Diane Ziff on Perseverance
by Diane Ziff Perseverance reminds me of the baby who is teaching himself to walk. He wants to stand on his own two feet to move around and explore the world he lives in. This knowledge comes with bumps, and bruises, but baby perseveres and never gives up until she has mastered walking around her […]
Graduating to the Ultimate Test
By Joanne Fogolin What does the word “perseverance” mean? I think it should represent the hardest thing you’ve ever done – ever. It should slap you in the face like an epiphany. It should demonstrate your ultimate test. There must be a really good reason why you choose to persevere. For me, this is true. […]
What To Expect When Your Book Group Comes To The Whistler Writers Fest
by Paula Shackleton For the past (fill in the blank) number of years you and the girls have met on a monthly basis to discuss a chosen book. In the welcome environment of each other’s homes you’ve poured the wine, laid out the food, lit the candles and greeted the guests. Some of the books […]
Post-it Perseverance
by Gillie Easdon My laundry room/office cupboard door is bedecked in square post-it notes, pink for storyline and chapters, blue for additional notes to explore and plum for research yet to do on things like ABI (acquired brain injuries) and Bayou prawns. This skeleton, sans a bunch of bones still, is proof to me that […]
We All Need Our Personal Hamburg
by Katherine Fawcett It’s 1962, 4:30 on a Tuesday morning and an unknown band is wrapping up their set in a gritty tavern on the outskirts of the red-light district in Hamburg, Germany. It’s 2016, 10:30 on a Tuesday evening and a little-known writer is unloading the dishwasher in a quiet Canadian town. The tavern […]
Help Mother Tongue Publishing Raise Funds for Book on BC Artists
Mother Tongue Publishing has had a number of their authors come to the Whistler Writers Festival over the years. Check out their campaign to raise funds for a new book: Yesterday we launched our big fundraising campaign to raise $20,000 towards publishing the 9th and 10th books in our Unheralded Artists of BC series! It […]
Why the Writers Fest Just Couldn’t Call it Quits
by Stella Harvey We rise by lifting others. Robert Ingersoll This is the fifteen anniversary of the Whistler Writers Festival, a cause for celebration and reflection. As I look back, I think about the first festival in 2002. Twenty participants, one guest author, all gathered in my living room. Those who came from Vancouver and […]
Ashley Sweeney publishes Eliza Waite
And in the good news department, the Whistler Writing Society received a note from Ashley Sweeney, who attended the Whistler Writers Festival several years ago. Since then she has released her first novel, Eliza Waite. Published in May by She Writes Press of Berkeley, Calif., and already in its second printing, Eliza Waite is the story of an intrepid young […]
Winning Without Winning
by Mark Cameron I lost today … and still won. I learned this morning that I did not make the list of finalists for the inaugural Whistler Independent Book Awards. I had been thrilled to find my name on the list of 10 fiction nominees — the “longlist” — for what some are calling the first major awards […]
Under the Cover: Book Clubs, Writers, and Readers
by Stella Leventoyannis Harvey Every time I enter a room of book aficionados at a book club I wonder if I will have anything of value to say. After all, these participants are not discussing just any book. They’ve chosen my novel this month. I’m grateful and excited. But I’m also terrified. I am […]