August Events and More

August is here, bringing festivals, readings, contests, calls for submissions and more. Scroll down for literary festivals on the Sunshine Coast, writing groups in Victoria, calls for submissions from two literary magazines, a new season of the Wild Prose Reading series, a Writer in Residence position at Memorial University in Newfoundland, writing retreats in Greece – and much more.

Note: the Federation of BC Writers is not directly affiliated with any of the following organizations or groups.

Submit your event or announcement to our next blog post here, or contact Rachel at rachel@bcwriters.ca.

Writers & Friends: Call for Participants

Tuesday afternoons, 1:00 – 2:30 pm

Cook Street Village Activity Centre, 380 Cook St, Victoria, BC

Drop-ins welcome

Members $2.00; Others $4.00

Memoirs, journaling, travel, opinions, poetry, and humour – all are welcome to be read in a casual and comfortable setting, often followed by discussions in the lounge of the Cook Street Village Activity Centre. No critiques unless requested, and new writers are most welcome.

For more information, call the Centre at 250-384-6542

2nd Annual Sunshine Coast Art & Words Festival

August 10-13, 2023

Gibsons Public Market, Gibsons, BC

Forty authors, artists and photographers have been paired together into twenty teams through a random draw to inspire each other to create art and literature that will be presented and exhibited to the public. This year the Festival will offer fourteen workshops in the areas of art, photography and writing.

For more information, visit https://www.scwes.ca/home

POETRY WORKSHOPS with Yvonne Blomer

McLoughlin Gardens, 814 Tasman Road, Merville, BC

Fee per workshop: $30 + GST members, $35 + GST non-members

https://www.mcloughlingardens.org/workshops-with-yvonne-blomer

Ecopoetics: Responding to The Natural World

Saturday, August 12, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 PM

In the pre-Romantic era, mountains were not considered beautiful, rather they were seen as wasted space. The Romantic poets changed how we view the natural world. What are we, in the 21st Century seeing and not seeing? How can poetry lead us to look and see and report in language and metaphor our changing world? In this three-hour class we will read poets whose focus is on the natural world, we will write poems in response to our own observations and engagement with the changing world around us. The class will include reading and discussing poems and in-class writing and perhaps a few form poems.

Ekphrasis: Responding to Art

Sunday, August 20, 1 – 4:00 PM

An ekphrastic poem as a poem that is responding in some way to a piece of visual art. A poem that is inspired by visual art and in conversation with that art. In the past, such poems would have been more descriptive but now a days poets are interested in their poem standing alone and bringing the poets interpretation or way of seeing to the piece of art. In this class we will write poems in response to visual art. We will read and discuss example poems, Yvonne will bring images for you to respond to and also a few form poems to explore ekphrasis with.

Join Yvonne for a few hours where you will inhabit pieces of art and speak to or from them through poetry. Bring pen and paper and one or two important art pieces or photos from home as well and be ready to create several new drafts of poems.

https://www.mcloughlingardens.org/workshops-with-yvonne-blomer

Yolk Literary Magazine Volume 3.2: Call for Submissions

Theme: Solastalgia

Deadline: August 14

Yolk is a Montreal-based literary journal that accepts Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Visual Arts from Canadian artists. For the purposes of publication, they consider a Canadian to be anyone with Canadian citizenship or permanent residency, at home or abroad; or anyone currently residing in Canada.

Direct all submissions to themail@yolkliterary.ca. Please visit their submission guidelines for further information about the theme, payment, and formatting of submissions.

Surrey Muse Art & Literature Awards

Submission deadline: August 15

Offering awards in five categories, these are the first Surrey-based art and literature awards extended to writers, poets, artists, and musicians throughout Canada.
Each award promises $1000 for the First Place winners. For the Second and Third Place winners and the three Honorable Mentions, each award promises citations and an opportunity to present work at Surrey Muse gatherings in 2024. Independent judges and jury members will view anonymous submissions to determine the six winners for each award.

For more information on each of the five awards, click the links below:

Joy Kogawa Award for Fiction

https://surreymuseawards.wordpress.com/fiction-award/

Faith Nolan Award for Music
https://surreymuseawards.wordpress.com/music-award/

Susan Crean Award for Nonfiction
https://surreymuseawards.wordpress.com/nonfiction-award/

Vera Manuel Award for Poetry
https://surreymuseawards.wordpress.com/poetry-award/

Norval Morrisseau Award for Visual Arts

https://surreymuseawards.wordpress.com/visual-arts-award/

Royal City Literary Arts Society: Poetry in the Park

Wednesday Nights, August 16 (New West Pride Night), August 23, and August 30, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Queen’s Park Bandshell, New Westminster, BC

Free summer poetry reading series, with two feature poets and an open mic each evening.

https://rclas.com/recurring/poetryinthepark-com/

Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts

August 17-20, 2023

Rockwood Centre, Sechelt, BC

Canada’s longest running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers, featuring established literary stars and exciting, new voices, with opportunities for writers and readers to mingle amidst Rockwood’s heritage gardens. For more information, visit https://writersfestival.ca/

Rosemary’s House: Cross-Genre Writing Retreat

Application deadline: August 18, 2023

Sithonia, Greece

Rosemary’s House is hosting cross-writing retreats with three mentors this summer and fall:

Rebecca Abrams, award-winning author and critic, from August 24th-31st.

Jake Brunger, musical theatre writer and lyricist, joining September 9th-16th.

Jenny Zhang, celebrated author and screenwriter, guiding September 25th-October 2nd.

Scholarships will be offered for exceptional applicants.

For more information, visit: www.rosemaryshouse.org

Wild Prose Reading Series: Troubled Towns and Waters

Thursday, August 24

Doors 6:30 pm; Open Mic 7:00 pm; Featured Readers 7:30 pm

Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Road, Victoria, BC

Admission: $5 or pay what you can. Please bring CASH for admission and books.

Free refreshments

Join three authors of literary crime novels: poet Curtis LeBlanc will read from his debut novel, Sunsetter, Michael Melgaard will read from his debut novel, Not That Kind of Place, and local writer and musician Mike Sadava will read from his debut novel, Troubled Waters.

The event will start with an OPEN MIC. Participants are invited to bring work to share (maximum 5 minutes). Sandy Ibrahim will start the open mic with an excerpt from her creative nonfiction piece, “Preparing the Eulogy,” published in the Spring issue of The Malahat Review.

For more information, visit https://www.susansanfordblades.com/wild-prose-reading-series

Call for Applications: Writer in Residence

Application Deadline: Friday, September 1, 2023

Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland

Program dates 2024/2025 or 2025/2026

The Department of English invites applications for a Writer-in-Residence during the 2024/25 or the 2025/26 university sessions. Subject to budgetary approval, the position is intended to honour new and established writers whose published work demonstrates a high level of literary achievement. During the course of the residency, the author will work on their writing projects while making time available to students and writers within the University and in the community at large. The University provides office space and access to University facilities, promotion, performance venues, an approximately $10,000 stipend, a two-week writing retreat at Kent Cottage outside of Brigus (co-sponsored by the Landfall Trust), and a warm welcome to the University and writing community. If the Resident does not reside in the St. John’s area and needs housing support, an additional stipend may be available, pending budgetary approval from the Dean’s office.

For more information, visit https://mun.ca/english/about/career-opportunities/