Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador
223 Duckworth Street A1C 6N1 St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, NL, Canada

We always knew that our Board Members were amazing and talented in many different ways... but HOW COOL IS THIS? Tune in on Saturday to learn from WANL Vice President Ainsley Hawthorn about the history of belly dancing and its unique lexicon!

Comin' up on November 25!

And that's a wrap on WANL's 2020 Annual General Meeting! Congrats to our new board members and representatives, and a special congratulations to our Volunteer of the Year Mike Hickey, and our newest Lifetime Member Lillian Bouzane, the founding President of WANL who wrote the original constitution in 1987! Thank you Mike and Lillian for your hard work and contributions, thank you to our board, staff and tech guru Trevor, and of course, thank you to all of our wonderful members for attending the AGM! :)

Join us in getting excited for this intense event, during which 10 authors present a two-minute pitch of their project to a panel of publishers! At last year's Pitch Wars, the event culminated in half of the pitchers securing book deals... Who will be next?

Less than THREE HOURS left to register for WANL's AGM Weekend! Click this link for all of our upcoming workshops, panel discussions, and the Annual General Meeting! All events are FREE to attend!... (Please note: you must be a WANL Member to attend the AGM.)

And that’s a wrap! The Covid-19 edition of WORD Magazine is in the mail and on its way to WANL Members! Big thanks to our amazing WORD Committee and all of our fantastic contributors!!

Congrats to Matthew Hollett on making the CBC Poetry Prize shortlist!

This coming Monday enjoy a casual hang out with WANL staff and WANL Members as we celebrate the holidays with an informal virtual meet-up. Slam a glass of spiked egg nog while putting the finishing touches on your holiday reading video submission (deadline is Monday at midnight, hint hint!), discussing how the pandemic has changed our industry for better or worse, commiserating with your peers about writers' block, or bragging about your newest novel... or just come to soak in the holiday cheer! 7 - 9 p.m. on Monday, December 14. See you there?

Our wildly successful Pitch Wars is happening TONIGHT at 7 p.m.! We're getting amped up for Pitch Wars by connecting with some of last year's super successful Pitchers Emily Hepditch, Amanda Bulman, and Jennifer Coish who will be reading from their pitched projects! Join us in getting excited for this intense event, during which 10 authors present a two-minute pitch of their project to a panel of publishers!... At last year's Pitch Wars, the event culminated in half of the pitchers securing book deals... Who will be next? Tonight's Pitchers are in pitch order: 1. Amanda Snow 2. Bernadine Stapleton 3. Carolyn R Parsons 4. Connie Boland 5. Elizabeth Whitten 6. Justin B. Hodder 7. Olivia Robinson 8. Tara Nanayakkara 9. Wayne Hebb 10. Willem Peters Hosted by CBC Newfoundland and Labrador's Krissy Holmes, the panel includes: - Rebecca Rose from Breakwater Books Ltd. - Jerry Cranford from Flanker Press Ltd. - Gavin Will from Boulder Books - Erin Vance from Engen Books - David Reynolds from Problematic Press - Marnie Parsons from Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

Another deadline approaching the 2020-2021 Provincial Arts and Letters Awards Program! The deadline for this year’s Arts and Letters Awards program is Friday, November 13, 2020. The Arts and Letters Awards Program encourages the creation of new creative works by professional and non-professional artists of all ages by providing the opportunity to submit works for adjudication and by recognizing excellence through the awarding of monetary prizes and the exhibition of sel...ected entries. Original works in literature, music, visual art, and digital multimedia are eligible. The Literary Arts sections include poetry, nonfiction, short fiction, dramatic script, French literary, and first novel. Cash awards: $1,000 Senior Division; $350 Junior Division For more information, guidelines and applications: www.gov.nl.ca//artsherit/culture/arts-and-letters-program/ For inquires: [email protected] / 709.729.7518

Still accepting submissions for WORD Magazine! Submissions should be between 500 and 700 words and those selected will be published in print and digitally later this year. Contributors will be paid or will receive a free one-year WANL membership.... Deadline for submissions is November 6, 2020.

Register for our Panel Dicussion on Sunday, November 22 at 4 p.m. to learn about adapting your work from page to stage to screen! Facilitated by Andi Bulman, this workshop will feature Joel Thomas Hynes, Lois Brown, Des Walsh and Candace Osmond.

Less than a week to submit your reading for WANL's holiday-themed readings video premiere! This is a PAID opportunity selected readers will receive $75 EACH for their work. Deadline is Monday, December 14 at midnight!

Join us via Zoom at 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 21 for Workshop: Social Media + Marketing in the Age of COVID - Going Virtual with Samantha Fitzpatrick! Samantha will cover "all things social media + marketing with a focus on challenges caused by the pandemic and how to adapt in an increasingly digital market." If you have any questions for Samantha that you'd like to have answered during the workshop, drop your q's in the comment section below or send an email to our Member Services Coordinator at [email protected]!

74 artistic were projects granted a whopping $525,680 in grants through the Professional Project Grants Program (PPGP), and there are a LOT of familiar names on the list! Congratulations to the following writers: Carol McDougall, Shirley Montague, Ava Woolf, Robert Chafe, Stan Dragland, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Tom Halford, Michelle Butler Hallett, Matthew LeDrew, Michelle Porter, Alex Saunders and Paul Whittle!

