February 3, 2026: Working With Care: Values-Aligned Operations for Small Publishers
Tuesday, February 3 from 11:00am-12:30pm MT
Presented by the BPAA, in this 90-minute session author and author care specialist Chelene Knight will explore what it can look like to run a publishing business through values-aligned operations. You might be familiar with the term “trauma-informed,” but here we’re choosing language that feels a little more spacious and grounded, language that fits the realities of creative work. We’ll talk about how even tiny shifts in wording can change how people feel inside your business, and how these shifts cost nothing but attention.
We’ll look at the supportive practices and bright spots already living in your organization, what’s already working, your values, your moments of care, your behind-the-scenes habits, and how to use those as your foundation. From there, we’ll explore low-overwhelm adjustments to language, workflows, expectations, and decision-making that can strengthen your internal culture.
And because publishing is deeply relational, we’ll also talk about how these changes naturally shape the way authors move through your world: not just in how they experience their book’s journey, but in how your approach supports their unique, larger, creative ecosystem.
It’s Chelene’s goal that you leave with a personal starting point that honours what you already do well, plus additional, super practical ideas you can slowly work on over time. This session can be a small beginning of a more sustainable, care-rooted way of working that supports everyone in your orbit.
This session is open to BPAA and ACP members and will take place Tuesday, February 3 from 11:00am-12:30pm MT.
Please register to reserve your spot by 4:30 pm MT on Monday, February 2. A recording of the webinar will be available for 30 days following the session, for those who are unable to attend live.
Chelene Knight (she/her) is the author of five books including Safekeeping: A Writer’s Guided Journal For Launching a Book With Love (Anansi 2025), and Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy (HarperCollins Canada 2024). Chelene has bylines in the Globe & Mail, The Walrus, Writer’s Digest, the Toronto Star, Write, Literary Review of Canada, WordWorks and more. Over the past decade, Chelene has meticulously cultivated a robust portfolio of workshops, and custom support systems for authors and organizations. Her unwavering commitment to nurturing community has birthed an empathetic editorial approach and a mentorship-driven ethos that aids emerging writers in their development. Chelene’s reputation in Canadian Publishing is growing significantly. Chelene was the previous managing editor at Room magazine, festival director for the Growing Room Festival in Vancouver and worked as a literary agent with the Transatlantic Agency for multiple years. She has also worked as a professor of poetry at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. She is founder of The Forever Writers Club, a membership for writers focused on creative balance, and is now founder of her own creative studio, Breathing Space Creative through which she’s launched the BSC Writing Mentorships which are thoughtfully designed to help writers elevate their craft, shape and develop their manuscripts, and deepen their connection to who they are as creatives.