Guests of Honour
Special Guests

Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of the
bestselling book, The
Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression and its many sequels. Available in ten languages, her guides are
sourced by US universities, recommended by agents and editors, and
are used by novelists, screenwriters, and psychologists around the
world. To date, this book collection has sold nearly a million
copies.
Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers®, as well as One Stop for Writers®, a portal to game-changing tools and resources that enable writers to craft powerful fiction.
Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers®, as well as One Stop for Writers®, a portal to game-changing tools and resources that enable writers to craft powerful fiction.
Nicole Baart is the author of eleven novels, including Everything We Didn’t Say (an October 2021 Book of the Month selection and Amazon Editor's pick) and The Long Way Back. Best known for her “race-to-the-finish family dramas” (People), Baart is also the cofounder of a nonprofit and mother of five. She lives in Iowa with her family.
Website: https://nicolebaart.com/
Tanya Huff lives in rural Ontario with her wife Fiona Patton, five cats, and an increasing number of fish. Her 32 novels and 83 short stories include horror, heroic fantasy, urban fantasy, comedy, and space opera. Her Blood series was turned into the 22 episode BLOOD TIES and writing episode nine allowed her to finally use her degree in Radio & Television Arts. Many of her short stories are available as eCollections. Her latest book is INTO THE BROKEN LANDS, a stand alone, created world fantasy.
She’s on twitter at @TanyaHuff and Facebook as Tanya Huff. She has never used her Instagram account and isn't sure why she has it.
Stacey Kondla is a literary agent with The Rights Factory. She has a variety of clients with works that include adult literary fiction, science fiction & fantasy, rom-com, historical, nonfiction science, children's picture books, middle grade, and young adult titles. Her background includes working as a Field Representative for Scholastic Book Fairs, managing at two different big box book stores, freelance editing, and serving on the organizing committee of When Words Collide (A Festival for Readers and Writers).

Special Guests
Cathy Ace was born and raised in Swansea, Wales, and migrated to
Canada aged 40. Having traveled the world (for business and pleasure)
for decades, Cathy put her knowledge of the cultures, history, art,
and food she encountered to good use in the Cait Morgan
Mysteries—traditional whodunits featuring a globetrotting Welsh
Canadian professor of criminal psychology. These books have been
optioned by Free@LastTV (Agatha Raisin). Ace also writes the #1 Amazon
bestselling WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, featuring four female PIs
(one is Welsh, one Irish, one Scottish, one English). They tackle
quirky, cosy cases from a Welsh stately home in the rolling
countryside of the Wye Valley. Her tale of psychological suspense, The
Wrong Boy, also became an Amazon #1 bestseller, and is slated to
become a bilingual TV mini-series. Cathy lives on five rural acres in
British Columbia, where she works full-time as an author, and also
enjoys her other great passion – gardening. She’s been shortlisted for
the prestigious Canadian Bony Blithe Award three times, winning once,
has won IPPY and IBA Awards, and her work has been shortlisted for
Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, as well as Crime Fiction
Lover’s Best Indie Novel.
Website: https://www.cathyace.com/
Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers
and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than
forty-five books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police
procedurals, to historical fiction, and novellas for adult literacy.
She is currently writing the Tea by the Sea mysteries, the Sherlock
Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, and the
Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates).
Vicki is a past chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Website: http://vickidelany.com/
Vicki is a past chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Website: http://vickidelany.com/
Steena Holmes is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with over 2 million copies of her titles sold world wide, including The Forgotten Ones, Saving Abby and The Memory Child. Named in the Top 20 Women Author to read in 2015 by Good Housekeeping, she won the National Indie Excellence Award in 2012 for Finding Emma as well as the USA Book News Award for The Word Game in 2015. Steena has been featured in various newspapers and magazines, websites such as Goodreads, BookBub, RedBook, Glamour, Coastal Living and Goodhousekeeping. To find out more about her books and her love for traveling, you can visit her Website: http://www.steenaholmes.com/
Fonda Lee is the author of the epic modern fantasy Green Bone Saga,
consisting of Jade City, Jade War, and Jade
Legacy. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus
Award, a four-time winner of the Aurora Award, and a finalist for the
Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. The Green Bone Saga has been
translated into multiple languages and named to TIME Magazine’s Top
100 Fantasy Books of All Time. Lee is also the author of the acclaimed
young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo, and
Cross Fire. Fonda is an instructor at writing workshops
including Clarion West, Viable Paradise, and Aspen Words. A former
corporate strategist and black belt martial artist, she hails from
Calgary, Alberta and currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Her next
book, Untethered Sky, a fantasy novella, releases in April 2023.
