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Vicious Circle fostering a writing community

So you think you can write?

Aspiring writers of the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations are invited to apply for one of two scholarships for the 5 th Annual Whistler Writers Retreat and Festival, slated for Sept. 14 to 17.

The scholarship includes attendance to all festival reading events, seminars and workshops thanks to the support of Integro Insights consulting and Pique Newsmagazine.

Special three-day intensive workshops aim to improve writer’s scribbling craft. Writers will work in small groups under the leadership of acclaimed writers Annabel Lyon, Laisha Rosnau and Pam Barnsley to develop a previously submitted work.

Fiction and non-fiction writers alike are invited to participate.

Seminars this year include Screenwriting with Rebecca Wood Barrett; Children’s Writing with Sheryl McFarlane; So, Is It Done? Navigating the Rewriting Process with Mary Schendlinger; and Bringing Your Writing to Life with Michel Beaudry. Wood Barrett will also host a lecture, Learn How to Pitch Your Book/Story, with the opportunity to sign up for five-minute pitch sessions with book and magazine publishers from across B.C.

Reading events to look forward to include an opening address and reading by Maude Barlow as well as readings by Joseph Boyden and Eden Robinson.

Scholarship winners will also have the opportunity to meet privately with Robinson, a Haisla woman. Robinson’s first novel, Monkey Beach, won the B.C. Book Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for the 2000 Giller Prize and Governor General’s Award.

The early-bird registration for the three-day retreat is $375. Seminars, readings and lecture are open to the public, ranging from $10 to $50.

For more information, visit