Fourth year running, When Words Collide is sold out in June. 750 passes have been issued. If you don't have a pass, ask to be placed on our waiting list. Each year we receive around 30 cancellations from people who can no longer attend. Their passes are then made available to people on our waiting list. We expect to begin processing transfers on a week or so.

If you are unsure if you have a pass, check our online Pass-holders list (Note that, if at time of registration you did not indicate to be listed, you will not be listed.)

If you discover you can no longer attend and need to cancel your pass or banquet ticket, please contact us and provide as much information as you can. i.e. Type of pass (Adult, Senior/Student, or Youth), how purchased (PayPal, mail-in, Square), and when (at last year's festival, approximate month, etc.) If possible, forward us your PayPal receipt. This will help us locate your information faster.

If you cannot find a pass for this year's festival, we do have some events that do not require one.

1. Festival Guest readings. This year's festival guests will be reading at the Fish Creek Public Library on Thursday Aug 9th from 7-9 pm. They will also be reading at the Delta Calgary South Hotel on Friday Aug 10th from 1-3 pm in the Bonavista Ballroom (Tower Building).
2. Autograph Session. Our festival guests joined by 50+ attending authors will be signing books on Saturday Aug 11th from 8-10 pm in the Bonavista Ballroom (Tower Building).
3. Saturday Night Rapid Readings by attending authors. August 11th from 7-9 PM in the Fireside Room (Tower Building).
4. Merchants Corner. Books by our festival guests and attending authors and publishers are available all weekend during daytime hours in our Merchant Room located in the Nakiska Ballroom (Atrium Building).
5. Hidden Art Show. Works of art created by attending artists are available for viewing and purchase all weekend during daytime hours in our Hidden Art Show located in the Lake Louise room (Atrium Building, 2nd floor).

When Words Collide is a 100% volunteer-run festival. Our organizers work throughout the year to make the festival possible, but we also need volunteers during the festival to make things run smoothly.

The 2017 WWC festival guest reading and Q and A is now available at our podcast site (http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/) as a collection of six files. For your convenience, each guest is a separate download. Listen to them in order to recreate the event, or mix and match.

Among the podcasts: Agent Sam Hiyate shared excerpts from two authors he represents. Mark Leslie read from Haunted Hospitals. C. C. Humphreys introduced (or reintroduced) his naughty hero Jack Absolute. Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin visits an old west theme park. Guy Gavriel Kay set the stage for Children of Earth and Sky. In the sixth episode, all five guests answer questions from the audience. Enjoy!

Sign up for Pitch Sessions, Blue Pencil Café, Saturday Night Readings, Kaffee Klatsch, & One-on-One Consultations with Sam Hiyate of The Rights Factory.

With great sadness we announce that Deanna Raybourn is no longer able to attend this year's festival. We hope to see her in a future year. All is not lost, however. In her place will be appearing authors Tasha Alexander and Andrew Grant. Tasha Alexander is best known for her Lady Emily series of historical mysteries. Andrew Grant writes thrillers.

Jennifer Estep (Twitter-@Jennifer_Estep) is a self-described "rockstar" in Germany. Download our latest podcast and spend an hour (more or less) with the 2017 festival guest as she discussing pantsing vs. plotting, Hallmark movies, the business of writing, the death of urban fantasy and so much more.
Listen to the podcast

It's true! Even if you don't have a WWC pass, come in and browse our Merchants Corner.

The June planning meeting will be held at the
Brentwood Co-op
4122 Brentwood Road NW
on the 10th at 10 AM until noon.

This is just south of 40th Ave on the east side of Crowchild Trail just north of the University of Calgary. To find the meeting room: after entering the store, turn right toward the deli. Just before the deli there is a glass door to the right (just in front of the olive bar) that accesses stairs that go down to the meeting room.

Do you or don't you? How fast over the course of a series? For example, Kinsey Milhone has only aged six years since she was introduced in the the '80s while Janice MacDonald's Randy Craig has aged pretty much year-for-year since the first book was published in the mid-90s. Does aging the sleuth make him/her more believable? And what is the optimum age of your protagonist? At one time, every single femal sleuth, PI or amateur seemed to be a thirty-something. Has this changed? Jennifer Estep, Hayden Trenholm, Susan Calder and S.G. Wong discuss.

