Festival news and announcements will be posted here from time to time. To be notified by email when important news is posted, please subscribe to our notification list.
To read past news, click here.
November 2011 update
Posted: November 9/11
Greetings!
We hope you have a good stack of books to get you through the dark days ahead. We'll help you out with some suggestions in the next while as we begin to post the names of the writers who will be joining us for our 30th anniversary celebrations, August 16-19, 2012. You can expect to see some festival favourites from years past along with exciting new voices.
The 2012 Festival of the Written Arts will coincide with both the Hackett Park Summer Arts & Crafts Fair (celebrating its 25th anniversary) and the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival. We regret being on the same weekend as the chamber music festival and understand that this presents a conflict for some of our patrons and volunteers. We changed our dates in 2011 to avoid being on the same weekend but we don't have that option in 2012. If you're coming from out of town, consider booking your accommodation sooner than later. It will be a very busy weekend on the Sunshine Coast!
Sunshine Coasters: drop by and see us at the Trail Bay Centre in Sechelt next Friday and Saturday, November 18 and 19 for our annual book and souvenir sale. We welcome your donations of books too. They can be dropped off at the office (by Thursday, November 17), Monday to Friday, 9:30 to 4 pm. It's best to call ahead to 604-885-9631 to make sure I'm not out running an errand when you come. We're looking for good quality fiction and non-fiction titles. No 1965 nursing textbooks or out-of-date guide books please!
The Sunshine Coast Arts Council's Literary Reading Series presents Billie Livingston on Saturday night, November 19 at 8pm at the SC Arts Centre in Sechelt. Billie Livingston writes fiction, poetry, and essays. Her latest are Greedy Little Eyes, short fiction, and a young adult novel, The Trouble with Marlene. Of her two novels, Going Down Swinging, published in 2001, and Cease to Blush (2006), the latter was chosen one of the year's best books by The Globe & Mail, January Magazine, and The Tyee.
Theresa Kishkan celebrates the launch of her new book Mnemonic: A Book of Trees tonight (Tuesday, November 8) at the SC Arts Council at 7 pm.
Keep an eye on our website www.writersfestival.ca. We have posted some great photos taken by Cathie Roy at the 2011 festival. You can follow us on Facebook and I'll even try to find something to tweet about now and again!
Cheers for now,
Jane Davidson
Producer
Free Community Event during Festival 2011
Posted: June 21/11
The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts is pleased to announce the addition of a free community event during the Festival featuring Sunshine Coast resident Jerry Thompson. Jerry's book, Cascadia's Fault looks at the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a crack in the earth's crust located about 50 km offshore, running from the tip of Vancouver Island to Northern California. The book examines not only the science and the consequences of a major earthquake, but also the planning that is being done to help coastal communities manage and survive a major earthquake.
Bill Elsner, the SCRD's Emergency Program Co-ordinator, will join Jerry for an onstage conversation. The event will be hosted and moderated by Sean Eckford, News Director of CKAY-FM, who plays an integral role in the local emergency communications protocol.
The event will get underway at 11:45 on Sunday, August 7. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion immediately following the event at 12:30 pm.
Spring 2011 Newsletter II
May 11, 2011
The Festival brochure is now available. If you haven't received a copy by mail or picked one up in your local bookstore or library, please call us. We would be happy to add your name to our mailing list. The contents of the brochure are posted on our website at www.writersfestival.ca.
Program change
Janet Romain will replace Sarah Leavitt in the annual New Voices event. Janet is a Métis Canadian from Fort Fraser, BC whose first book, Grandpère, has been called an "instant classic" by Richard Van Camp. Read more about Janet here. Join Janet and Gurjinder Basran with host Sheryl MacKay on Sunday, August 7 at 2:30 pm.
Ticket sales
Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, May 25 at 8 am by telephone only at 604-885-9631 or toll free at 1-800-565-9631. Please have your choices ready and your credit card handy to speed up the process. After May 25, tickets can be purchased by telephone or in person at our office, 5511 Shorncliffe Avenue in Sechelt. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm.
Tickets are $15 each, Festival passes (for all 21 events) are $250, Friday and Saturday passes are $85 for each day and the Sunday pass is $75. Tickets to the Salmon Dinner at Pebbles Restaurant are $18. All prices include HST. Ticket purchases are non-refundable. Exchanges are subject to a $5 processing fee.
Writing Workshop
A workshop for writers with Zsuzsi Gartner will be held on Sunday, August 7 from 9 am to 12 pm. The cost is $35 and the workshop is limited to 10 participants. Please call the office for more information (including a workshop outline) and to register.
