Timothy Taylor relaxes at Write on Bowen festival

Timothy Taylor relaxes outside the Gallery at Artisan Square Friday, July 8.

Write on Bowen festival pix (1)

Bernice Lever (left), Elee Kraljii Gardiner (right) with another participant (centre)

David Stephens (right) asks the audience to spot the difference between self-published and commercially published books, watched by other panellists,E.R. Brown (far left) and Susanne Martin (middle)

Workshop changes at Write on Bowen

We’ve had to cancel three workshops at the festival, but 13 others are going full steam ahead. The cancelled workshops (and apologies to those who had registered for these) are: Workshop 3 – If You Can Talk You Can Right with Shelley Harrison Rae; Workshop 8 – Publishing with Susan Safyan and Workshop 12 – Short Story contests with Annie Daylon.

Compelling literary voices (Lyon and Taylor) kick off Write on Bowen

By Richard Labonté

Giller, Commonwealth, Rogers Writers Trust, Ethel Wilson, Libris, Journey, Impac Dublin, Canada Reads – and half a dozen more: the two Canadian literary luminaries kicking off Write on Bowen on Friday, July 8 have amassed a legion of honors for their writing.

That’s no surprise. Work by Annabel Lyon (Oxygen, Best Thing for You) and Timothy Taylor (Stanley Park, Story House) has garnered both critical praise and – what a writer appreciates most – loyal fan followings and great sales.

They’ll each be reading from their most recent novels, from the past and from the future. For Lyon, that’s The Golden Mean, a brilliant historical re-imagination of the teacher/student relationship between philosopher Aristotle and the boy who would grow up to be Alexander the Great—a book about ideas that encompasses earthy concerns.

Accom available at Bowen Lodge

Bowen Lodge has just let us know that that they have plenty of accommodation at just $99 for a garden view room and $109 for ocean view. Such a deal! It’s a five-minute walk from the ferry terminal, so you don’t need to bring a car, either.

Individual workshops at Write on Bowen 2011

Here’s a quick summary of the workshops available this year. Individual workshops are $45 each. Visit our main website to register:

Workshop 1: Research: Get It! Write.
Time: Saturday, July 9 from 10:00 to Noon
Presenter: Anthony Dalton

Workshop 2: Incorporating Humor into Your Writing
Time: Saturday, July 9 from 10:00 to Noon
Presenter: Neil McKinnon

Workshop 4: Beginnings.
Time: Saturday, July 9 from 10:00 to Noon
Presenter: Timothy Taylor

Workshop 5: Writing Daily
Time: Saturday, July 9 from 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Presenter: Michael Turner

Workshop 6: Toolbox for Re-approaching Your Manuscript/Second Draft
Time: Saturday, July 9 from 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Presenter: David Stephens

Workshop 7: Creative Memoir
Time: Saturday, July 9 from 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Presenter: Madeline Sonik

Workshop 9: Unbuilding the Blocks: Strategies for Writing Without Restraint
Time: Sunday, July 10 from 10:00 to Noon
Presenter: Elee Kraljii Gardiner

Workshop 10: Growing the Poem
Time: Sunday, July 10 from 10:00 to Noon
Presenter: Betsy Warland

Workshop 11: Get Going with E-books, E-readers, and E-publishing
Time: Sunday, July 10 from 10:00 to Noon
Presenter: Julie Ferguson

Workshop 13: Nature Journal – A Resource for Descriptive and Metaphoric Writing
Time: Sunday, July 10 from 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Presenter: Jennifer Getsinger

Workshop 14: Voice and Performance Skills for Writers and Poets
Time: Sunday, July 10 from 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Presenter: Ben Nuttall-Smith

Workshop 15: Writing for Young People: How to Build Powerful Scenes
Time: Sunday, July 10 from 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Presenters: Ainslie Manson, Norma Charles, and Cynthia Nicolson

Workshop 16: Beyond the First Draft
Time: Sunday, July 10 from 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Presenter: April Bosshard

Talk * Laugh * Share at Write on Bowen 2011

By Richard Labonté

Shelley Harrison Rae (pictured)Neil McKinnon, Norma Charles, Ainslie Manson and Cynthia Nicolson are all at Write on Bowen this year

If you can talk, you can write. If you can spin life’s whimsical moments into stories that make friends laugh, you might want to incorporate humour into your writing. And if you want to try crafting prose for children or young adults – perhaps the toughest audience of all – you could turn your hand to picture books or YA novels.

Ambitious? Absolutely. But those disparate options for encouraging and engaging the writer within are among the eclectic offerings of Write on Bowen, coming soon for a fourth year – July 8 -10 – to Artisan Square.

Shelley Harrison Rae, author of Life Leaves Stains and an instructor at The Wordlink Lounge on the Sunshine Coast, believes that “when you talk, you don’t stop to choose the perfect word.” Her workshop will encourage want-to-be writers to break through their inhibitions in order to start telling stories.

Warland, Nuttall-Smith, Bolen & Gardner on poetry and multi-media

By Bernice Lever

Betsy Warland is the author or the must-read book “Breathing the Line - Reading the Act of Writing”

Helping writers to write and then to perform their words effectively to the public is the focus of some of the workshops and the special lunch panel at Write on Bowen 2011.

On Sunday, July 10, Betsy Warland, multi-genre writer and the director of SFU’s Writer’s Studio Program, will teach poets how to create with a focus on what is not said and then save what they exclude for the next poem.

Warland has published a must-read book for all writers: “Breathing the Line – Reading the Act of Writing”. Come and be inspired by the Growing the Poem workshop that encourages writers to expand their talents.

Warland’s message will be clear when she reads in the noon-hour panel on the Spoken Word. Choosing the best word arrangements on the page guides the reader to give the best reading.

Workshops filling fast at Write on Bowen!

By Bernice Lever

With just over three weeks to go until the Write on Bowen Festival, several workshops are already getting close to full. Local writers interested in attending one, two, or more workshops (or purchasing a pass for the best deal) should register soon to secure the workshops and events they want.

The festival is also a great opportunity for local and off-island writers to meet, write, interact, and enjoy. Visit our main website to register.

Special Early Bird price ends tomorrow!

Tomorrow’s the last day to get the Early Bird special price for Write on Bowen festival.