SiWC Conference Blog

Meet the Presenters - SiWC 2010

KathyChung — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:54:51 -0500

The time has come! I can finally tell you about some of our 2010 presenters. Watch this space. I'll be introducing them in blog posts periodically over the coming days and weeks.

I am thrilled with our line-up for this year. Come October, we'll roll out the red carpet for old friends and new from all over North America and the UK.

Let's get started! First up, a man who probably always came last - or close to it - in the attendance roll call at school, so we'll switch things up and put him first on our presenter roll call.

Meet Tim Wynne-Jones. Tim has written thirty-one books. He has twice won the Governor General’s Award for children’s literature for Some of the Kinder Planets, and The Maestro. His work has been translated into Japanese, Korean, Danish, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish and Catalan. He was the first Canadian to win The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for “Planets,” and also received a Horn Honor Book for Rex Zero and the End of the World. His novel, The Boy in the Burning House, won the Edgar Award of the Mystery Writers of America, the Arthur Ellis Award of the Crime Writers of Canada, and was short-listed for the Guardian Award in Great Britain. The Maestro, retitled The Survival Game in the UK, was short-listed for the Guardian Prize, as well. His new novel, Rex Zero, The Great Pretender, is the third in his Rex Zero series and was launched at The Canadian Cold War Museum in the fall of 2009, to open a new permanent exhibition called Rex Zero Head-Quarters, representing a child’s-eye view of the cold war. His spring 2009 thriller, The Uninvited, was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award and chosen as a Publisher’s Weekly Best Books for Kids title.

You can find out more about Tim at his website.

Welcome, Tim!

Writing Here and There... and a bit of good news!

kcdyer — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:17:13 -0500

Lots of writing events coming up for those who might be interested. Check these out to see if there is something in YOUR area!

March:

If you are in Florida, [or just WANT to be!] long-time presenter and friend of the conference Hallie Ephron will be presenting at the Key West Studios March 19 and 20th, 2010. Details HERE.

May:

If you are in or about north-central Washington state in May, Write On The River presents an event with SiWC presenter and friend Terry Brooks as the keynote speaker. Details HERE.

June:

CanWrite 2010 is the Canadian Author Association's yearly event -- this year in Victoria, BC at the end of June.

Find out all details HERE.

[full disclosure -- I'll be one of the speakers there...]

I'm sure there will be more events soon -- lots to keep you busy until SiWC 2010 rolls around!

And finally, a bit of good news for one of our long-time poetry judges. Susan McCaslin's latest book of poetry DEMETER GOES SKYDIVING has been accepted for publication in 2010 by th University of Alberta Press. Congratulations, Susan! I can't wait to read this contemporary poetic of the Demeter and Persephone myth.

~kc

also blogging as leftwriter

sweetly tweeting @kcdyer

SiWC 2010 - It's coming!

KathyChung — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:05:00 -0500

Oh boy. Exciting stuff going on here at SiWC Central. Can you see me dancing in my chair as I write this? (Hmmm... that's actually kind of a disturbing thought... *looking around for cameras*)

We have an amazing presenter line-up shaping up for 2010, and I can't wait to tell you about it. And very, very soon, I get to do just that. Watch this space in the next days and weeks, and you'll be among the first to know just whose workshops you'll be enjoying in October.

Stay tuned!

Interested in Writing for Children?

kcdyer — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:37:37 -0500

Next Monday, March 8th, there will be a great panel on the subject at the Vancouver Public Library.

Details HERE on my blog.

Enjoy!

~kc

also blogging as leftwriter

sweetly tweeting @kcdyer

Ev Bishop and the Big Idea

kcdyer — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:43:04 -0500

Check out long-time conference attendee and writer Ev Bishop's blog post HERE. A great idea of how to keep that SiWC feeling alive all year 'round!

[Also, if you are in the Vancouver area, check out the grand finale of the W2 Real Writers series details on my blog HERE. Quite a few SiWC presenters on stage. Love to see you there!]

~kc

blogging at leftwriter

tweeting sweetingly @kcdyer

Contest News

KathyChung — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:40:50 -0500

Wondering how to enter the SiWC writing contest? The guidelines for 2010 are up at http://www.siwc.ca/contest/2010 Check them out!

Our deadline this year is Friday, September 10, 2010, but no need to wait until the very last minute. With $1000 prizes in every category, why not use the time to explore a new genre as well as your favourite? Categories are poetry, storytellers, non-fiction, and writing for young people. September will be here before we know it, and we're already looking forward to reading your efforts. Happy writing!

February News

kcdyer — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:36:57 -0500

Hello!

I've been awol a bit, deep in a writing project or two, but I am surfacing here long enough to draw your attention to a number of mid-winter events to help re-kindle your inspiration.

In Vancouver, as a part of the cultural Olympiad, we have the W2 Real Vancouver Writers' and Culture series every Wednesday in February. Here's a summary of the writers who will be coming out to read -- many of them SiWC alumni!

