Regular weekly social and co-working meetups of the Banff Writers Group take place on Sundays, from 2-4pm, at the Happy Camper Café & Bar (545 Banff Ave). Our format is: half an hour of social time, followed by an hour of quiet co-working, then another half an hour at the end for wrap up. All experience levels and projects welcome, whether you're working on a book, blog, paper, personal journal, script, or anything else, so long as it is “written.”

We’re not a critique or reading group, so there’s no need to bring anything to share with other members.

“Having trouble finishing your manuscript? Starting a term paper? Writing a long overdue love letter? Then this is the group for you! Canmore Writing Group is exactly what it sounds like: an opportunity for writers to start, continue, or finish written works.”

Meetings are informal and are held on Tuesdays from 6-8pm, at the large round table on the second floor above the lobby, at the Malcolm Hotel in Canmore.

Hosted by the Canmore Writing Group

“Join us for an evening with Dr. Karen Lee as she presents her memoir Fit Cities: My Quest to Improve the World's Health and Wellness--Including Yours.

When: Thursday, October 2  |  6:30pm
Where: Friends Program Room

Fit Cities chronicles Dr. Lee’s work over the last 20+ years in which she and her many collaborators uncovered and set about eradicating the causes of a pandemic of unhealthy living. The book offers invaluable advice on how we can all help ourselves to live healthier lives.

Dr. Karen Lee is an Associate Professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta (U of A). Prior to returning to her native home in the Edmonton area in 2018, Dr. Lee spent 15 years in the United States, first as a "disease detective" at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), then as Deputy to the Assistant Commissioner of Health for Chronic Disease Prevention and Director of the Built Environment Program in New York City. Dr. Lee and her team helped the City of New York become a “Fit City” and saw childhood obesity decrease and life expectancy increase at higher rates than other places in the country.

Dr. Lee has worked with over 40 cities around the world and with over 150 partners in Canada to create the U of A’s Healthy Community Guidelines. For more information about Dr. Lee and her work, please visit: www.drkarenlee.com.

Café Books will be joining us for Dr. Lee’s visit and will have copies of Fit Cities available for purchase.

This event is offered with funding support from the Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers' Union of Canada.”

Hosted by the Canmore Public Library.

Regular weekly social and co-working meetups of the Banff Writers Group take place on Sundays, from 2-4pm, at the Happy Camper Café & Bar (545 Banff Ave). Our format is: half an hour of social time, followed by an hour of quiet co-working, then another half an hour at the end for wrap up. All experience levels and projects welcome, whether you're working on a book, blog, paper, personal journal, script, or anything else, so long as it is “written.”

We’re not a critique or reading group, so there’s no need to bring anything to share with other members.

“Having trouble finishing your manuscript? Starting a term paper? Writing a long overdue love letter? Then this is the group for you! Canmore Writing Group is exactly what it sounds like: an opportunity for writers to start, continue, or finish written works.”

Meetings are informal and are held on Tuesdays from 6-8pm, at the large round table on the second floor above the lobby, at the Malcolm Hotel in Canmore.

Hosted by the Canmore Writing Group

“Join us for an evening with Jacqueline Louie as she presents her latest work Honouring the Gold Mountain Dreamers.

When: Thursday, October 9  |  6:30pm
Where: Friends Program Room

Honouring the Gold Mountain Dreamers examines the last 100+ years since the passing of Canada's 1923 Chinese Immigration Act, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, which effectively banned immigration from China to Canada from 1923 to 1947. The book illustrates some of the challenges and contributions of early Chinese immigrants in Alberta, including the Bow Valley, and throughout Canada.

Jacqueline’s book was sponsored by the Chinook Country Historical Society and has received endorsements from Don Smith, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Calgary; Harry Sanders, Historical Consultant and Editor of Alberta History, the quarterly journal of the Historical Society of Alberta; and Naomi Louie, Curatorial Assistant at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver.

