Whistler Writers Festival Explains Why Fence-Sitting is Dangerous

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ONLY SEVEN SPACES REMAIN IN WHISTLER’s writer-in-residence program, September 2009

Wayne Grady and Merilyn Simonds prove to be such popular tutors that Whistler area writers are urged not to sit on the fence for too long…

July 17 2009 Whistler, BC –  When Wayne Grady and Merilyn Simonds take up residence on Whistler’s Alta Lake this fall, they bring a wealth of writing know-how with them.  

Only seven spaces remain on the residency program, and interested participants have until August 10, or until all spaces are filled, to sign on.

The residency enables writers to workshop fiction and non-fiction work with Grady or Simonds through one-on-one feedback sessions and group lectures on various aspects of the craft of writing.

Wayne Grady, author of Tree (co-authored with David Suzuki), Bringing Back the Dodo and The Bone Museum, is also a former editor with Harrowsmith and Equinox magazines, and is currently an adjunct professor of creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

Merilyn Simonds is the author of The Convict Lover, a finalist for the Governor Generals’ award, the short story collection The Lion in the Room Next Door, and novel The Holding, a New York Times’ Editors Choice selection.

The couple will each work with a group of ten writers over the month of September, doubling the reach of the successful Writer-in-Residence workshop program, which launched in 2007 with Franklin the Turtle author Paulette Bourgeois, and was followed by speculative fiction writer Candas Jane Dorsey in 2008.

Writers interested in taking part in the residency program need to register online at www.theviciouscircle.ca.  A short synopsis of the work to be developed during the residency, plus a manuscript of no more than 20 double spaced pages, is due August 10, to enable Grady or Simonds to review the work in advance of the workshops.

The residency, which costs just $250, forms the manuscript-intensive component of the Whistler Readers and Writers Festival, which will take place September 11-13 2009 at Whistler's Creekside  and offers a creative boot-camp for writers at all levels of practice. Sessions at the festival start from $10, with several free sessions hosted. A full Festival pass for the weekend costs $180. Tickets and full program details at www.theviciouscircle.ca

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Contact: Stella Harvey, Festival Director, Tel: 604 932 4518, Stella25@telus.net

For more info and downloadable photos, see: http://www.pitchengine.com/whistlerreadersandwritersfestival/whistlers-3rd-annual-writer-in-residence-program-doubles-in-size-for-september-2009/16573/