Website: http://www.fondalee.com/
Nicole Luiken wrote her first book at age thirteen—on a manual
typewriter—and never stopped. She had two novels published while
still in high school and over a dozen more since. Nicole writes mostly
for teens, including the popular Violet Eyes series, but sometimes
dips her toe into adult markets as well. Her books always have an
element of SF/Fantasy/paranormal. Her young adult novels have won two
Golden Eagle Children’s Book Awards and a Gold-Medal Moonbeam as well
as being a finalist for several other Canadian awards including the
Monica Hughes Science Fiction and Fantasy Award. Her most recent teen
werewolf novel, Feral, received a positive review from Kirkus, calling
it a "howling good time" and was a finalist for the Snow Willow Award.
Nicole lives in Edmonton with her family. It is physically impossible for her to go for more than three days in a row without writing. Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057574333075
Nicole lives in Edmonton with her family. It is physically impossible for her to go for more than three days in a row without writing. Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057574333075
Morgan Rhodes is the New York Times bestselling author of the Falling Kingdoms series. She loves to write about the epic adventures of quirky, interesting characters who inhabit her imagination. Under the name Michelle Rowen, she’s an award-winning author of many paranormal novels. A former graphic designer drawn to sparkly objects and fancy handbags, Morgan lives in Ontario, Canada, where she maintains a very healthy belief in all things magical.
Website: https://www.morganrhodes.net/
Edward Willett is the award-winning author of more than sixty books of
science fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction for readers of all ages,
including the Worldshapers series and the Masks of Agyrima trilogy (as
E.C. Blake) for DAW Books, the YA fantasy series The Shards of
Excalibur, and the YA SF novel Star Song, among many others. He
won Canada’s Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English in 2009
for Marseguro (DAW) and for Best Fan Related Work in 2019 for
The Worldshapers podcast, where he interviews other science
fiction and fantasy authors about the creative process. He has been
shortlisted several times. His twelfth novel for DAW Books, the
humorous space opera The Tangled Stars, comes out this
fall.
Ed is also the owner of Shadowpaw Press, named after his black Siberian cat, which has published two anthologies of short fiction by guests of The Worldshapers podcast, Shapers of Worlds and Shapers of Worlds Volume II. Volume III is planned for this fall. In addition to publishing these anthologies and republishing Ed’s own titles that have been orphaned by other publishers, Shadowpaw Press is now publishing original novels by other authors, and Ed hopes to do more of that in the future.
Ed’s non-fiction titles run the gamut from children’s science books and biographies to local histories to Genetics Demystified, published by McGraw-Hill. A former newspaper reporter and editor, Ed is also a professional actor and singer who has performed in numerous plays, operas, and musicals over the years.
Ed lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, with his wife, Margaret Anne Hodges, P.Eng., a past president of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. They have a college-aged daughter, Alice. Find Ed on Twitter @ewillett, on Facebook @edward.willett, on Instagram @edwardwillettauthor, and on YouTube at youtube.com/edwardwillett. Website: https://edwardwillett.com/
Ed is also the owner of Shadowpaw Press, named after his black Siberian cat, which has published two anthologies of short fiction by guests of The Worldshapers podcast, Shapers of Worlds and Shapers of Worlds Volume II. Volume III is planned for this fall. In addition to publishing these anthologies and republishing Ed’s own titles that have been orphaned by other publishers, Shadowpaw Press is now publishing original novels by other authors, and Ed hopes to do more of that in the future.
Ed’s non-fiction titles run the gamut from children’s science books and biographies to local histories to Genetics Demystified, published by McGraw-Hill. A former newspaper reporter and editor, Ed is also a professional actor and singer who has performed in numerous plays, operas, and musicals over the years.
Ed lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, with his wife, Margaret Anne Hodges, P.Eng., a past president of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. They have a college-aged daughter, Alice. Find Ed on Twitter @ewillett, on Facebook @edward.willett, on Instagram @edwardwillettauthor, and on YouTube at youtube.com/edwardwillett. Website: https://edwardwillett.com/