$300,000 appeal by Surrey writers’ conference after strike

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Organizers of Surrey International Writers’ Conference (SiWC) are looking to raise $300,000 to keep the event going in 2026 and beyond.

The 2025 conference was cancelled due to an ongoing labour dispute at the host venue, Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel.

On Monday (Oct. 20), a “major” online fundraising campaign was launched to replenish a SiWC contingency fund and “set us up to keep providing the best professional development for writers we possibly can year after year.”

The goal of the GoFundMe is to “cover the lost money from this year and restore our contingency fund to pre-pandemic levels,” Kathy Chung, SiWC conference co-ordinator, wrote in an appeal, posted to siwc.ca .

“The costs of running the conference have approximately doubled sinc