The Silverleaf Writers Guild began as a series of workshops facilitated in Timmins by Jessica Trudel, our founding member and now our Regional Director. They were called “Writers Workshop Wednesday.” About a dozen writers started to attend these meetings regularly over the course of 2015.
In December 2015, Jessica asked the regular participants of the workshops if they’d like to form a guild. Their answer was a resounding, “Yes!”
The guild was called the Timmins Writers Guild at first, but the members quickly realized that many writers in other communities in Northern Ontario might benefit from a support group like ours. In 2016, we changed our name to the Silverleaf Writers Guild to be more inclusive.
We established a Board of Directors in 2017 to guide the guild’s strategic direction towards providing services and support to all writers throughout Northern Ontario. The members of the board have changed here and there, but Veronique Ginglo-Robert, Kaitlin McCaw, and Jessica Trudel have remained the consistent organizational hub of the guild, bringing various skills and expertise to the group.
One of the first major events organized by the guild, outside of regular guild gatherings, was the Northern Ontario Book Fair. It was held in Timmins for the first time in the summer of 2018. This has become our flagship event.
After the 2nd Annual Northern Ontario Book Fair was held in Sault Ste. Marie in the summer of 2018, a chapter of the guild was established in Sault Ste. Marie the following month.
We are still looking to expand into other areas of Northern Ontario. Click here for more information.