May 9 - 13, 2011
News of Previous Instructors
Rudy Wiebe (Advanced Fiction)
Rudy Wiebe lives in Alberta, where for many years he taught both English and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta. He has been a presence in Canadian Literature since 1962, when he published Peace Shall Destroy Many. Some of his books since then include My Lovely Enemy, Sweeter Than All the World, The Temptations of Big Bear, A Discovery of Strangers. He recently published Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest, winner of the 2007 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction, and Big Bear, in Penguin's "Extraordinary Canadians" series.
Wiebe was awarded the Governor General’s Award for fiction in 1973 and again in 1994. He was also the winner of the Lorne Pierce Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Canada for his contribution to Canadian literature in 1987. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. His books and stories have been translated into nine European languages, as well as Chinese, Japanese and Hindi.
Wiebe instructed at The School of Writing in 2007 and 2008.
Poet and fiction writer Sarah Klassen has published six poetry collections, the most recent being A Curious Beatitude (2006) and Simone Weil: Songs of Hunger and Love (1999). In addition, her work has appeared in literary magazines across Canada and in various anthologies, including A Capella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry (ed. Ann Hostetler, University of Iowa Press, 2003) and Waging Peace: Poetry and Political Action (ed. Susan McMaster, Penumbra Press, 2002). Her fiction collections include A Feast of Longing, published in 2007.
Klassen’s awards include the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry (2000) and The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award (1988). Her editing experience includes Lithuania Christian College: A work in Progress (2001) and Poets in the Classroom (co-edited with Betsy Struthers, 1995). Klassen has taught high school English in Winnipeg and Brandon, as well as English language and literature in Eastern Europe. She has also taught creative writing workshops to adults and teenagers and mentored emerging writers through the Manitoba Writers’ Guild. Klassen instructed at the The School of Writing in 2007 and 2008.
David Bergen (Advanced Fiction)
Winnipeg writer David Bergen's many celebrated books include Sitting Opposite My Brother (1993), A Year of Lesser (1996), See the Child (1999), The Case of Lena S. (2002), and The Time in Between (2005). He has received the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, the Giller Prize, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. His latest novel is The Retreat (2008), published by McClelland & Stewart.
Bergen instructed at The School of Writing in 2009.
David Elias (Intermediate Fiction)
David Elias lives in Winnipeg and his brand-new novel from Coteau Books is called Waiting for Elvis (2008). His first two books were collections of short fiction, from which his short story, “How I Crossed Over,” was a finalist for the 1996 Journey Prize. His novel Sunday Afternoon, published in 2004, was nominated for several awards, including The Books In Canada First Novel Award, The McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, and The Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Elias instructed at The School of Writing in 2007-2009.
Margaret Sweatman
(Fiction) 
Margaret Sweatman is a playwright, lyricist and novelist. Her plays have been produced by Prairie Theatre Exchange, Popular Theatre Alliance, and the Guelph Spring Festival. She has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, and the National Academy Orchestra, as well as with her own Broken Songs Band.
She is the author of the novels Fox, Sam and Angie, and When Alice Lay Down with Peter, which won several awards including the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year. Her most recent novel, The Players, is published by Goose Lane Editions (Fall 2009). Margaret Sweatman is an Assistant Professor at the University of Winnipeg.
Margaret Sweatman instructed at The School of Writing in 2010.
Barbara Nickel (Poetry)
As a poet, Barbara Nickel is the winner of the Pat Lowther Award (best Canadian poetry collection by a woman) and The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize. Her most recent collection is Domain (2007). Earlier collections are The Gladys Elegies (1997) and From The Top Of A Grain Elevator (1999). Her work has appeared in many magazines, journals, and anthologies, most recently in The Walrus, and the anthology Open Wide a Wilderness: Canadian Nature Poems, and is forthcoming in the Alhambra Poetry Calendar 2010. Born in Saskatchewan, she now lives in British Columbia. Barbara is also an award-winning author of children’s books such as Hannah Waters And The Daughter Of Johann Sebastian Bach (2006) and The Secret Wish of Nannerl Mozart (1996). She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, where she has also taught.
Barbara Nickel instructed at The School of Writing in 2009 and 2010.
Anita Daher
(Writing for Children & Young Adults) 
Anita Daher says “place” infuses her writing, and is grateful to have lived in communities like Summerside, PEI; Moose Jaw, SK; Churchill, MB; Baker Lake, NU; and Yellowknife, NT. Her short stories have appeared in Prairie Fire, and she is author of seven youth novels, including Arthur Ellis and Manitoba Book Award finalist Spider’s Song (2006), and Arthur Ellis, Hackmatack and Diamond Willow finalist Racing for Diamonds (2006). She has led workshops across the country, and has been a popular presenter at conferences and festivals. When not teaching, presenting, or working on her own stories, Anita edits teen novels for Great Plains Publications.
Anita Daher instructed at The School of Writing in 2010.