The May planning meeting will be held at the
Brentwood Co-op
4122 Brentwood Road NW
on the 6th (NOT THE 13TH!) at 10 AM until noon.

This is just south of 40th Ave on the east side of Crowchild Trail just north of the University of Calgary. To find the meeting room: after entering the store, turn right toward the deli. Just before the deli there is a glass door to the right (just in front of the olive bar) that accesses stairs that go down to the meeting room.

What goes into crafting a new world for fiction? How much research is enough? David B. Coe, Kristene Perron, Roxanne Barbour and Timothy Gwyn discuss the challenges and rewards of playing God.

http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2017-13-world-building

The April planning meeting will be held at the
Brentwood Co-op
4122 Brentwood Road NW
on the 8th at 10 AM until noon.

This is just south of 40th Ave on the east side of Crowchild Trail just north of the University of Calgary. To find the meeting room: after entering the store, turn right toward the deli. Just before the deli there is a glass door to the right (just in front of the olive bar) that accesses stairs that go down to the meeting room.

The March planning meeting will be held at the
Brentwood Co-op
4122 Brentwood Road NW
on the 11th at 10 AM until noon.

This is just south of 40th Ave on the east side of Crowchild Trail just north of the University of Calgary. To find the meeting room: after entering the store, turn right toward the deli. Just before the deli there is a glass door to the right (just in front of the olive bar) that accesses stairs that go down to the meeting room.

The World Fantasy Convention comes to Canada for the first time ever, just as a then-new novelist is about to debut his first book. What an opportunity! Or is it? Learn more in the podcast of Guy Gavriel Kay's The Reading That Never Was from When Words Collide 2017.

Has paranormal romance had its day? Jennifer Estep, Axel Howerton, Ellie Lynn and Jessica L. Jackson discuss the genre, the label and writing to the market.
Podcast

The February planning meeting will be held at the
Brentwood Co-op
4122 Brentwood Road NW
on the 11th at 10 AM until noon.

This is just south of 40th Ave on the east side of Crowchild Trail just north of the University of Calgary. To find the meeting room: after entering the store, turn right toward the deli. Just before the deli there is a glass door to the right (just in front of the olive bar) that accesses stairs that go down to the meeting room.

The January planning meeting will be held at the
Brentwood Co-op
4122 Brentwood Road NW

This is just south of 40th Ave on the east side of Crowchild Trail just north of the University of Calgary. To find the meeting room: after entering the store, turn right toward the deli. Just before the deli there is a glass door to the right (just in front of the olive bar) that accesses stairs that go down to the meeting room.

How authors push the boundaries in the publishing industry with Mark Leslie Susan Calder Elaine Moran & Sheri-D Wilson.

Canada's national dance? Translating for Japanese visitors to Green Gables? Travel writer and novelist Will Ferguson dispenses advice based on his own career.

This is the latest podcast from WWC2017. Authors anonymously submit first pages of works in progress which are read aloud for a panel of editors. The editors then comment on the work. Does it sound like a bloodsport? There's one author they want to talk to afterward! Hear it here: http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/live-action-slush-early-bird-edition

Privacy, networking and the author/reader relationship. 2017 Guest of Honour speech from Guy Gavriel Kay. Part 2/2 Trick or Treat podcast pack. http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2017-005-goh-speech-guy-gavriel-kay

Where does the magic come from? 2017 Guest of Honour speech from writer, bookseller and Director of Self Publishing & Author Relations for Kobo, Mark Leslie. Part 1/2 Trick or Treat podcast pack. http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2017-004-goh-speech-mark-leslie

The Rights Factory Inc. president Sam Hiyate recounts how he launched his career as a literary agent in his 2017 Guest of Honour speech. http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2017-003-goh-speech-sam-hiyate

We are currently looking for excited people to help us plan and deliver When Words Collide 2018. If you would like to help, please let us know or attend our next meeting December 10 in the Community Room of the MacLeod Trail Co-op (8818 MacLeod Trail South) from 10 AM - 12 PM.

The 2017 Guest of Honour speech by C.C. Humphreys in which he channels The Bard: http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2017-002-goh-cc-humphreys?tdest_id=115581

You call a winter hat a what, again...?
http://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2017-goh-speech-jennifer-estep