I am excited to be participating as a panelist in this year’s BIPOC Writers Connect, a virtual conference for emerging BIPOC writers organized by The Writers’ Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets. This is the third iteration of the conference, taking place this year on October 28, with aims to to facilitate mentorship and create community. The event is free for all attendees, but participants need to apply in advance to join (applications are now closed). I highly recommend that if you are eligible, you apply to participate in the 2022 event.

For this year’s conference, I will take part in the closing panel, called the First Pages Challenge, in my capacity as an acquiring fiction editor at Buckrider Books/Wolsak & Wynn. Moderated by Derek Mascarenhas (Author, Coconut Dreams) and accompanied by Bridgette Kam (Literary Associate, Westwood Creative Artists) and Pia Singhal (Acquiring Fiction Editor, ECW Press), I will be sharing my response to first pages submitted anonymously by participants followed by a Q&A. I look forward to meeting the participants and reading their work!