The Federation of British Columbia Writers is hosting a four-day spring festival in Nanaimo April 27-30 that will bring Giller Prize nominees and top BC writing talent to the city. The theme of the festival is “The Stories That Find Us” -- a diverse exploration of what compels writers to write what they write and tell what they tell.
The festival’s affordable schedule includes a wide range of fun events that will appeal to writers of all abilities and genres. From master classes to workshops, evenings of gala entertainment, a day-long poetry retreat, indigenous story-telling and drumming, a Saturday publishing fair, blue pencil sessions with authors, scheduled writer hangouts, sidewalk games that include an intriguing poetry “treasure hunt” -- the list goes on.
Scheduled writers:
-poet, novelist and Giller Prize nominee Steven Price
-two-time Giller Prize nominee Kathy Page
-Canada Reads finalist and 2011/12 MacEwan Book of the Year winner Angie Abdou
-novelist Jennifer Manuel (whose novel The Heaviness of Things That Float has been shortlisted for the 2017 BC Book Awards’ Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction)
-mystery novelist and twice Arthur Ellis Award nominee Rachel McMillen
-award-winning poet and Victoria Book Award nominee Carla Funk -- and more
Victoria Poet Laureate Yvonne Blomer and 2015 Victoria Book Prize winner Julie Paul will be reading new work in “If I Tell You This” -- an evening program that juxtaposes their mode of storytelling with that of Nanaimo master storytellers Margaret Murphy and Rachel Muller.
Free “Living Room” sessions scheduled in comfortable venues every day will provide opportunities for writers to join a circle and read a short (three-minute) poem or prose excerpt. “Write Ins” are opportunities for writers to hang out, network -- write together then go for a cup of coffee -- and form new friendships with writers from all over BC.
Blue Pencil sessions with experienced BC authors and poets will offer opportunities for writers to get valuable feedback on a couple of pages from a work in progress. The two-hour meet and greet on Friday afternoon will be a networking extravaganza.
And all these activities are taking place in venues within a block of one another -- and within a block of the waterfront -- in downtown Nanaimo. Writers can find the complete schedule (and register) at the FBCW website (www.bcwriters.ca). Some hotel discounts are available.
The Federation of British Columbia Writers is a provincial non-profit organization with more than 700 members that provides support and services to BC writers (members and non members), organizes workshops and events and produces a quarterly magazine, WordWorks (accessible in libraries and online). Read it or register for FBCW membership at bcwriters.ca.
Media wishing to schedule an interview with one of the artists or organizers can contact Ann Graham Walker at anngrahamwalker@gmail.com.