Green Green Green
Please support our "zero waste" goal by bringing your own water bottles and coffee cups. We won't sell commercially bottled water but drinking water will be available.
Accessibility
The District of Sechelt has made some major improvements to the park including:
- a direct path from the parking area on Shorncliffe Avenue (where we will create a "drop off only" zone) to the lower entrance of the Pavilion
- widening and paving of paths and walkways
- adjustment to the grade of pathways
- installation of railings and lighting
We thank the District of Sechelt who listened to our (and your!) concerns, submitted a successful application to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada for the funding for this project and proceeded with the upgrades. We also thank the Government of Canada for supporting this initiative.
Parking at the Festival
Parking in the immediate vicinity is somewhat limited however there is ample parking just behind the park at Chatelech Secondary School and on the road leading to the school. Please consider leaving the parking spaces closest to the festival site for patrons with mobility challenges. Public transit is another option; the schedule is here.
Out and About
Come meet members of the Festival's Board of Directors at the Sunnycrest Mall in Gibsons and outside the Sunshine Coast Credit Union in Madeira Park on Saturday, May 14 from 10 am to 2 pm. They'll be at the Trail Bay Mall on Saturday, May 21 from 10 am to 2 pm. Learn more about the festival, pick up a brochure and enter our free draw for a beautiful Festival gift basket.
Kudos
The recent BC Book Prizes Gala was a big night for some of our Festival 2011 writers. Gurjinder Basran won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, John Vaillant won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and The Bill Duthie Booksellers' Award went to Grant Lawrence and Harbour Publishing. Congratulations all!
Links
Some of BC's finest writers will appear at this and other festivals over the weeks and months to come. Check out the Shuswap Writers Festival, May 27-29, 2011 at www.saow.ca and the Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival, July 14-17, 2011 at www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
And that's all for now. We look forward to chatting with you over the weeks to come and to gathering together once again in Sechelt, August 4-7.
Spring 2011 Newsletter
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS — August 4-7, 2011
The festival line-up is now complete and posted on the website at www.writersfestival.ca. We're still tweaking the schedule and will have it posted soon. Please check the website regularly for updates and news.
The brochure will be ready for distribution at the end of April. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, May 25 at 8am by telephone only at 1-800-565-9631 or 604-885-9631. Tickets can be purchased in person or by phone as of Thursday, May 26. Our office will be open from 9am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday.
Single tickets are $15 and Festival passes are $250. We will offer day passes again this year; Friday and Saturday passes are $85 and the Sunday pass is $75. Pebbles Restaurant at the Driftwood Inn will serve the Sunday evening salmon dinner for $18 per person.
We were thrilled by the success of our green initiatives last year. There's no turning back now! Zero waste remains the goal. Please bring your own refillable water bottles and coffee cups. Drinking water will be available but bottled water will not be sold on the festival site.
The District of Sechelt will be making improvements to the park over the next few weeks to improve access to the site and the overall safety of the Rockwood grounds, particularly for those with mobility considerations. Again, stay tuned to the website for updates.
A note to our out-of-town guests: reservations are already closed on two sailings from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale on Thursday, August 4 and three sailings on Friday, August 5! It's not too early to make your travel plans. Suddenly, August doesn't seem so far away. We look forward to sharing more news and updates over the weeks to come.
LINKS
It's BC Book Prizes season. Congratulations to all nominees including 2010 Festival writers Jack Hodgins and Jack Whyte and 2011 writers Grant Lawrence, Gurjinder Basran, Sarah Leavitt, Zsuzsi Gartner and John Vaillant. www.bcbookprizes.ca. A special shout out to the Sunshine Coast's own Gary Kent and Kim La Fave, author and illustrator respectively of Fishing With Gubby (Harbour Publishing).
The Sunshine Coast Arts Council's spring literary reading series continues with Sandra Birdsell and Lisa (Hobbs) Birnie. www.suncoastarts.com/profiles/scartscouncil/writersseries.html
Interesting commentary from Anna Porter (coming to the 2011 festival) on Canadian publishing: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/time-to-lead-the-shaky-state-of-canadian-book-publishing/article1941700/
The Gillers return to the CBC www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/03/30/giller-cbc.html
The Vancouver International Writers Festival's Incite series takes place every second Wednesday at the Vancouver Public Library. Details are here: www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite.
Is Canada good to its writers? www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/our-authors-speak-up-is-this-country-good-to-its-writers/article1941359/
Would you like to receive our newsletter by email? Please visit the home page to subscribe.