For thirty-two years, the Surrey International Writers’ Conference has convened annually in Surrey, BC to provide a one-of-a-kind professional development opportunity for writers and storytellers from around the world. SiWC has helped writers at all levels of experience grow their careers, develop their craft skills, and build the communities that sustain them after the conference weekend ends.

In August, we were heartbroken to have to cancel this October’s conference due to an unresolved labour dispute at our conference hotel. A cancellation at such a late stage of planning meant that a change of venue was simply not possible and a significant amount of the money invested in SiWC2025 could not be recovered.

We want SiWC to continue to provide an inclusive, welcoming, and career-expanding experience—now online as well as in person—for many years to come. But to do that, we need your help.

What makes SiWC special

Every year we hear from attendees, presenters, and volunteers alike that in the crowded world of genre conventions and writing conferences, SiWC is special.

Writers, poets, editors, agents, publishers, journalists, memoirists, filmmakers, podcasters, and other creatives come from all over the world to teach, learn, share, connect, inspire and be inspired at SiWC. Our focus is exclusively on professional development and peer connection for every writer, no matter their level of experience, and no matter the genres they write in.

Our attendees range from brand new writers to multi-published authors, including past presenters who return as attendees for the quality professional development we offer and the warm and welcoming atmosphere we foster. Inclusion and acceptance are paramount to SiWC’s mission. We offer scholarships for young writers and writers from underrepresented groups to help lift up voices that have been too long overlooked.

SiWC attendees go on to:

Read more SiWC success stories on our website .

Why we need your help

The cancellation of this year’s conference was entirely beyond our control and wholly unexpected. Absorbing the financial losses of cancelling was a huge hit to our contingency fund. To protect the conference for the future, we need to recover the lost money and secure our contingency fund for the future.

SiWC is run as a not-for-profit society with a volunteer board of directors and a small number of staff. The financial loss of cancelling came at a time when the hard costs of running the conference have nearly doubled since 2019.

To date, thanks to very careful budgeting and frugal spending, we have been able to rely exclusively on registration fees and small grants to cover all our costs. These revenue streams are no longer sufficient to allow us to build our contingency fund. While we do ask for moderate fee increases from our attendees year to year, the cost of running the conference has increased so quickly in the last few years that operating without a solid contingency fund is not feasible going forward.

We are seeking $300,000 to cover lost revenue and non-refundable expenses and to bolster our contingency fund for the next few years, giving us the time to figure out a long-term solution for covering SiWC’s operating costs and maintaining a healthy contingency fund year after year.

How you can help

If you have ever been to SiWC, know a writer who has benefitted from the conference, or believe that storytelling and the professional development of storytellers matters now more than ever, you can help secure the future of SiWC in two ways:

Thank you for supporting our conference and being part of our community. That means the world to us.