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Katie Bickell

Katie Bickell

Author, Ghostwriter, Instructor, Manuscript Consultant

Events

Katie here: I’m always up for teaching a workshop, visiting a book club, or speaking as part of a panel or interview. If you’re interested in having me join your next event, please use the form to contact me. Otherwise, maybe I’ll see you at one of the events listed below!

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Packing a Punch: Big Stories in Small Spaces

Hosted by the Writers Guild of Alberta Conference & AGM

Sunday May 30, 2021

Learn how to craft powerful narratives in as few words as possible from an award-winning short story writer. Working from a collective prompt, students will workshop a piece of flash fiction into a succinct-but-rich tale using a variety of tools. Students can expect to leave the course with a polished piece of flash fiction, as well as a list of flash fiction markets open to submissions. This class includes both crafting and editing a new micro-story in real time.

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Packing a Punch: Big Stories in Small Spaces

Presented by the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society

January 14, 2021, 6-9pm

Learn how to craft powerful narratives in as few words as possible from an award-winning short story writer. Working from a collective prompt, students will workshop a piece of flash fiction into a succinct-but-rich tale using a variety of tools. Students can expect to leave the course with a polished piece of flash fiction, as well as a list of flash fiction markets open to submissions. This class includes both crafting and editing a new micro-story in real time.

This is an interactive online class using the Zoom web platform.

MEMBER PRICE: $45 | NON-MEMBER PRICE: $60

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Book Club Visit

November 18, 2020, 8pm, Slave Lake Library (via Zoom)

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Strathcona County’s Fall Feast of Words: Always Brave, Sometimes Kind (A Conversation & Reading)

Tuesday Oct 27, 2020, 7-8:30pm

“Words teach, entertain, provoke thought, provide insight and help to give our lives meaning. Through Fall Feast of Words, the Strathcona County Library celebrates the importance of the written word and brings it to life by hosting a series of authors in conversation.”

Click the image below to register with library services.


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Alberta Culture Days Writer’s Workshop (via Zoom)

September 26, 2020, at Spruce Grove Library, 12-2pm


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WGA Event: Writing and Alcohol

Audreys Books (10702 Jasper Ave)

Wednesday, March 4, 2020, 7pm

Literary culture and alcohol culture have crossed paths so many times over the years that a lot of the time it seems like they parallel to each other. The mystique of the drunken writer, the tortured genius, Irish whiskey branded “Writers’ Tears”, and figures that loom large in our collective psyches like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Carver, and so many others. Being a writer in the 21st century has more pitfalls and temptations, but there is also more information and knowledge available to us as well. How can the literary community be more supportive of our fellow writers who are in recovery? Do we need to adjust how we approach readings and networking events? What other options exist for people who are looking for more alcohol-free events for any reason?

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Emergency Workers Mental Health Symposium

Tuesday, January 22, 2019. 6pm.

McLab Center, Leduc Alberta

This free event open to all emergency workers. Our speakers will share on mental health recovery, post-traumatic growth, and the mental health resources they have developed that are available to first responders and their families. Join us at the McLab Centre in Leduc to hear about some of the resources available to us here in the Edmonton area or get some ideas that you can implement for your own service. A special thank you to the Leduc City Fire Services for sponsoring this event.

Speaker topics:
Post Traumatic Growth – Daniel Sundahl, Paramedic/Firefighter & Artist

A.S.K. All Services Kinship – Mike Skinner, Paramedic/Firefighter

Alberta Critical Incident Provincial Network – Jeff Sych, M.Sc., R.Psych.

Legacy Place Society – Diana Festejo

Re-integration – Sergeant Glen Klose, Edmonton Police Service

Strathcona Firefighter Paramedic Spouses Association – Katie Bickell and Elliott Davis

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A Place for Prose Literary Salon

Saturday, November 7, 2018. 7pm.

I think that the place that moved me most was to travel to the far west of China to see where the Great Wall actually crumbles into sand in the desert. I think that was the place that left the biggest imprint on me. This barrier, this idea of the wall that had lasted so long and this idea of the fear of the barbarian or the outsider, whatever it was going to be, this wall that you can see from outer space, and to see where it simply dwindles into desert and how you just walk around that end. And it’s like straw and mud and brick or clay. It gives you perspective. – Madeleine Thein

History seems to move between times of building walls and times of building bridges. Or maybe it has always been a mix of the two, just one has more emphasis now and again. At A Place for Prose, we believe that art (which we’ll define quickly and broadly as any created form, image, story, music, drama, or dance that moves people to be more human) will outlive anything made of clay and straw or barbed wire and easily crosses any border. Our next house salon features four women whose writing and painting give some much needed perspective on our times:  

  • Edmonton artist, Barbara Hartmann
  • Edmonton YA fiction writer, Caroline van Rooyen
  • Albertan fiction writer, Katie Bickell
  • Edmonton travel memoirist, Leilei Chen

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An Afternoon with the Authors

Sunday, May 28, 2017. 2pm

Audreys Books

Please join us on May 28 for An Afternoon With the Authors. This annual event allows us to partner with our friends at Audreys Books to feature readings by writers whose work is shortlisted for the Alberta Literary Awards. It’s always a full house when writers, readers, family, and friends gather to celebrate these authors and hear them read from their work. Refreshments will be served and books will be available for sale and signing.

