The Islands 

July 20-25
VICTORIA SCHOOL OF WRITING WORKSHOPS - Time is running out to register…  
in the 13th annual Victoria School of Writing's Summer Intensive! Susan Stenson's poetry workshop is full, and only a few workshop spaces remain in:

Steven Galloway's Fiction and Truth: "Fiction writers strive for 'Truthiness'. If we have to tell a few lies to get to the honesty of humanity that is at the cornerstone of fiction, so be it." Galloway, celebrated as a writer's writer, author of The Cellist of Sarajevo, recently sold foreign rights to 18 countries for an advance of almost $1 million dollars.  He teaches Creative Writing at UBC.

Rita Moir's Writing Deeply: Creative Non-fiction: "A natural for journalists wanting to go deeper than "she said," "he said," and for any writer wanting to blend the genres." Moir worked for years as a reporter and as a documentary writer.  She writes and publishes in many genres, and has won many esteemed awards for her works that successfully "merge the personal and political."

Curtis Gillespie's Why Memoir?: "Memoir is fundamentally a narrative approach, and the focus of the workshop will be on ways to best make the material serve the larger themes and purposes of the work." Gillespie has published four books, including the memoir Playing Through.  His most recent book is the novel, Crown Shyness.

Kathy Page's The Lovely Hybrid: Jackie Kay says, the short story "is a lovely hybrid, a cross between a poem and a novel.  It catches people at crucial moments of their lives and snaps them...  allows us, in a short space of time, to understand huge things." Her collection of stories, As in Music, will be reissued this year by Phoenix Books. She is also a novelist: Alphabet was short listed for a Governor General's award in 2005, and The Story of My Face was long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2002.

To register go to vswblog.wordpress.com to download a form.  Call us at 250-595-3000 or email us at coord@victoriaschoolofwriting.org. Don't delay. Contact us to reserve your spot, now! Fed Members have a discounted tuition of $555 (regular rate $635).




Central

South East 


July 14-27, 2008
FERNIE WRITERS’ CONFERENCE
The workshops run from 9 am to 1 pm every day. The balance of the day is open for working on your writing, enjoying the Elk River Valley and the surrounding mountains. The golf folks will likely golf.  The fishing folks will hit the river slashing the water for the not-so-elusive trout. The poets will wander around waxing poetically. Or whatever poets do when they wander the mountains. (Map of Fernie area:  http://www.fernie.com/maps/images/mountain_playground_summer.pdf)

**Week One - Screenwriting – Mon. July 14 to Sat. July 19
The mornings will be spent in workshop and critique sessions with the afternoons spent working on new material.  One or two evenings will offer panel discussions on the film industry and aspects of the industry. The workshop ends with a scramble randomly pairing screenwriters with film shooters. The teams will have 24 hours to produce a short film on a directed theme.

**Week Two - Literary Sessions – Mon. July 21 to Sun. July 27
3 novel sessions, 2 short story sessions, 1 poetry session. The Novel A and B sessions are one-week long with the group returning for a second session one year later. The Novel C workshop is for writers just starting or planning a novel.  
More info: www.ferniewriters.org. Phone: 250-423-6132. Director: Keith Liggett - email: keith@ferniewriters.org.