Here's a summary:

February 3rd – Hosted by Sean Cranbury

Richard Van Camp, John Burns, Brendan McLeod, Bruce Grenville, Cathleen With, Jennica Harper, Robert Chaplin

February 10th – Hosted by Charlie Demers

Kevin Chong, Jen Sookfong Lee, Ian Weir, Chris Walter, Peter Darbyshire, Jenn Farrell, Jane Sayers, Shay Wilson, Larissa Lai, Anne Stone.

February 17th – Hosted by Elizabeth Bachinsky

Teresa McWhirter, Lee Henderson, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Heather Susan Haley, Nikki Reimer, Chris Hutchinson, Dina Del Bucchia, Amber Dawn, Donato Mancini, Sonnet L’Abbe, Jonathon Wilcke, Catherine Owen.

February 24th – Hosted by Hal Wake

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Steven Galloway, Timothy Taylor, Rhonda Waterfall, The Yarnbombers Leann Prain and Mandy Moore, Weldon Hunter, McKinley M Hellenes, Alex Leslie, kc dyer, Leilah Nadir, Caroline Adderson, Brad Cran.

Find out more HERE.

Also in February, Lorraine Murphy of Raincoaster fame is sponsoring A Wake for Duthie Books, with many local writers in attendance, including Celia Duthie as the guest of honour. Bid a joyous farewell to this Vancouver independent stalwart on February 15th at the Shebeen Club in Gastown.

From Raincoaster's site:

We won’t have a presenter, but we MAY have a coffin. There will be many surprises there. Don’t forget to wear black! Full mourning dress preferred. Celia Duthie will be our guest of honour.

If you have a collection of old Duthie Bookmarks, please bring them in. They’ll be photographed for posterity and the best one will win a prize.

Ex-Duthieites are encouraged to attend, moderately encouraged to get maudlin, strongly encouraged to get into storytelling, and absolutely COMPELLED to get into the whiskey.

More details HERE. And you can buy tickets HERE.

Have any events you'd like to add for this month? Let us know in the comments! Happy February!

~kc

who can also be found at her website, blogging as leftwriter,

& sweetly tweeting @kcdyer

Turning Points

KathyChung — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:53:31 -0500

One of the really wonderful things for me about the SiWC is getting the chance to witness, hear about, and share in turning points for the writers who attend. For some, it's meeting their agent or getting that book deal. If you've been following our blog, you've seen some of those good news stories here. For others, it's that moment when they are finally able to say "I'm a writer" and believe it.

Over at the Prairie Chicks blog, writer Pamela Callow describes her own turning points, including a chance meeting across a SiWC banquet table with the very editor she was hoping to meet: http://prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com/2010/01/welcome-pamela-callow.html

If you're a Vancouver local, chances are you've spent some time in Duthie Books over the years. Sadly, the last remaining location will be closing at the end of February after half a century as part of the Vancouver landscape. http://www.vancouversun.com/Vancouver+Duthie+books+shut+down+after+years/2459603/story.html

Every time I think of Duthie Books, I think of one of my favourite turning point stories: Michael Slade's tale of the gift Bill Duthie gave him as a young teen. He shared the story for us in a video interview with kc dyer, posted here in'08: http://www.siwc.ca/blogs/siwcadmin/michael-slade-video-interview

Do you have your own turning point story to share? We'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Good reads from good friends

KathyChung — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:47:56 -0500

New books galore this winter from members of our SiWC family. Here are just a few examples:

Michael Slade, long-time friend of the SiWC, has a new book out just in time to give you something to read on dark January nights, or maybe between periods of Olympic hockey or while the Zambonis clear the ice during the speed skating heats. Red Snow tackles the idea of a terrorist attack during the winter games. Check out the details here: http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/15382--new-mystery-novel-focuses-on-possible-terror-attack-during-2010-games

2009 presenter Carol Mason has just revealed the cover of her new book, due out in February, and bound to sit on a totally different shelf from Slade's. The Love Market explores love and choices, divorce and first love. Information here: http://www.carolmasonbooks.com/carolmasonbooks.com/The_Love_Market.html

And our own Diana Gabaldon and co-writer Sam Sykes have a story in the anthology The Dragon Book, which she describes here: http://voyagesoftheartemis.blogspot.com/2009/12/dragon-book.html

Are you an SiWC attendee with good news to share? Post it here in the comments or email me at kathychung at siwc.ca. We'd love to hear about it!

'Tis the Season

KathyChung — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:20:32 -0500

I've just come from the Christmas assembly at my daughter's school, complete with a performance by the 50 member grade 4/5/6 recorder ensemble (orchestra? band? group? What do you call it when it's 50+ kids but only one kind of instrument?)

Anyway, the official kick-off to the holidays at school reminded me that it really is that time of year. For me, that means turkey dinners, lots of baking, and family gatherings. Whatever you celebrate, all of us here at SiWC wish you the very best of times this holiday season. Enjoy!