30 am-12:30 pm