What: Whistler Reader’s and Writer’s Festival
When: Friday, Sept. 12 & Saturday, Sept. 13
Where: Whistler Public Library & MY Millennium Place
Cost: Free to $35
Local readers and writers are getting their pens and pencils poised for the upcoming Whistler Reader’s and Writer’s Festival.
This is the seventh year for the event, which is organized by Stella Harvey, a local literary enthusiast and founder of the Whistler Writers Group, better known as The Vicious Circle.
“I first started with organizing The Writers Group and at that point, once the group was organized, we talked about bringing learning opportunities and development opportunities to Whistler,” Harvey explained.
Visual arts tend to overshadow the written word, so the festival is a way of bringing the oft-forgotten writer into the spotlight for a weekend, promoting talented local wordsmiths, in particular, by including them in the event as instructors or speakers.
“Between the Writer In Residence program and the festival, the whole focus is to celebrate, in particular, Canadian writers.”
When Harvey started the festival seven years ago, it was a one-day event held in her own home, featuring only one guest speaker from outside of the area who came to discuss writing and help workshop manuscripts.
It has certainly blossomed significantly since then.
Now, they hold a month-long Writer in Residence program for people who want their manuscripts reviewed, combined with the festival, which kicks off this year with a debate at the Whistler Public Library on the opening night. There will be a moderated panel discussion between G.D. Maxwell, Nancy Wilhelm-Morden and Paul Cumin about the power of words, followed with a keynote address by Mel Hurtig.
Saturday is packed with 15 workshops, seminars and discussions that are sure to interest any and all lovers of literature, including a popular bag lunch and discussion with Canadian publishers, held at MY Millennium Place. The workshops touch on everything from writing for young adults to romance and mysteries, and to how to break into the world of magazines, with an impressive range of instructors and speakers who can offer unique insight into each topic.
Saturday also offers one free event designed to appeal to those of all levels of writing ability.
“Lots of people say that they’d like to write, but they don’t know how to get started, and we’ve got a session we’ve got on where people can come and write and be guided by some of the writers in The Vicious Circle,” Harvey explained.
Finally, Saturday evening wraps up with a reading and discussion between Leslie Anthony, a Whistler-based writer, editor and filmmaker, William Deverell, a former criminal lawyer and novelist, and Candas Jane Dorsey, this year’s Writer In Residence and freelance writer, editor and teacher of creative and professional writing.
“It’s grown quite a bit,” Harvey said. “…We’ve experimented with lots of different formats over the years, and what we keep hearing back through the evaluations that we complete is that having a broad spectrum of workshop sessions is really what people would like to see.”
Last year, about 70 per cent of the workshops were well attended.
Despite the growth of the festival, the intimate atmosphere has remained.
“You can go to Vancouver, Toronto, or these other places and attend writing festivals and reading festivals and whatever, but they typically are a lot larger than ours, and one of the things that we get consistently back, in terms of feedback, is that… people feel as if they can go talk to the writer who is presenting and develop a relationship,” she said.
Harvey is also quick to point out that the event is open to people of all levels of ability and interest — even the non-writer should feel welcome. They’ve even changed the name of the event to the Whistler Reader’s and Writer’s Festival, to reflect the fact that they’ve included two reading events into this year’s event, and emphasize that participants don’t have to be writers.
“Sometimes I think people think that writers are this elite group that have a pipe in their mouth,” Harvey said with a laugh. “It’s just sort of elitism, and I don’t want anyone to think that’s what it is.”
The festival is also one of the recipients of Whistler’s new Cultural Capital grant, which means they’re receiving financial support from the federal government for both the 2008 and 2009 festivals.
“We were able to use some of that money, this year and next year, to promote our program outside of the Lower Mainland,” Harvey explained. “My belief is that if we get the word out, people will come, and what we’ve found through our evaluation is that when they come, they come again.”
People come from all over the country to participate in the workshop and this year, with the addition of their new, online ticketing feature on the Writers Group’s website, Harvey said they’ve seen people buy tickets from Ontario, the Prairie provinces, Vancouver, and Vancouver Island.
The costs for workshops and discussions aren’t prohibitive, either. They range from free to $35. Fundraising and the contributions from the Cultural Capital grant, the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s Community Enrichment Program, and B.C. Arts Council have allowed them to make the event affordable.
“I really tried to keep the costs down, and when you think about it, a three-hour lecture for $25 is a very good deal,” Harvey said.
To see a full schedule of workshops, seminars and discussions, visit www.theviciouscircle.ca and click on Writer’s Retreat. You can also purchase tickets directly on the site’s main page.
