We look forward to seeing you at Congress 2021! Please stop by and say hello to Gregory Betts, Erin Knight, and Ronald Cummings at the Greeting Table or in the Networking Lounge. Congress goes is now “live”, and we welcome you to enter the software platform and explore the virtual environment. Our conference officially begins on the 29^th at 9:00am Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).

By this point, all Congress registrants should have received:

TIMETABLE/CONFERENCE PROGRAM: We circulated a draft version of the ACCUTE conference in March. Many of you responded with scheduling changes and we have reposted various updates since that time. This program remains available through our website, so check to confirm the time and duration of your panel.

CONGRESS INFORMATION: The Federation’s website contains all of the essential information about the event (minus the link that will be emailed to you to enter). Key links include:

• Main Hub: https://congress2021.ca/
• Attendee Service Centre:  https://congress2021.ca/attendee-service-centre  
• Registration: https://congress2021.ca/registration
• FAQs: https://congress2021.ca/register/faqs

Your Congress welcome package will include a direct link to the main conference website. From there, you will find instructions to navigate to ACCUTE’s Greeting Table and our conference. The schedule links to individual panels and the social “Networking Lounge” are all accessible from the Greeting Table.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AGENDA: The agenda for the Annual General Meeting is included in the conference program pdf at the end. A full AGM Package will also be available at the ACCUTE Greeting Table, with reports, minutes, and motions. The meeting is scheduled for 2:30-4:00pm (MDT) on Tuesday 1 June. We hope to see you there.

Finally, there are always so many moving parts in a conference event at the scale of Congress such that many of the highlights can be easily missed. We remind you that there are several “open” sessions at ACCUTE and other associations that are accessible to anybody who registers for our conference and also people who register as community members. To note: the Federation has waived the community member’s fees of registrants who identify as Black or Indigenous.

ACCUTE’s scheduled open events include:

29 May 1-2pm                          Pedagogy and Residential School Literatures: A Dialogue. Michelle Coupal (Regina), Aubrey Hanson (Calgary), and Deanna Reder (Simon Fraser)

31 May 9-10:30am                 Creative Writing Panel: Make Believe. Heather Jessup (Dalhousie), Claire Battershill (Toronto), Debi Wong (University of the Arts Helsinki), Lindsay Cuff (British Columbia), Sheryda Warrener (British Columbia), Jillian Povarchook (Museum of Vancouver)

31 May 1:00-2:30pm            Reading and Conversations: BIPOC Creative Writing Students and Faculty. Shazia Hafiz Ramji (Independent), Ian Keteku (Ontario College of Art and Design), Nduka Otiono (Carleton), Uchechukwu Umezurike (Alberta), Sonnet L’Abbé (Vancouver Island)

1 June 9:00-10:00am            Creative Writing and Mentorship in the University: Readings and Conversation. Tea Gerbeza (Saskatchewan), Salar Ghatta (New Brunswick), Jennifer Lapido (Dalhousie), Nicholas Pacquette, (Dalhousie) Özten Shebahkeget (Saskatchewan), Heather Jessup (Dalhousie), Jeanette Lynes (Saskatchewan), Sue Sinclair (New Brunswick)

1 June 10:30am-12:00pm  On the Other Side(s) of 150: Book Launch. Linda Morra (Bishops), Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser), Libe García Zarranz (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Alix Shield (Simon Fraser), Kit Dobson (Mount Royal)

1 June 11:00am-12:00pm  Creative Writing Collective (CWC) Meeting. An open meeting for all interested faculty and students to discuss the possibility of establishing a Creative Writing caucus in ACCUTE.

View all Congress 2021 Open Events here: https://congress2021.ca/calendar

As we return to the University of Alberta, the site of ACCUTE’s very first conference in 1958, it is impossible to avoid the fact that this is not the conference we had hoped we would be holding. For the second year in a row, the pandemic prevents us from meeting in-person. As you will see from the program, though, we have an incredible for the circumstances conference planned, with over 200 presenters and performers. The move to virtual has pushed us towards a host of new technologies that make this event the most affordable, accessible, and environmentally friendly in our association’s history. There is much work to be done, many conversations to have, and many things to learn. We wish you a wonderful conference.