Readings by: Thomas Wharton • Omar Mouallem • Rona Altrows • Sydney Sharpe and Don Braid • Laurie MacFayden • Lisa J. Lawrence • Mary Graham • Nora Gould • Austen Lee • Vern Thiessen • Alison Hughes • Katie Bickell

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An Afternoon with the Authors

Sunday, May 3, 2015. 2 pm.

Audreys Books, Edmonton, AB

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta and Audreys Books present a special opportunity to meet finalists for the 2015 Alberta Literary Awards, featuring readings by:

Katie Bickell
Jennifer Delisle
Susan Hagan
Bobbi Junior
Sarah Lang
Victor Lethbridge
Conni Massing
Wendy McGrath
Rudy Wiebe

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Glass Door Coffeehouse Reading Series

The Mill Woods Artists Collective presents
MAY 2014 GLASS DOOR COFFEE HOUSE READING
Thursday, May 29, 7-9pm
Koffee Cafe, 6120 28 Ave NW, Edmonton

Host Robin Young welcomes headliners including authors Caterina Edwards, Fran Kimmel, and Katie Bickell plus singer-songwriter Olivia Rose.

katiebickell

Visit me on instagram!

⚓️ ⚓️
Everywhere I’ve gone today, people have held arm Everywhere I’ve gone today, people have held armfuls of spring bouquets. As I bought my own mama flowers, the lady wrapping them told me that folks were waiting at the door for them at 7AM. We both laughed and agreed that was a beautiful thing - this day’s urgency to properly love ‘the moms.’ By chance, my mom was in town and we were able to grab brunch before her lovely husband snapped this photo of us, she and I looking as though we could be standing with our teenage selves, our mini me’s. How lucky I feel to mother and be mothered today. #happymothersday
Our CailyBaby is 16 years old today. Baby Girl, yo Our CailyBaby is 16 years old today. Baby Girl, you are simply extraordinary and loved beyond measure. Your dad and I couldn’t be more proud and thankful that out of all the wonderful daughters in the world, you are ours. And how did that sweet little baby grow up so fast and become one of my very best friends? I’m so excited to see you grow further into the woman you will be, Sweetheart 💝 The world is yours for the taking.
Exploring the southshore’s ice breaks on a snows Exploring the southshore’s ice breaks on a snowshoe date and gathering setting inspiration for the next draft of Alskling ✨ ❄️ 🧊 I wish my phone could capture the true blues and the clarity of seeing this in person, but it didn’t so the near-true filter will have to do.
It’s December 26, early morning. The house is st It’s December 26, early morning. The house is stirring with the sounds of young people preparing to hunt Boxing Day sales, the indignant cries of a cat - now indoors - who regrets her choice to have spent the prior evening under the holiday sky, and the soft snores of a granddad asleep on the couch. My husband has brought me coffee in bed, and the remains of a feast will last our family into the next week. Savouring it all, this first Christmas season both of our children have enjoyed as teens. We made it. The wonderful, wild, exhausting, exhilarating, magical merriment-making is over, and peace takes its place ✌️

Photo: Christmas Dinner, December 25th 2024, 7pm.
Christmas Eve and Morning, 2024 Merry Christmas E Christmas Eve and Morning, 2024

Merry Christmas Everyone! 🎄 🎅 ✨

(Excuse the stickers on certain photos, I don’t have permission to post them without!)
Enjoying music at home and at the Winspear Centre Enjoying music at home and at the Winspear Centre on December 23rd 🎻 🎄
Banff 2024 Photo Dump. Celebrated our 16th anniver Banff 2024 Photo Dump. Celebrated our 16th anniversary, Freddy’s 43rd birthday, my residency wrap-up, and a little bit of Christmas in a 36 hour turn around. Loved roaming the top of Sulphur Mountain, wept with fear the whole way up and down on the gondola 🚠
Just can’t shake this kid. #momofteens #workin Just can’t shake this kid. 

#momofteens #workinglunch #ItsLikeYoureObsessedWithMe (kidding xo)
What a wonderful time it was to meet as a communit What a wonderful time it was to meet as a community of writers last night! Ready for the next Story Deconstruction session, featuring author @lesliegreentree, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and The Unreliable Narrator technique? Register today, link in bio.
#sherwoodpark @sc_library #metrowir #writerinresidence #strathconacountylibrary #writersofsherwoodpark #shortstory #regionalwir
Had a great time connecting with #stalbert and are Had a great time connecting with #stalbert and area writers at @stalbertlibrary last night! Thanks for the great turn out and the warm welcome 🥰

 #metrowriterinresidence #stalbertlife #saintcitywriters #librariesrock #authorsofinstagram #writingworkshop
Valentines Day 2014, I walked into my first appoin Valentines Day 2014, I walked into my first appointment with @sc_library’s writer in residence, Margaret Macpherson (@writingmargaret), not really certain of what a writer-in-residence was. 

A decade later, a lot of hard work, and a little luck, and I’m helping emerging writers get their footing in the same way she helped me.

For me, it all started with that first visit: the moment my interest turned into a career. How about you? Set up an appointment to meet: regionalwir@gmail.com

What’s the best that could happen?

#valentinesday2024 #valentinesday2014 #beforeandafter #skiptothegoodpart #mentorshipmatters
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