Celebrating #ThrowbackThursday by throwin' it back to mid-November when Kelley Power was still President of WANL! After the AGM on November 22, Kelley handed the reigns over to our new President, Susan Flanagan a longtime WANL Member (a member for so long, in fact, that it seems that she predates when we started keeping track of member sign-up dates!). With over 30 years experience as a freelance journalist, having worked as a reporter, producer and researcher for various m...edia outlets, and with two novels set to be published in 2021, Susan is the perfect model of a local writer who is deeply invested in and connected to the local literary scene. While we are bidding a fond adieu to Kelley, we're very excited to work with Susan! Join us in welcoming our new overlord! :P

Are you interested in attending tomorrow's Panel: From Page to Stage to Screen How to Sell or Adapt a Work? Facilitated by Andi Bulman, this panel features Joel Thomas Hynes, Lois Brown, Des Walsh and Candace Osmond. Registration has officially closed, but we still have a few more openings for this phenomenal workshop!... Email [email protected] directly to be added to the registration list! We will be accepting registrants until 10 p.m. tonight.

It's the moooooost wonderfulllll (see also: inspiring, stressful, educative, intense, overwhelming, motivating, encouraging, exciting, daunting, etc.) tiiiiiime, of the yeaaaarrrrr

Tonight! 7 p.m. NST! Join us for another virtual Write-In informal writing group! https://www.facebook.com/events/375216983793961

WOW! Writing Who You Don’t Know: A Character Workshop with Sharon Bala SOLD OUT at 100 tickets... so we just had to add more! If you missed your chance to register for this surely phenomenal (AND FREE!) workshop never fear! Simply click on the link below to register. Tickets are available until 5 p.m. NST today!... https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/writing-who-you-dont-know-a-cha

Tonight! 7 p.m. NST! Join us for another virtual Write-In informal writing group!

ICYMI: congrats to our top three authors in our A Nightmare on George Street 2020 spooky story writing contest! David Lynch Paul Carberry Colton Simpson... Honourable mentions to Connie Boland and Debra Whalen! A big thanks again to our filmmaker Mike Hickey, and our sponsors Hooligan's Custom Tattoos, Rocket Bakery & Fresh Food, TVAL Skincare, Unicornio Studio, Lester's Farm Market, Fred's Records and Boca Tapas Bar!

Have you registered for WANL's AGM Weekend yet? Tickets (which are FREE!!!) are available until 5 p.m. on Friday, November 20. Be sure to reserve your spot for one of (or ALL of!) the following workshops, panel discussion, and the AGM itself!... Saturday, November 21: Writing Who You Don’t Know: A Character Workshop with Sharon Bala Workshop: Social Media + Marketing in the Age of COVID - Going Virtual Sunday, November 22: Panel: From Page to Stage to Screen How to Sell or Adapt a Work WANL's 2020 Annual General Meeting Please note: the WANL AGM is for WANL Members only. All other events are open to the public. P.S. Don't miss out on the super exciting WANL Pitch Wars 2020, taking place here on Facebook on Saturday night!

Tune into WANL Pitch Wars 2020 on Saturday night and feed on the intensity as authors present two-minute pitches of their projects to a panel of publishers LIVE on Facebook! Last year's Pitch Wars culminated in half of the pitchers securing book deals... Who will be next? The 2020 Pitchers are: ... (listed alphabetically by first name, which also determines pitch order) 1. Amanda Snow 2. Bernadine Stapleton 3. Carolyn R Parsons 4. Connie Boland 5. Elizabeth Whitten 6. Justin B. Hodder 7. Olivia Robinson 8. Tara Nanayakkara 9. Wayne Hebb 10. Willem Peters Hosted by CBC Newfoundland and Labrador's Krissy Holmes, the panel includes: - Rebecca Rose from Breakwater Books Ltd. - Jerry Cranford from Flanker Press Ltd. - Gavin Will from Boulder Books - Erin Vance from Engen Books - David Reynolds from Problematic Press - Marnie Parsons from Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

The winners of the 2020 A Nightmare On George Street are...

TONIGHT! Find out which spooky stories chilled the most viewers after our polls close at 7 p.m. tonight! At 8 p.m., we will announce our top three winners. We'd like to put out a HUGE thank-you to our top sponsor this year, Hooligan's Custom Tattoos, who donated a whopping $100 gift certificate for our first place winner!... Many thanks as well to our longtime supporters Unicornio Studio, Fred's Records, TVAL Skincare, Lester's Farm Market, Boca Tapas Bar and Rocket Bakery & Fresh Food, for their donated prizes for our second and third place winners. Our top five submissions are (listed alphabetically): Connie Boland "Soliloquy" Paul Carberry "The Old Hag" David Lynch "Tell Me, Do You Know The Hag" Colton Simpson "My Little Hobby" Debra Whalen "Night Shift" Be sure to get your votes in! (The poll is pinned to the top of the WANL Facebook page!)

Have you voted for your favourite author in our A Nightmare on George Street 2020 spooky story writing contest? Click the link below to vote!

Click below to vote for your favourite author reading! Tune into Facebook Live at 8 p.m. on October 31 to find out who will win the A Nightmare on George Street 2020 spooky story writing contest!