A Tale of Two Writing Conventions by Susan Calder

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In August, I spent a weekend at When Words Collide Festival for Readers and Writers in Calgary, my hometown. This year marked the festival's 15th anniversary, and I've attended each year from the start. I love the energy, the learning, and the fun of catching up with people I only see once a year. 

About 900 writers and readers gathered at the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel for panels, presentations and special events. They chatted and networked in the hallways and merchants' room. I sat on three panels, two of them related to short stories and the third about historical research and its application to stories. I learned a lot from the discussion with fellow panelists and from the other panels and talks I attended.        

A full room for our panel on crime short stories titled "50 Ways to Kill Your Lover."  

Despite the word "festival" in its name, WWC is really a convention like Bouchercon World Mystery Convention which arrives in Calgary nine days from now. I'll be there and look forward to experiencing the similarities and differences between the two festival/conventions.  

WWC is multi-genre, while Bouchercon is devoted to crime writing. B'con is a larger event. It spans five days vs. three days for WWC. Close to 1,500 people are expected to attend Calgary B'Con, which draws an international crowd. It takes place in different cities every year, usually in the United States. WWC is a Calgary event. Most registrants come from the local area, although people increasingly travel here from other Canadian provinces and beyond. B'con is a fan convention at heart. WWC offers more for writers than for readers. 

Popular WWC speaker, retired Calgary Detective Dave Sweet (middle), engages both writers and readers with his stories of police work. He'll be a Special Guest at Calgary Bouchercon.  

The Calgary B'con schedule is packed with offerings that interest me such as panels on historical writing and interviews with the eight author Guests of Honour: Louise Penny, Kathy Reichs, Abir Mukherjee, Mark Greaney, Jennifer Hillier, Vicki Delany, Kevin Sands, and P. J. Vernon. Posthumous Fan GoH Steele Currey was chosen for his long-time support of crime writing. Sadly, Steele died in November 2024. A special exhibit of his mystery, espionage, and thriller book collection donated to the University of Calgary will be displayed at the convention. 

I'll be on two B'con panels, one about the enduring appeal of traditional mystery stories and the other about the benefits for writers of conventions, festivals, book clubs, and critique groups. I've had experience with all of these things, and five of my six novels are traditional whodunit mysteries. It's been interesting to plan these panels with colleagues from Britain, the USA, and other parts of Canada. 

My fellow BWL author, Bonny Beswick, nabbed a twenty-minute spotlight talk on a topic relevant to Canadians: "Writing when it's so cold the ink in our pen freezes." She's generously invited the other attending BWL authors to join her. I'm especially eager to chat with Bonny and BWL writers donalee Moulton, Joan Donaldson-Yarmey, and David A. Poulsen at the convention.

Crime Writers of Canada will also feature me and four other writers in a media spot about Western Canadian writing. We all have short stories in the Sisters in Crime - Canada West anthology Crime Wave 4: Home Sweet Homicide, which will be launched at Bouchercon. 

I have a second short story published in the upcoming Murder Most Alberta Anthology, and I might read from the story at the twenty-minute spotlight for that book.  

Evenings at B'con will be for fun: Cozies and Cocktails Wednesday night. Thursday's Opening Ceremonies will include a White Hat Ceremony, Calgary's traditional welcome to visitors. 

At the WWC 2026 Opening Ceremonies, Special Guests received a received a warm Calgary welcome with gifts of white cowboy hats. 

Other evenings will offer a live auction, the 2026 Bouchercon Anthology signing, a pub trivia night, several awards ceremonies, and Author Bingo with free food at the Underrepresented Authors Reception.

Sunday's Closing Ceremonies will cap the five-day happenings with a Guest of Honour panel moderated by BWL author Dave Poulsen.  

When it's all over, I expect to be exhausted but pumped to dive into my writing.    

Spring Break

 

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During this past winter of staying home, I looked forward to a spring getaway with my husband Will and our son Matt. With travel outside of Canada and our province of Alberta restricted this month, we booked a four-night stay in Canmore, an hour a half drive from our Calgary home and just outside the entrance to Banff National Park. 

Easter Monday, we drove directly to Banff and ate our turkey sandwiches on a bench by the Bow River. Despite the sunshine, a breeze made the 3 degrees Celsius (37.4 F) temperature cool for sitting out. We soon warmed up on our hike up Tunnel Mountain. Sections of mud and ice typical of early spring made us glad we'd brought our cleats. At the top, we rested on Muskoka chairs half buried in snow and enjoyed the panoramic views of Banff. 

Day two of our trip was sunny and warmer. Will and Matt went skiing at Lake Louise, while I spent a summer-like day in Canmore. In the morning, I checked out the local stores and bought a salad and bread for our lasagna dinner. My afternoon walk followed part of the town's extensive trail network. The rest of the day I read on our balcony, looking out at the Three Sisters and HaLing mountain peaks. Will and Matt had a perfect ski day -- sunny, warm, uncrowded, fresh snow from a weekend snowfall. I didn't envy them, since I'd preferred my lazy time.   

                                              Balcony view from our AirBnb apartment

Lake Louise ski hill

The weather turned cooler on our third day and cloud mingled with sun. We stayed close to Canmore and hiked up to Grassi Lakes, an icy trail we couldn't have managed without cleats. At the top, we were surprised and pleased to find the ice on the lakes had melted to reveal their clear, green colour. After lunch, we walked the riverside portion of the trail I'd done the previous day and continued farther. We talked about returning later this spring with our bikes to explore the whole Canmore pathway network.  

                                                                        Grassi Lake

              Former railway bridge on Canmore path - Will didn't hold the camera straight

Rain blew in that evening and we woke up to a snow-draped town. Matt's weather app forecast a relatively nice day at Lake Louise with only 17 percent chance of snow. We drove west. As we approached the village of Lake Louise, we hit steady snow and low cloud that made the mountains almost invisible. Hoping the sky would clear later, we opted for a morning hike through a wooded area. The snow continued, but we drove up to the famous lake anyway. Everything was so white, we could hardly tell where the lake ended and the mountains began. We gave up on a viewpoint hike and walked along the lakeshore. When we returned, blue sky started to appear and we left the lake in sunshine. 

Winter conditions at Lake Louise, summer on our Canmore balcony, in-between temperatures the rest of the time. That's spring in Alberta.

    

                                                             Lake Louise village trail

Will and Matt on our Canmore balcony