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Mark L. Winston is the recipient of the 2015 Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction for his book Bee Time: Lessons From the Hive, and an Independent Publishers 2019 Gold Medal “IPPY” Award for his book Listening to the Bees. One of the world’s leading experts on bees and pollination, Dr. Winston is also an internationally recognized researcher, teacher and writer. He directed Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue for 12 years, where he founded the Semester in Dialogue, a program that creates leadership development opportunities equipping and empowering students to address community issues.

As a consultant and thought leader, Dr. Winston partners with universities, corporations, NGOs, governments and communities to advance communication skills, engage public audiences with controversial issues through dialogue, and implement experiential learning and community engagement in educational institutions. As an award-winning writer and editor, he works with students, scientists, other professionals and writers to develop compelling non-fiction, from proposals and newspaper opinion pieces to manuscripts and books.

He currently is a Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow in Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and was the SFU Library’s inaugural Nonfiction Writer in Residence (2020-2021).

Recent News/Media

Memoir Writing Workshop

Pleased to announce an upcoming workshop with Vancouver Manuscript Intensive, Finding Your Footing: First Steps into Memoir, 23 November online: This one-day online workshop, limited to eight participants, is designed for those in the early stages of memoir writing who want a strong start developing their idea with an emphasis on content, style and voice.

Ptiching Workshop/Mentoring

I’ll be offering a program with workshops and individual mentoring on how to pitch to publishers and agents Feb. 9 – April 6 2025, through Vancouver Manuscript Intensive, Prepping Your Pitch: Practical Info for Sending Your Manuscript to Agents and Publishers:

Your nonfiction or fiction book idea has developed into a number of chapters or even a completed manuscript, and you’re getting ready to submit. In this hands-on program we’ll use a combination of workshops and one-on-one mentoring to guide you through developing a pitch and submitting your book for publication. This Vancouver Manuscript Intensive program will be limited to eight participants, and will draw on the expertise and experience of our VMI mentors as well as a guest agent and publisher. 

Over the course of eight weeks, participants will experience three levels of workshop dynamic: group feedback, paired peer workshopping, and personal mentorship from a published author, and then have the opportunity to present your idea to a panel of industry professionals. By the end of this uniquely flexible two-month program—only the opening and closing workshops have set dates and times—participants will have practical knowledge about the submission process and a well-edited pitch. 

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