Event Type 2: Events

Writing Fiction to Change the World

Time: 9:30 am-12:30 pm
Date: December 13, 2025
In-person location: 201 Centre Street South, Whitby or Online Zoom

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.

Books and Beyond—my Journey to Becoming a Screenwriter and Author

Join us on January 10th, where we will kick off the New Year with our guest speaker, award-winning novelist and screenwriter Susin Nielsen.

Susin will talk about how she became a writer and will dig into some of the differences between writing for television and writing novels. She promises to leave plenty of time for Q&A, so come prepared to pick the mind of an award-winning novelist and screenwriter!

Although Susin will be joining us virtually, we strongly encourage attendees to come in person

SUSIN NIELSEN is a multiple award-winning screenwriter and novelist who recently wrapped show-running the fourth season of her original hour-long comedy-drama series, Family Law. The show airs on Global in Canada, the CW in the US, and in markets around the world.

Susin got her start at a young age, penning 16 episodes of the worldwide hit Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. She’s written over a hundred hours of TV on shows such as Cedar Cove, Heartland, Ready or Not and Braceface. She also co-created and was showrunner on the critically acclaimed comedy-drama, Robson Arms and the YA comedy, Alice, I Think. In 2023 she received the Writers Guild of Canada Showrunner Award in recognition of her unique vision, writing excellence, collaborative nature and outstanding leadership.

Nielsen is also the author of seven young adult novels. Her books have won the Governor General’s Literary Award, the UKLA award and over a dozen young readers’ choice awards. A number of her titles have been nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. In 2019, she was awarded the Writers’ Trust Vicki Metcalf Award for a body of work. Her books have been translated around the world. She recently published her first adult novel, SNAP, in a two-book deal to Harper Collins Canada. It came out in April 2025 and sat for 16 weeks on the Canadian Independent Booksellers Best Seller list.

Time: 9:30 am-12:30 pm
Date: January 10, 2026
In-person location: 201 Centre Street South, Whitby or Online Zoom