Jacqueline Louie is a Calgary-based freelance writer. Her ancestors immigrated from southern China in the late 1800s. She is a member of the Alpine Club of Canada’s Calgary and Rocky Mountain regional sections. For more information about Jacqueline and her work, please visit: https://jacquelinelouie.ca/.

Café Books will be joining us for Jacqueline’s visit and will have copies of Honouring the Gold Mountain Dreamersavailable for purchase.”

Hosted by the Canmore Public Library.

“Illustrated beginnings — meet the resident artists shaping bold new graphic narratives.

Kick off the Comics & Graphic Novels Residency with an evening of introductions, inspirations, and illustrated beginnings. Chapter 1 invites you into the world of this year’s resident artists as they share early glimpses of their works-in-progress and the ideas driving their projects. Through short artist talks, readings, and visual excerpts, you'll meet a cohort exploring the boundaries of the graphic narrative form.

Hosted by Tom Hart – cartoonist and founder/executive director of The Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW). Hart is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Rosalie Lightning, translated into five languages and nominated for two Eisner Awards. His work spans graphic novels, memoirs, instructional books, and syndicated comic strips, with features in Greatest American Comics and newspapers in New York and Boston. He will guide the evening, read from his own work, and share the stage with the residency’s artists.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. Stay after and mingle with artists and faculty until 9:30 p.m.”

Hosted by the Banff Centre at CLVB ’33.

Regular weekly social and co-working meetups of the Banff Writers Group take place on Sundays, from 2-4pm, at the Happy Camper Café & Bar (545 Banff Ave). Our format is: half an hour of social time, followed by an hour of quiet co-working, then another half an hour at the end for wrap up. All experience levels and projects welcome, whether you're working on a book, blog, paper, personal journal, script, or anything else, so long as it is “written.”

We’re not a critique or reading group, so there’s no need to bring anything to share with other members.

“Having trouble finishing your manuscript? Starting a term paper? Writing a long overdue love letter? Then this is the group for you! Canmore Writing Group is exactly what it sounds like: an opportunity for writers to start, continue, or finish written works.”

Meetings are informal and are held on Tuesdays from 6-8pm, at the large round table on the second floor above the lobby, at the Malcolm Hotel in Canmore.

Hosted by the Canmore Writing Group

“Breaking boundaries — mid-residency revelations in visual storytelling.

Join us for a mid-residency gathering that delves deeper into the creative evolution of our Comics & Graphic Novels artists. Chapter 2 showcases new developments and discoveries as residents test, tinker, and take bold narrative risks in the graphic narrative form. With informal readings, in-progress page reveals, and behind-the-scenes commentary, this evening offers a rare glimpse into the breakthroughs unfolding in the studio.

Hosted by Bishakh Som – Indian-American trans femme visual artist and author whose graphic novel Apsara Engine won the 2020 L.A. Times Book Prize for Best Graphic Novel and the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ Comics. Her graphic memoir Spellbound was also a Lambda finalist. Som’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, Autostraddle, The Boston Review, and more. She will guide the evening, read from her own work, and share the stage with the residency’s artists.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. Stay after and mingle with artists and faculty until 9:30 p.m.”

Hosted by the Banff Centre at CLVB ’33.

“Final frames — bold voices shaping the future of graphic literature.

Join us for an evening celebrating the power of visual storytelling as part of our Literary Cabaret series, featuring the Comics & Graphic Novels Residency at Banff Centre. This final showcase brings together original works from resident artists, spanning the deeply personal to the wildly imaginative through comics, zines, and graphic narratives. Short artist talks and readings from works-in-progress will offer a glimpse into creative process, character development, and illustrated storytelling in all its forms.

Hosted by Matt Madden – cartoonist and translator known for playful and inventive works like Ex Libris and 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style. A member of Oubapo (Workshop for Potential Comics), Madden was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2013. His work includes translations, textbooks, and award-winning editorial projects, and has been published internationally. He will guide the evening, read from his own work, and share the stage with the residency’s artists.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. Stay after and mingle with artists and faculty until 9:30 p.m.”

