I am proud to be a member of the Canadian Authors Association, Canada’s oldest literary agency. I have been a member of the board of directors for CAA since 2021.
Canadian Authors Association provides writers with a wide variety of programs, services and resources to help them develop their skills in both the craft and the business of writing, enhance their ability to earn a living as a writer, and have access to a Canada-wide network of writers and publishing industry professionals.
We are a membership-based organization for writers in all areas of the profession—aspiring, emerging and professional—in every genre and across all writing-related professions.
As a not-for-profit national arts service organization with charitable status, much of what we do benefits all writers, whether they are members or are affiliated with us as partners or through other writing groups.
What We Do
- Advocate for the protection of rights and equitable treatment for writers
- Help members promote their work through a members’ book catalogue, online directory, advertising opportunities, book fairs, readings and touring support
- Provide writers with up-to-date information on awards, contests, opportunities, calls for submissions and writing conferences and retreats via monthly national bulletins, branch newsletters, and the website
- Provide learning opportunities for writers at every stage through webinars, podcasts, and CanWrite!—our national conference
- Showcase Canada’s incredible literary talent through our literary awards, ezine, website, social media, conference—and whatever other media we have at hand
Our Mission
Canadian Authors Association (CAA) is a national organization with a local presence dedicated to promoting a flourishing community of writers across Canada and to encouraging works of literary and artistic merit. We do this by
- providing opportunities for professional development
- promoting the fair and equitable treatment of writers
- increasing public awareness of Canada’s writing and publishing environment
100 Years of Accomplishments
Founded in 1921 by Stephen Leacock, Pelham Edgar, B.K. Sandwell, John Murray Gibbon (who became its first president), and other prominent writers of the time, to lobby for the protection of authors’ rights, the Canadian Authors Association has continued to pursue this objective to this day. Instrumental in the 1924 copyright legislation, the Association began pressing for a new Copyright Act in the 1980s.
We also continue to participate in the national organizations we helped create to ensure that Canadian writers retain rights to their intellectual property and are paid for the use of their works. These organizations include Access Copyright, the Book and Periodical Council, the Canadian Copyright Institute, and the Public Lending Right Commission. We are also members of the International Authors Forum.
Some 25,000 writers have been active members including, in the early days, Stephen Leacock, Nellie McClung, Bliss Carman, Robert W. Service, Ralph Connor, E.J. Pratt, Mazo de la Roche and Sir Charles G. D. Roberts.
If you would like to join or for more information about CAA please click the above link.
the Federation of British Columbia Writers will:
- Promote excellence and professionalism in the literary arts in British Columbia
- Improve the status of the literary arts in British Columbia by encouraging publication; providing information on markets and workshops; sponsoring readings, workshops and seminars; and establishing communication between writers and interested agents and markets
- Encourage greater recognition of British Columbia writers and their achievements regionally and nationally
- Provide information on the Province’s literary resources to the people of British Columbia
- Work cooperatively with other provincial and federal agencies and organizations concerned with writing and writing standards
- Encourage and support young emerging writers in British Columbia