When Words Collide 2026 has ended

When Words Collide 2026

A Festival for Writers, Readers, and Fans

KC

Kerri Campbell

10:00am MDT

Welcome! Opening Ceremony & Keynote Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 4+6Delilah S. Dawson • Kevin McDonald • Andrew Buckley • Bianca Marais • Lily Chu • Craig DiLouie • Gemma Files • Danny Ramadan • Amanda Leduc • Mira Landry • Carly Watters • Cecilia "CeCe" Lyra • Terry Brooks

12:00pm MDT

Bring Your Own Lunch and Play D&D (New and Rusty Player Friendly) Hyatt Regency Calgary - Stephen AKim Firmston It's a Bird. It's a Plane -- Crafting Realistic Imaginary Creatures for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Shelly Campbell You're Write About It! Hyatt Regency Calgary - Stephen BKevin Weir • Winston Pei • Megan Baldrey • Erin Weir Survival Skills in Dystopian Fiction Hyatt Regency Calgary - HeraldValerie L. King • Sandy Fitzpatrick • Gary Renshaw • Don Miasek • Susan Forest

1:30pm MDT

Tyche Books Presents: 2026 New Releases Hyatt Regency Calgary - Thompson Social HubMargaret Curelas Fear Factor: How Fear Rewires Your Character’s Behavior, Logic & Responses Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Angela Ackerman Game Theory 101 for writers Hyatt Regency Calgary - Stephen BRon S. Friedman Series Crossovers & Shared Worlds Hyatt Regency Calgary - HeraldLexie Angelo • Rick Overwater • Camilla Tracy • P.D. Workman

3:00pm MDT

EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing Annual Showcase Hyatt Regency Calgary - Thompson Social HubElla Beaumont Let's Talk About Sex: Writing Effective Sex Scenes Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Brenna Bailey-Davies Paths to Publication: Traditional, Hybrid, and Self-Publishing in Today’s Market Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 6Linda Sanche • Craig DiLouie • Leanne Janzen • Carly Watters • Felicia Zuniga

4:30pm MDT

Book Banning and Censorship: Looking at the Bigger Picture Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 8Kit Dobson Things That Make You Go: Go! A Workshop on Keeping Your Momentum Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 4Deniz Soykurumcetin

7:00pm MDT

Goblin Casino & Market Hyatt Regency Calgary - Thompson Social HubKim Firmston

9:00pm MDT

Noir at the Bar Hyatt Regency Calgary - Thompson Social HubNiall Howell

9:00am MDT

BREAKFAST CLUB: The Shit No One Tells You About Writing / Books with Hooks Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 6Bianca Marais • Carly Watters • Cecilia "CeCe" Lyra BYOB (breakfast) and Play D&D (New and Rusty Player Friendly) Hyatt Regency Calgary - Stephen AKim Firmston Selling Your Book Without Platform Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 7Jessica Waite What's Under the Bed - Creating monsters who'll haunt readers long after they've closed the book Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Shelly Campbell Feminine Solutions in Science Fiction and Fantasy Hyatt Regency Calgary - HeraldSusan Forest • Krista Wallace • Sarah Johnson • Bonnie Jacoby • Camilla Tracy Fractured Realities: Time Loops, Parallel Worlds, and What Breaks Between Hyatt Regency Calgary - DollValerie L. King • Michael Gillett • Ron S. Friedman • Randy McCharles Get Outta My Head! Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 4Andrew Buckley Writing While Neurodiverse: ADHD Strategies for Authors Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 8Nicole Bross

10:30am MDT

15 Ways to Make Money in the Writing World Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 7Suzy Vadori The Modern Hero - Virtues of Uncommon People Hyatt Regency Calgary - DollDave Sweet Whose Plot is it Anyway? How to Master the Dominant Arc in Hybrid Fiction Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 8Kim Cheel

12:00pm MDT

Bored of Your Book? How to Fall in Love With Your Story Again Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Nicole Bross Queer Rep in Mainstream Media Hyatt Regency Calgary - HeraldSarah L. Pratt • Danny Ramadan • Tanya MacIntosh • Adriaan Brae

1:30pm MDT

Confessions of a Pants-aholic — How to Plot a Novel When You’d Rather Do Anything Else Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Claire Bonneau

3:00pm MDT

Offstage Characters: What Are They Up To? Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Susan Forest Accelerate It: Writing in Flow Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 8Rosey Hwang

9:00am MDT

BYOB (breakfast) and Play D&D Hyatt Regency Calgary - Stephen AKim Firmston

10:30am MDT

Creativity & Chaos Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 4Andrew Buckley • Finnian Burnett Inside the Villain's Mind: The Psychology Behind The Crime Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 5Pamela Donison • Valerie L. King • P.D. Workman • Dave Sweet The importance of names and language Hyatt Regency Calgary - HeraldLareina Abbott • Jason Pearce • Camilla Tracy • Onyx Shelton

12:00pm MDT

A Very, Very, Very Fine House: The Warp and Weft of Worldbuilding - MASTERCLASS (pre-reg req) Hyatt Regency Calgary - WalkerAmanda Leduc

1:30pm MDT

How to Make Readers Fall in Love (or Hate) Your Characters Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 9Chris Corvan Power Dynamics in Fantastical Worlds Hyatt Regency Calgary - HeraldSusan Forest • Randy McCharles • Alison McBain • Kim Cheel • Blake Ravenhart

3:00pm MDT

Why Do We Keep Destroying the World? Hyatt Regency Calgary - DollAmbre Olivari • Rick Overwater • Nikki Vogel • Chris Carolan

4:30pm MDT

Cross-Genre Careers: Keeping Series & Voice Coherent Across Genres Hyatt Regency Calgary - DollJennifer Sommersby • Alison McBain • Alexis Marie Chute • P.D. Workman Writing the long game: the endurance panel. Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 5Bradley Somer • Ali Bryan • Marcello Di Cintio • Leanne Shirtliffe • Nikki Vogel Live Action Slush: Fantasy/Urban Fantasy Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 6Margaret Curelas • Bonnie Jacoby • Megan Baldrey • Ella Beaumont

6:00pm MDT

Closing Ceremony: Keynotes on Courage, Identity, and our Stories Ahead with Andrew Buckley and Gemma Files; plus War of the Words and 2027 festival lookahead Hyatt Regency Calgary - Imperial Ballroom 4+6Andrew Buckley • Gemma Files