Hosted by the Banff Centre at CLVB ’33.

Regular weekly social and co-working meetups of the Banff Writers Group take place on Sundays, from 2-4pm, at the Happy Camper Café & Bar (545 Banff Ave). Our format is: half an hour of social time, followed by an hour of quiet co-working, then another half an hour at the end for wrap up. All experience levels and projects welcome, whether you're working on a book, blog, paper, personal journal, script, or anything else, so long as it is “written.”

We’re not a critique or reading group, so there’s no need to bring anything to share with other members.

“Having trouble finishing your manuscript? Starting a term paper? Writing a long overdue love letter? Then this is the group for you! Canmore Writing Group is exactly what it sounds like: an opportunity for writers to start, continue, or finish written works.”

Meetings are informal and are held on Tuesdays from 6-8pm, at the large round table on the second floor above the lobby, at the Malcolm Hotel in Canmore.

Hosted by the Canmore Writing Group

“Join us for an evening with Bruce Hunter and Lorne Daniel as they present their works, In the Bear’s House and What is Broken Binds Us.

When: Tuesday, October 21  |  6:30pm
Where: Friends Program Room

In the Bear’s House by Bruce Hunter is a novel that tells the story of a creative young mother raising her deaf son against the insurmountable odds of poverty, mental illness, and hardship in Calgary and Alberta’s backcountry in the 1960s.

What is Broken Binds Us by Lorne Daniel is a collection of poems about the disruptions and emotional tremors that shape us: families broken and dispersed, the ancestry of slavery and conquest, addiction and estrangement, and the shocks of bodily trauma. The book shares stories of loss, absence, acceptance, and hope.

Bruce Hunter was born in Calgary on Treaty Seven lands. He was deafened as an infant and afflicted with low vision much of his adult life. After high school, Bruce worked as a labourer, equipment operator, Zamboni driver, and completed his technical education as a gardener and arborist. In his late twenties, his poetry earned him a scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts where he studied with novelist W.O. Mitchell and poet Irving Layton. Bruce went on to York University to study humanities and taught in the creative writing department before landing a position at Seneca College. He is an active writer, editor, speaker, and mentor. For more information about Bruce and his work, please visit: https://www.brucehunter.ca/.

Lorne Daniel is a Canadian of Scottish and American ancestry. His poetry and non-fiction have been widely published in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Lorne has been deeply engaged in the literary community since helping lead the emergence of a Canadian prairie poetry scene in the 1970s. He has written four books of poetry, edited anthologies and literary journals, and published freelance journalism. A veteran writer and editor, in recent years Lorne has chosen to “begin again as a novice,” through writing programs at a number of universities in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about Lorne and his work, please visit: https://www.lornedaniel.ca/. 

Café Books will be joining us for Bruce and Lorne's visit and will have copies of In the Bear's House and What Is Broken Binds Us available for purchase.

This event is offered with funding support from the Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers' Union of Canada.”

Hosted by the Canmore Public Library.

“Poetry, stories, songs or however you like to put words together, all are welcome at these community Poetry Nights.

Hosted by Canmore Poet Laureate Tim Murphy, these Open Mic events are fun for the verbally venerable.

Sign up starting at 7pm if you want to read or perform, or just show up at 7:30pm to be part of the audience. Either way, it will be a grand evening of alliteration, allegory and laughs!”

Entrance is by donation.

Regular weekly social and co-working meetups of the Banff Writers Group take place on Sundays, from 2-4pm, at the Happy Camper Café & Bar (545 Banff Ave). Our format is: half an hour of social time, followed by an hour of quiet co-working, then another half an hour at the end for wrap up. All experience levels and projects welcome, whether you're working on a book, blog, paper, personal journal, script, or anything else, so long as it is “written.”

We’re not a critique or reading group, so there’s no need to bring anything to share with other members.

“Having trouble finishing your manuscript? Starting a term paper? Writing a long overdue love letter? Then this is the group for you! Canmore Writing Group is exactly what it sounds like: an opportunity for writers to start, continue, or finish written works.”

