How to get your feet wet at the Whistler Writers Festival



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COME RUBBERBOOTS, COME FLIPPERS, COME BARE NAKED TOES…

or HOW TO GET YOUR FEET WET AT THE WHISTLER WRITERS FESTIVAL

Dabble, splash about or dive down to the creative deep at the 8th annual Whistler Readers and Writers Festival, September 11-13 2009

August 17 2009 Whistler, BC –  Don’t be afraid to get wet, is the message organisers of the 8th annual Whistler Readers and Writers Festival want to share. “We’re here to scoop you into the big creative net,” says Festival Director Stella Harvey. “Just jump on in.”

Dabblers welcome.   Unsure, uncommitted or just uber-busy?  The Festival has options for tentative tootsies to dip in and test the water.
Try:
  • Get Pickled with the Poets. A FREE guided poetry walk under the stars. Whistler poet laureates Pam Barnsley and Mary MacDonald will lead a 2 hour stroll by Alta Lake’s Poet’s Pause sculptures, with exercises and suggestions to help you meet your Muse.  (Sunday, September 13, 4:30-6:30. Free. But register online at www.theviciouscircle.ca.)

  • Get Appraised. Got some notes and aren’t sure what they’re worth? Pull them from the billfold and show them to Whistler’s resident writers, Wayne Grady or Merilyn Simonds for a free, no-strings-attached manuscript evaluation. (Sunday, September 13, 2:00pm – 4:00pm)

  • Get Cranked Up. Wayne Grady and Merilyn Simonds offer a 2 hour crash course in cranking up your writing. Tips from the pros. Just $10. (Sunday, September 13, 4:30 – 6:30)

  • Pick One.  Experts in philanthropy say that ‘intrapersonal tithing’, or giving to yourself, totally counts. So give yourself $25 and pick one session from the Festival’s Saturday seminars, and give yourself a taste of workshopping. Choose your pleasure – is it writing for kids? Bringing attitude to your storytelling? Starting out in screenplays? Learning how to pitch? Finding your voice?
Pick a Stream and Dive on in.  12 seminars. 4 streams. Focus on one stream, or splash across the lanes – there are no pool police.
  • Writing for Children. Writing is like giving birth. It’s all very well to be pregnant with ideas, but at some point, you have to get those ideas out into the world.  And it doesn’t have to be painful, if you have the right team around you! Kick off with a morning session with young adult fantasy trilogist, CC Humphreys as he leads participants through a hands-on writing workshop on Characters in Action, then skip over to Kids TV, as prolific kids TV series screenwriter Cindy Filipenko shows you how to get your concept to market. Finally, Whistler children’s book author Sara Leach offers Writing for Children and how to take those bottom-drawer ideas and turn them into a published book.


  • Writing for Magazines. Break into the world of glossies with Julie H Ferguson’s crash course in How to Pitch in a Cold Climate, then take your new-found skills to the Pitchers Mound, where 5 magazine editors await to field your best story ideas. Hone the craft after lunch with some of Canada’s most widely published magazine writers and editors, Writing People with Wayne Grady, Where the Action Is with Leslie Anthony,  or Bringing Attitude to Your Storytelling with Michel Beaudry.


  • Technique Tune-up: Getting your Prose Lean, your Characters Mean (or meaningful), and your Writing Voice Toned Up.  Learn about the craft of Writing Place with Wayne Grady,or Finding Your Voice with Merilyn Simonds, then Trim the Fat with Merilyn’s session on editing, or Get Fierce with the Pleasure of Writing the Short Story with Nancy Lee.

Of course, these permutations and combinations are but a drop in the bucket of all the possibilities that exist if you’re willing to make a splash at the Writers Festival this fall.

Full Immersion involves signing on for the month-long writer-in-residence, in which participants work one-on-one with Wayne Grady or Merilyn Simonds, on a piece of work of their own choice.  Two places are still available. Contact Stella25@telus.net immediately!

Just Looking, Thanks.  Prefer to watch? Sure. Every writer needs a reader, (or five thousand if you want to be a best-seller). There’s plenty of pool-side pleasure in just flaking out with a great book and slyly checking out the talent from behind your dark glasses.
Great spectating is to be had at:
  • Friday Night Gala. Novelists Lee Henderson (The Man Game), Claire Mulligan (The Reckoning of Boston Jim) and Annabel Lyon (The Golden Mean) get chatty with former host of CBC’s Hot Air, Paul Grant, on time-travel, the usefulness of philosophy degrees and naked wrestling. Cash bar and live entertainment. Legends at Creekside. $25.

  • The Pitchers Mound brings 5 Canadian magazine editors to the field, as brave aspiring writers pitch their fast balls and best ideas. $35 includes a seat at the gladiator ring, an insight into how the editorial mind works, a bag of magazines and lunch. Legends at Creekside.

  • Saturday Night Showdown. He Read, She Read: The Battle of the BookClubs, features Nancy Lee, Lee Henderson, Mike Berard, Chris Humphreys and Pam Barnsley debating the merits of reading collectively versus in a convent (“no boys allowed”). Plus, a spoken word performance by Shane Koyzan, setting the tone for the national debut of Haiku Idol, a speed poetry writing contest open to all. Free appies and drink specials, Players Chophouse, just $25.

  • Releasing the Salmonids. 20 emerging writers have been working on their stuff with our Writers in Residence, and on Sunday at Alta Lake Station House, they’ll brave the big bad world and share their works. Cheer them on as they go forth to face their destiny.

So, plan to get your feet wet, and wade on in to Whistler’s Fall Writers Fest. Full program details and ticket sales at www.theviciouscircle.ca.
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Contact: Stella “Scuba” Harvey, Festival Director, Tel: 604 932 4518, Stella25@telus.net, www.theviciouscircle.ca