Dear Members, 



As most of you know, for the past two years SCBWI Canada East has hosted a retreat style conference in the spring at Carmel Niagara in Niagara Falls, Ontario. We're writing to pass along the news that the conference to be held at Carmel Niagara this coming May 2013 will not be an SCBWI-affiliated event. 



When the tentative date for the 2013 Niagara event was chosen, the date was selected to ensure that it did not coincide with other large children's publishing events. Unfortunately, three years later, calendars have changed. Canadian Children's Book week, previously held in November, now falls in May, and in 2013 it runs from May 4 to 11 (http://www.bookweek.ca/ ). This schedule change means that it overlaps with the proposed dates for the Niagara event. 



Both Lizann Flatt and Alma Fullerton, your RA and ARA respectively, applied independently to tour with Canadian Children's Book Week, and both of us were chosen to participate in 2013. This week-long tour will see Lizann going to Saskatchewan and Alma to Alberta, unfortunately preventing both of us from attending a Niagara event on that first weekend of May. SCBWI policies will not allow our chapter to hold such a large event when two of the three chapter officials cannot be there. In circumstances such as these, SCBWI does not want its volunteers to put their personal writing or illustrating careers on hold to fulfill voluntary commitments to SCBWI. 



We have discussed the situation with Jackie Garlick-Pynaert, the Niagara event coordinator for the past Niagara retreats. Jackie has decided to continue with the event on the May 3 to 5, 2013 weekend and must therefore proceed without SCBWI involvement. If you have any further questions about the Niagara event, please contact Jackie directly at jjpynaert@hotmail.com. 



We are still planning to hold a Canada East conference this year. Keep your eye out for details on an event tentatively scheduled for October 4-6, 2013 in Montreal. We'll also be planning smaller meet-ups in different places and other things throughout the year. All event details will be announced via the SCBWI Canada East yahoo listserv, SCBWI emails, and our own SCBWI Canada East website (http://www.scbwicanada.org/east/) and Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/SCBWICanadaEast) as details become available. 



Thank you for your participation in SCBWI Canada East events, and we look forward to seeing you soon. 



Sincerely,

Lizann and Alma and Peggy

respectively your RA, ARA, and IC