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 encourage attendees to still 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. 

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
10:20 – Coffee/snack break
10:30 – Guest speaker
11:30 – Networking

Date: January 10, 2026
Time: 9:30 am-12:30 pm