Category Archives: Books

Surrey Writers’ School at the Shebeen Club Monday

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Surrey Writers School

Who: The Shebeen Club and the Surrey Writers’ School

What: $15 gets you dinner and a drink (cash, plzthxkbai) with the finest of Literati

When: 6-9pm Monday, August 17th

Where: The Shebeen, Behind the Irish Heather in Gastown, 210 Carrall Street

Why: not? It’s a great new school run by actual, talented local writers, and it’s a Monday. What the hell else have you got going that night?

With great pleasure the Shebeen Club will be hosting an informative, educational, and slightly decadent (think Dorian Gray as an academic advisor) evening with Lois Peterson, co-founder and coordinator of the brand-new Surrey Writers’ School.

Surrey School District’s recent announcement that it had axed the Surrey Creative Writing Diploma Program left scores of South Fraser region writers without accessible writing classes.

The Surrey Writers’ School (SWS) was created by Surrey writers / teachers Lois Peterson, Ed Griffin and Doug Brunt to replace the now deceased Diploma Program. “Surrey’s writing program acquired a strong following over the past 16 years,” says SWS Coordinator Lois Peterson. “We know there are people out there wanting to learn skills to write for publication and their own personal satisfaction. ”

Rising like a Phoenix from the ashes (only of course not so cliched) of the Continuing Education Program, the Surrey Writers School aims to serve interested, active writers of the Lower Mainland. We hope you’ll come help us celebrate the birth of this newest edition to the literary scene in BC.

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Federation of BC Writers: Lower Mainland Regional Rep volunteer position

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Charles Dickens breaks through writer's block

Charles Dickens breaks through writer's block

Yes, I’m stepping down, not that my slightly insane schedule ever let me do a proper job of this. It’s a great position for someone who’s organized and community-minded, who likes to support and promote events, groups, and individual writers around Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. It’s highly social, and great exposure. I’d say the job takes four or five hours a week to do properly, since the Lower Mainland is so active and there’s so much to keep track of. Here’s the official posting:

CALL FOR LOWER MAINLAND SUNSHINE COAST REGIONAL REP

The Federation of BC Writers is looking for a member to serve as the LowerMainland/

Sunshine Coast Regional Representative. As a regional representative, your responsibilities

include:

• participating as a member of the Federation board of directors

• helping to organize Federation-sponsored regional events

• representing the Federation at regional literary events

• writing quarterly regional reports for WordWorks magazine and e-newsletters

• communicating regularly with regional members

• acting as a resource for member queries

• maintaining a regional email list

If you’re interested in serving a two-year term for this position, please send an email to

bcwriters at shaw.ca that includes your resume (attached as a Word document) with a succinct cover letter that tells us 1) why you’re interested in the position, 2) how much time you’re able to commit on a monthly basis, 3) a bit about your writing background, and 4) your skills and interests by Friday, July 30. Please put Regional Rep in the subject line.

This is as good a spot as any to mention that this Saturday I’ll be participating in Blogathon, a 24-hour, 48 blog post postathon, to raise money for the Fed. You can sponsor me by selecting “raincoaster.com” from the list of available blogs to sponsor. All the posts will be going up over there. After Blogathon, you just tote up your donation and send the cheque straight to the Fed, which will put it to good use on behalf of British Columbia’s home-grown literary talent.

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How to Write a Best-Seller

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This is foolproof, my friends. Foolproof. Ask any comic dinosaur:

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3 Day Novel Contest Writer’s Retreat

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3 Day Novel Contest Writer's Retreat on Beautiful Bowen Island

From a bright-eyed Friday, September 4th through to a groggy, shaken Tuesday the 8th morning, we’ll be closeting ourselves away in a secluded resort doing nothing but writing. The goal: to create a novel from start to finish in three straight days.

Every year the 3 Day Novel Contest comes around, and every year, something gets in the way. The purpose of this retreat is to ensure that over those three caffeine and stress-packed days, you have nothing else to do but write. And maybe slam some energy drinks.

You can also join this event on Facebook and you can join the Shebeen Club itself there as well.

Host:
Start Time:
Friday, 04 September 2009 at 17:00
End Time:
Tuesday, 08 September 2009 at 11:00
Location:
a resort within an easy ferry ride/drive of Vancouver
Town/City:
Beautiful BC
Phone: 778-235-0592 but email instead, PLEASE
Email:
lorraine.murphy at gmail.com

Reflections on Bowen Island, by Kris Krug

Reflections on Bowen Island, by Kris Krug

Meals, shelter, companionship and isolation as you choose: all are included in the price. We’re still in negotiations, but at this point it looks like the four days (checkout 11am Tuesday) will run us about $800, including your 3 Day Novel Contest registration fee of $50.

There is an absolute maximum of 20 attendees, so express your interest sooner rather than later.

Obviously, we’ve yet to lock all the deets down, so consider this a preliminary announcement and we’ll consider your ATTENDING/MAYBE/NOPE RSVP to be equally tentative until everything is ready for launch. We’ll contact everyone then with the official registration link, where you’ll be able to make your reservation via debit, paypal, or credit card. For now, just drop a comment or email to let us know you’re interested and we’ll keep you informed.

Oh, and by the way, we’re not officially affiliated with the 3 Day Novel Contest, although they have given us their blessing; we’re just big fans who’ve been thinking about doing this for years.

Bowen Bay by KK

Bowen Bay by KK

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BookCamp Vancouver Opens Registration

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BookCamp Vancouver

BookCamp Vancouver

BookCamp Vancouver, a collaborative Unconference inspired by BookCamp Toronto, will take place October 16th at SFU Harbour Centre. Registration is open now, and a full day ticket is absolutely free. Given the interest in this, I suggest you sign up sooner rather than later; there’s also a spot on your registration form to pitch a session if you’d like to lead one.

From the BookCamp Vancouver wiki:

BookCamp Vancouver is a user-generated unconference that brings print publishers, educators, community builders and the tech community together – for free! BookCamp Vancouver is an opportunity to explore the present and future of books and book-like technologies. It’s open to anyone interested in the publishing industry and the potential dynamics of the reader/creator/publisher relationship.

Join us for a day of sharing new ideas, radical notions and engaging conversation! We’ll consider the future of the Book as an object; examine its ongoing role as a delivery mechanism for stories, information and entertainment; and examine how publishers can leverage themselves for success in the digital age.

Participants and self-selected guests will choose the agenda for the day, forming breakup groups to discuss and potentially create future book technologies, workflows, and grand schemes. Lend your passion and expertise to Bookcamp Vancouver by volunteering to facilitate a session.

Our plan is for this to be a day of talking and doing – of rolling up the proverbial shirt sleeves and tinkering with the publishing mechanism. We’re inviting authors, typographers, designers, printers, technologists, booksellers, literary agents, publishers and geeks of every stripe to come along and consider if and how technology can transform and perhaps improve on The Book.

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