It's hard to claim you don't write climate fiction when your book is called When the Trees All Burned.

And yet, sitting on a panel at Canada Fiction Fest alongside cli-fi authors Margaret Sweatman, Jason Pchajek, and K.A. Wiggins (moderated by author Steve Hugh Westernra) I found myself realizing that there's a difference between writing into a genre and knowing it from the inside out.

The day was a full affair, with a book sale, a Local Author Speed Spotlight (in which we were each given ten minutes to share about ourselves and our work) and keynote speakers of high regard. I was one of four authors invited to participate in an afternoon mediated panel discussion on The Writer As Reader, and this was, by far, my favourite part of the day.