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 […]
Celebrated award winner Susan Juby named this year’s Whistler Writer-in-Residence
Susan Juby, the 2016 winner of Canada’s esteemed Stephen Leacock Award, is moving to Whistler this fall as the community’s official Writer-in-Residence. The critically acclaimed best-selling author, celebrated for her heartfelt Young Adult novels and humourous writing style, received the Stephen Leacock medal earlier this month for her novel Republic of Dirt (2015). Juby is […]
Whistler Independent Book Awards announced in The Georgia Straight
The inaugural 2016 Whistler Independent Book Awards announced their nominees on Monday (July 4), narrowing the field in the four represented genres of fiction, non-fiction, crime fiction, and poetry. Established earlier this year, the WIBAs recognize excellence in the self-publishing community. Eligibility is strict: authors must have paid all production costs themselves, and must retain […]
Whistler Independent Book Awards Nominees Announced
Nominees for the longlist of the Whistler Independent Book Awards were announced today by the award organizers, the Whistler Writing Society and Vivalogue Publishing. Titles have been nominated in four categories – fiction, non-fiction, crime fiction and poetry – and the full list is printed below. Submissions closed on June 6, and the longlisting committee […]
A Midsummer Night’s Murder Mystery Saturday, June 18, 6pm
We hope you can join us for A Midsummer Night’s Murder Mystery, this year’s annual fundraiser at The Point Artist-Run Centre on Saturday, June 18th. We’ve pulled out all the stops with a five course menu paired with five fine wines from BC Wine Studio, six-piece Vancouver gypsy jazz band Swing2Go, a silent auction, live […]