September 11.

Fall is here and I am spending this September day the way I have spent so many others in the past -- coordinating the details for the Surrey International Writers' Conference. This year the conference runs from October 23-25, with Master classes on October 22, 2009.


This will be my last year as the coordinator, and though I plan to stick around on the Board of Directors (since they don't know what else to do with this bad penny...) I am feeling a little nostalgic about each job as it gets completed.

This conference is one of the building blocks in my own career as a writer and [bias aside] I can't recommend it highly enough. If you are at all interested in being a writer, this is the place to start.

And if you already write for a living, SiWC is the place to go to refresh, rejuvinate, get new ideas and professional development.

One of our long-time presenters Elizabeth Lyon recently sent me a letter in which she called our conference the "best in the universe". Fine praise.  We're working hard to deserve it.

Elizabeth is just one of the strong American presence we have had at the conference over the years, and I cannot help but remember our American friends on this day. One of the best essays I've read on the memories of September 11, 2001 was written by author Rebecca Solnit and can be found here on the Mother Jones site: How 9/11 Should Be Remembered.

It's a brief, heartfelt and thoughtful piece.

Back to working on the conference. If you'd like to find out more, check out www.siwc.ca or leave me a comment and I'll answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.

And I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and colleagues in October!

~kc