Highlights
from our last
2022/2023 Season
Shyam Selvadurai
September 2022- Guest Speaker
Acclaimed author and novelist Shyam Selvadurai shared tips and techniques writers can use to create vivid detail and bring characters and settings to life.
"Ottawa Rising" Book Launch
October 2022- Event
OIW's first anthology print since the pandemic, was a 260-page book with contributions from 47 members. Well done everyone!
Kate Heartfield
November 2022- Guest Speaker
Historical fantasy author, Kate Heartfield, shared key techniques of incorporating speculative elements into fictional worlds.
FriesenPress
October 2022- Workshop
FriesenPress hosted a free information session for OIW members demystifying traditional and self-publishing landscape for writers.
Andrew Westoll
October 2022- Guest Speaker
Award-winning writer Andrew Westoll introduced a framework for transforming true happenings of in creative non-fiction, into true prose.
Tim Wynne-Jones
November 2022 - Workshop
OIW members spent an afternoon with Tim as he looked at ways in which setting can become more than simply back drop – can become the “music” of a scene.
Holiday Party
December 2022 - Event
Cocktails, games, and a Poetry Contest!
1st place - Angelo Fulco
2nd place - Peggy Lehman
3rd place - Brian McCullough
Annual General Meeting
February 2023 - Online Event
OIW board presented the challenges overcome with technology, the Covid pandemic, and achievements, Nine OIW writer's shared their latest and proudest work during the Reading.
Bob Barclay
April 2023 - Workshop
Bob Barclay gave a workshop that demystified document formatting elements such as: margins and fonts, headers and footers, paragraphs and indents, to assist writers with publisher's requests.
Charlotte Gray
January 2023- Guest Speaker
Renowned biographer and social historian, Charlotte Gray, discussed why it is so challenging to publish non-fiction in Canada, and what opportunities remain for a writer with a good ideas.
Phil Gurski
March 2023- Guest Speaker
Phil shared shared tips about writing non-fiction versus fiction and the sacrosanct relationship with sources, to ensure OIW crime and thriller writers get the inside scoop!
Cody Caetano
April 2023- Guest Speaker
Best-selling author and member of the Pinaymootang First Nations, Cody spoke to OIW about world-building in memoir-writing, and his unique perspective on being bith a writer and a literary agent.
Scott Bury
May 2023 - Guest Speaker
Author, blogger, and marketer, Scott shared his online methods for expanding readership and promoting book sales using self-marketing techniques of 7 Planks of Author Marketing, that included numerous tips on building a loyal audience of readers and the pitfalls of doing so.​
Reading Night
June 2023 - Event
Our last meeting of the 2022/2023 season was an in-person Reading Night at the Marconi Center. It was a chance to network, swap stories, and listen to short excerpts of current members' projects.
​
Brian McCullough
June 2023-Workshop
Brian guided participants in the art of writing effective sponsored content for commercial clients.
