Looking for some writing inspiration to carry you through the spring? This week’s groundUP includes invitations to the Western Canada Jewish Book Awards, the Wild Prose Reading series in Victoria, an author talk in Courtenay with Carolyn Redl, a double book launch in Nanaimo with Haley Healey, an online “Crime to Courtroom” workshop from Sisters in Crime, and an intimate screenwriting workshop in Cedar (just south of Nanaimo).
And there’s more! Submit your recent book to the SCWES Book Awards by May 30, your best flash fiction to the Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize by June 15, and your application for the Writing Childhood Memories workshop at Hollyhock on Cortes Island by June 18.
Scroll down for all the details.
Note: the Federation of BC Writers is not directly affiliated with the following organisations or groups.
Submit your event or call-out to our next blog post here, or contact Rachel at rachel@bcwriters.ca.
Western Canada Jewish Book Awards
Wednesday, May 24, 7:00 pm
Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, 950 West 41st Ave, Vancouver, BC
FREE (Pre-registration required)
Winners will be announced in six categories at the Western Canada Jewish Book Awards Ceremony. For more information and to register, visit https://www.jccgv.com/jewish-book-festival/wcj-book-awards/
Earth-Shattering Prose with Gregor Craigie, Jen Neale, Frances Peck, and Eliza Robertson
Thursday, May 25th Doors 6:30 pm; Open Mic 7:00 pm; Featured Readers 7:30 pm
Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Road, Victoria, BC
Admission: $5 CASH or pay what you can
Free refreshments
May is reading month! Join us as we explore the theme of earthquakes and human atrocities. Gregor Craigie will read from On Borrowed Time; Frances Peck will read from her debut, The Broken Places; Jen Neale will read from her novel-in-progress about the Vancouver earthquake; and Eliza Robertson will read from her brand new true-crime book, I Got A Name: The Murder of Krystal Senyk.
Please bring CASH for admission and books.
Find out more about the readers and the event here: https://www.susansanfordblades.com/wild-prose-reading-series.
Book Launch: Oldman’s River: new and collected poems by Sid Marty
Thursday, May 25, 2023, 7:30 PM
Bramasole, 851 7th Ave Fernie, BC
Free
A three-time nominee for the Governor General’s Award, numerous Banff Mountain Book Awards, and the recipient of Alberta’s Grant MacEwan Literary Arts Award for lifetime achievement, Sid Marty will be reading from Oldman’s River at Bramasole in Fernie. The event will include an interview by Keith Liggett, a bit of poetry and a bit of music, combining all the words of Sid in one broad evening. Books will be for sale courtesy of Polar Peek Books & Treasures.
Author Talk: Carolyn Redl – Four Seasons by the Salish Sea
Friday, May 26, 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Courtenay Library, 300 6th Street, Courtenay, BC
FREE
Join the VIRL in welcoming author Carolyn Redl with her new book Four Seasons by the Salish Sea: Discovering the Natural Wonders of Coastal Living. A Q&A will follow the reading. Refreshments will be served and books will be available for sale courtesy of the Laughing Oyster Bookshop. For more information, visit https://virl.bc.ca/event/author-reading-with-carolyn-redl/
Double Book Launch: Haley Healey
Saturday, May 27, 1:00 pm
Nanaimo Bakery and Café, 2025 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, BC
Everyone welcome
Join bestselling author Haley Healey for an afternoon of adventurous stories and brave women to celebrate the launch of her two new picture books—the first in the Trailblazing Canadians series from Heritage House. Kimiko Murakami: A Japanese-Canadian Pioneer is the inspiring and true-life story of a Salt Spring Island homesteader and internment camp survivor. Lilian Bland: An Amazing Aviatrix is the amazing life story of Lilian Bland, the first woman ever to design, build, and fly her own airplane.
Signed books will be available for sale courtesy of Windowseat Books.
Online Workshop: Homicide – From Crime to the Courtroom
Saturday, May 27, 2023, 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Sponsored by Sisters in Crime – Canada West
FREE on Zoom (registration required)
Sisters in Crime-Canada West invites you to join us as we talk with Calgary Homicide Detective Dave Sweet about homicide investigations and a detective’s involvement in the case—from the discovery of the body to identifying and interviewing the suspect, to the trial.
For more information and the registration link, visit https://sinc-cw.ca/upcoming-events/
SCWES Book Awards for BC Authors: Call for Submissions
Submission deadline: May 30, 2023
Shortlist announced July 1, 2023; finalists announced August 1, 2023
Winners announced at the Annual Sunshine Coast Art & Words Festival, August 17-20, 2023
The Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Awards offers prizes in fiction, non-fiction and poetry, in both traditional and independent publishing streams. Books must be published between January 2021 and May 30, 2023. The SCWES judges rate all books and provide comments for the author. The cost is included in the submission fee. For more information, visit https://www.readlocalbc.ca/event/scwes-book-awards-for-bc-authors-2023-submissions-deadline/
Intensive Screenwriting Workshop
Saturday, June 11, 2023, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Cedar Community Hall, 2388 Cedar Road, Nanaimo, BC
Cost: $140; maximum 10 participants.
For twenty years Keith Digby and Brian Paisley’s personal, interactive small-group workshops have helped aspiring writers master the lean, rich craft of screenwriting. Bring your original story idea, draft or adaptation project and let them help you achieve your writing goals in this one-day workshop for new and emerging writers. For more information, visit https://www.westcoastscreenwriting.com/
Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize: Call for Submissions
Deadline: Thursday, June 15, 2023
Winners notified: July 15, 2023
Entry fee: $20
Editorial Critique: $25
Have you got the write stuff? Pulp Literature’s 2023 Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize is now open! Enter for your chance at the $300 top prize and publication in Pulp Literature Issue 41, Winter 2023. Send us your best previously unpublished short fiction under 1000 words by June 15. All entries include a 1-year digital subscription to Pulp Literature. See all contest details at https://pulpliterature.com/contests/the-hummingbird-flash-fiction-prize/
Writers’ Retreat – A Secret Garden: Writing Childhood Memories
Co-facilitated by Caroline Adderson and Kathy Page
September 17-23, 2023
Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC
Fee: $750 CAD (includes meals and accommodation)
Register by June 18 for 15% discount
Join authors Caroline Adderson and Kathy Page as they explore the “creative Eden” of childhood. Whether you want to use childhood experiences directly as subject matter in fiction, memoir or poetry, or translate the powerfully imprinted memories and sensations into “emotional autobiography,” or capture the child’s point of view when writing juvenile fiction, this retreat aims to make more available this resource that is unique to you.
Designed for both new writers and those with an established practice, this workshop/retreat is not intended as an exploration of trauma, but to help you turn memory into material and write more resonantly and empathetically.
For information, visit https://hollyhock.secure.retreat.guru/program/secret-garden
