Book Review: We Want What we Want by Alix Ohlin

Book Review by Kate Heskett Changing Track: Ohlin’s Tantalizing Tales We Want What We Want is a collection of short stories from two-time Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist, Alix Ohlin. The thirteen discrete tales —there are no crossover characters — offer an experience akin to being thrown blindfolded from a plane and landing on a series […]

Picking up what was lost: Poetry Review

Poetry review of works by Steven Heighton, Canisia Lubrin, Arleen Paré, Yusuf Saadi and Terence Young by Mary MacDonald   This year, the Whistler Writers Festival hosts five poets: Steven Heighton (Selected Poems 1983-2020), Canisia Lubrin (The Dyzgraphxst), Arleen Paré (First), Yusuf Saadi (Pluviophile), and Terence Young (Smithereens). Heighton is a master craftsman, equally at ease in fiction, non-fiction, and children’s literature. As a poet, his voice is […]

The warmth of the Whistler crowd

  Photo: Joern Rohde/joernrohde.com My first time participating at the Whistler Writers Festival was in 2019. It was a chilly evening, but I remember the warmth of the crowd that attended for Stella’s launch of her latest novel at the time, Finding Callidora. Having been asked by Stella if I would be interested in preparing […]

A tale of shapeshifters, runaway organs, and angry sasquatches

Book Review: Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson I am bereft.  When you turn the final pages of a story that’s spanned several books, you have built up a relationship with the characters, and it can be heartbreaking to say goodbye. This is what happened to me and other Eden Robinson fans who have […]

Book Review: Sufferance by Thomas King

Book Review: Sufferance by Thomas King “We Exist at the Sufferance of Others.”  With these final words scribbled at the bottom of his last assignment, Forecaster left. The protagonist of Thomas King’s novel Sufferance, Jeremiah Camp, a.k.a. Forecaster, could look into the hidden motives of humanity and see patterns that held opportunities for the uber-rich. He saw something […]

6 Top Tips on Pitching Your Book to a Publisher

6 Top Tips on Pitching Your Book to a Publisher By Stella Harvey 1.  Research the publisher you are pitching to. Understand what they publish. 2. You have 15 minutes with the publisher, spend half of that time talking about your book and yourself. In other words, approximately 7 of the 15 minutes. 3. When talking about […]

A Festival for Reminiscence and Reflection

A Festival for Reminiscence and Reflection by Terence Young P: Libby McKeever, former librarian, and Jane Millen, teacher, with students attending Terence’s writing workshop in 2010. The last time I attended the Whistler Writers Festival was, I believe, in the fall of 2010. Patricia [Young] was reading from a new collection, and I had just […]

Making Space For Me in the Circle

Making Space for Me in the Circle: A Memory from the 2018 Whistler Writers Festival by Darrel J. McLeod P: Janet Rogers, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Eden Robinson, and Darrel J. McLeod The 2018 Festival was the stuff dreams are made of… dreams that come true. For the Friday evening jazz cabaret, I shared the stage with a few of […]

Portrait of an Activist: Book Review

Portrait of an Activist: Book review: Petra by Shaena Lambert by Katherine Fawcett Petra, the latest book by award-winning Vancouver author Shaena Lambert, is a compelling fictionalized biography of feminist, activist and Germany’s original Green Party leader Petra Kelly.  Set in Germany in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, it’s a meticulously researched and creatively presented study […]

How the festival was born

How the festival was born Did you know that the seed for the Whistler Writers Festival was planted in Stella Harvey‘s living room twenty years ago? Some 20-25 folks brought delicious homemade meals for the potluck, and their interest in hearing author Andreas Schroeder read from his work and give a talk on the subject […]