Where: Whistler's Creekside
When: September 11 - 13
It’s the old chicken and egg conundrum: Which came first, readers or writers? Seems easy enough, doesn’t it? Without writers, what would readers read? But without readers, what would writers write? And for whom?
Philosophical questions aside, the Vicious Circle, Whistler’s own writing group, is dedicated to providing plenty of entertainment and enlightenment for both readers and writers and have been doing so since 2002 when the Festival started.
From humble beginnings, the Festival has evolved to include three main components: a reading series open to the public; a series of seminars for aspiring and novice writers to hone their skills and get a fast track into the world of writing; and, a Writer-in-Residence series for experienced writers who have manuscripts well under way but need that insightful personal touch a seasoned veteran of the word wars can offer.
The 2009 Festival promises to be bigger than ever with more for everyone.
Access the list of events >>> pdf of directory
Whistler Readers & Writers Festival 2009
It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since we ran our first festival, a one day affair in my living room that was more akin to a private study group than a festival. And now we welcome more than 100 aspiring writers and 20 guest authors to enjoy the inspirational potential of Whistler in the fall.
We’re proud to have played a role in marking a bold red X on the map , to attest that the literary arts can be found thriving in Whistler, amongst the mountain bikers, extreme skiers, and other adrenaline junkies. This September, a host of writers and readers will once again descend on this mountain town to fulfill our mission of geeking out on words!
The star-power has always been steady in the Whistler Readers and Writers Festival firmament. This year, in addition to writers-in-residence, Wayne Grady and Merilyn Simonds, we’re excited to host 2009 BC Book Prize winner, Lee Henderson (The Man Game), Vancouver author, Annabel Lyon (The Golden Mean) and Claire Mulligan, long listed for the Giller Prize for her book, The Reckoning of Boston Jim, in conversation.
The Festival will also showcase a sneak preview of Snow: the Musical, a work currently in development as part of the Cultural Capitals of Canada program. Local writers Leslie Anthony, GD Maxwell, Grant Stoddard and Lisa Richardson have been collaborating on a song and dance number that will receive its first Cold Read at the Festival with hot performances of the work-in-progress, opportunities to sing along, to shout down the bits you don’t like, and help ground the first major piece of collaborative theatre to have been developed in Whistler.
On Saturday night, gird up your battle-armour and join us for a heated and hilarious conversation at He Read, She Read: the battle of the Book Clubs. Yes, there are male book clubs and the lads will square off against the yin-powered reading groups for a conversation about how we read, featuring Lee Henderson, Nancy Lee, CC Humphreys, Pam Barnsley and Mike Berard.
The battle doesn’t end there. At the national debut of Haiku Idol, one bag of money, one thesaurus and ten writers ranging from the celebrated to the obscure step up to the plate, the hot plate, and see what a pressure cooker, a crowd, and a random word can cook up. Spoken word maestro, Shane Koyczan will set the tone, and throw down some inspiration.
Readings from the participants in the writers’ residency, plus a jam-packed day of workshops and seminars catering to readers and writers in every genre, and at every level of ability, create only one major difficulty for you ― which to choose?
Not to be missed, though, is the lunch-hour session presented by the Association of BC Magazine Publishers. Walk away with a full belly, a full brain and a bag full of magazines, after checking out The Pitching Mound, a 2 hour opportunity for a limited number of aspiring magazine and non-fiction writers to step up to the plate and go all-star, selling your best story ideas to Canada’s leading editors, featuring James Little from Explore, Leslie Anthony from Skier, Sandro Grayson from Color, Matt O’Grady from BC Business and Charlene Rooke from Western Living magazine.
We welcome you to Whistler and to the 2009 Whistler Readers and Writers Festival. We trust that your brain will come as close to exploding as is healthfully possible and your creative juices will be charged up come Monday morning!
Festival Director
Stella L. Harvey
Please click here to download the Festival Program.
To purchase tickets for the seminars and readings PLEASE CLICK HERE to visit the Vicious Circle store. You will be asked to purchase a membership to the Vicious Circle. This is a one-time fee of $5 per person that covers all festival events.
Festival 2009 (ReadersWritersFestival2009_V6.pdf)
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