Meetings are informal and are held on Tuesdays from 6-8pm, at the large round table on the second floor above the lobby, at the Malcolm Hotel in Canmore.

Hosted by the Canmore Writing Group

“Join us for an evening with Kevin Van Tighem as he presents his latest work Understory: An Ecologist’s Memoir of Loss and Hope.

When: Thursday, October 30  |  6:30pm
Where: Friends Program Room

Understory is a deeply personal and evocative journey into the complexities of nature, grief, and the search for meaning in the autumn of life. Drawing on a lifetime spent in the wilds of western Canada’s national parks and years of conservation work, Van Tighem reflects on a career spent protecting the natural world and the emotional toll of witnessing its decline. Freed from bureaucratic constraints after retirement, he turned to writing, activism, and politics, driven by a sense of duty to the landscapes and species he loves. But alongside his commitment to action came profound grief and the pressing question: how do we find hope amid environmental loss?

Written with the lyricism of a naturalist and the candour of a seasoned storyteller, Understory invites readers to confront their own relationships with nature and consider how they, too, can find purpose and hope in uncertain times.

Kevin Van Tighem is a former superintendent of Banff National Park. He has written more than 200 articles, stories, and essays on conservation and wildlife which have garnered him many awards, including Western Magazine Awards, Outdoor Writers of Canada book and magazine awards, and the Journey Award for Fiction. He is the author of Bears Without Fear; The Homeward Wolf; Heart Waters: Sources of the Bow River; Our Place: Changing the Nature of Alberta; and Wild Roses Are Worth It: Alberta Reconsidered. He lives with his wife, Gail, in High River, Alberta. For more information about Kevin, please visit: https://kevinvantighem.ca/.

Café Books will be joining us for Kevin’s visit and will have copies of Understory available for purchase.”

Hosted by the Canmore Public Library.

“Fireside Chats with Local Authors

The next event is coming up on November 18, 2025.

Bring a friend and take part in an ongoing conversation about writing, storytelling, and the craft of spinning tales to share with readers. How do writers manage to wrangle their big ideas onto the page and then, write enough pages to fill a book? Turns out, no two authors tackle the challenge in quite the same way.

Snacks provided. Books will be available for purchase.

Each event will include a book exchange table. Bring a book you love (gently used or new) for the exchange table and leave with another to read.”

Participating authors not yet posted (as of August 25th).

Hosted by the Canmore Public Library.

“In collaboration with the Romantasy Book Club, Cafe Books is hosting a Brimstone release party for the second installment of Callie Hart's Fae & Alchemy world. 

Where: Cafe Books, Canmore

When: 18th November 7-8.30pm

Free event! Please RSVP below so we can make sure we have enough themed mocktails and snacks to go around!

Be sure to preorder your copy of Brimstone that you can collect at the event.”

Hosted by Cafe Books

“Jordan H. Bartlett, author of 'The Frean Chronicles', joins us at Cafe Books on 6th December 12-4pm for an exciting book signing of her Trilogy.

Jordan H. Bartlett is an award-winning, New Zealand-born Canadian author with a love for children’s literature and female empowerment. She grew up reading books about boys for boys and found it hard to find a strong female heroine she could relate to. Bartlett wrote the Frean Chronicles to give young readers that character she so longed for in a world where gender norms are reversed. Bartlett currently resides in Banff, Alberta where she works as a speech language pathologist and is a certified yoga instructor.”

Hosted by Cafe Books

“Local Calgary author, Dale Leckie, joins us at Cafe Books oon 13th December for an exciting book signing. Join us between 12-4pm to meet Dale.

Dale Leckie, Phd., is a geologist who worked at the Geological Survey of Canada and after as chief geologist in a large Canadian energy company. He has edited numerous books and published widely on the geology of western Canada. He is adjunct professor in Geoscience at University of Calgary. Dale has written two bestsellers on the geology and landscapes of Alberta. He lives in Calgary, AB.”

Hosted by Cafe Books