CCWWP Conference Toronto

It is a thankless job, it has to be said, running Tyler's publicity department.  Last month he left us behind to attend the Hay Writers At Work Scheme, and this month - while we've been stuck struggling through a somewhat rainy June in Wales - Tyler's been gallivanting around in Toronto at the bi-annual conference for the Canadian Creative Writing and Creative Writing Programmes (CCWWP).  We asked if at least one team member could go along, maybe snap a few publicity photos, conduct interviews, and network on Tyler's behalf (he's terrible at networking) but the budget wouldn't stretch that far, alas.  So we've kept tabs from afar.  It was, by all accounts, a pretty impressive event - not just a conference but a 'super-conference' along the lines below:

The Canadian Writers’ Summit will be a four-day extravaganza of professional development sessions, keynote talks, pedagogy and policy discussions, scholarly presentations, public lectures, networking opportunities and social gatherings. #CWS2016 will also include a day of fascinating programming from the annual Book Summit, which focuses on the publishing side of our sector.

Tyler's contribution was a talk and presentation with playwright Catherine Banks, two-time winner of the Governor General's Award for drama.  The topic was 'class and violence', which made for some lively and engaging discussion.  For those unaware of Catherine's work, Bone Cage and It is Solve By Walking are brilliant - both on the page and, no doubt, on the stage.  Tyler talked about his story 'Sealskin', which we felt was a safe bet.  As interesting as the event was, we have to admit that the crowds in the photo above weren't for Tyler's talk: that's a stock image no doubt poached from a touring concert.  But hey - one day, Tyler.  One day.