WORDWORKS Fall 2006
T h e Vo i c e o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a Wr i t e r s
Betsy Warland: Building a Community of Writers
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Features
News
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Author! Author! The Launch
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How to Saw the Lady in Half A skeptic looks at Creative Writing courses
Contests & Markets
A Note from our Managing Editor The Press Room
By Kay McCracken
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By Margaret Thompson
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21 Contests & Markets
Scratching the Writing Itch How a creative writing class changed my life By Linda Crosfield
13 To School or Not to School: That is Two Questions
Community 26 Launched! New titles by Federation members
Shannon Cowan in Conversation with Lynne Van Luven
29 Regional Reports Member news from around the province
16 Betsy Warland: Building a Community of Writers Interview by Fernanda Viveiros
23 Pitching Professionally How to captivate editors and agents with your nonfiction book idea By Julie Ferguson
Cover photo by D. Larson
WORDWORKSâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;FALL 2006
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
WORDWORKS THE FEDERATION IS THE VOICE OF WRITERS IN BC— SUPPORTING, DEVELOPING AND EDUCATING WRITERS WHILE FOSTERING A COMMUNITY FOR WRITING THROUGHOUT THE PROVINCE.
A Note From Our Managing Editor
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he tempo tends to speed up at this time of year. The long, lazy days of summer give way to long, crazy “To Do” lists and blazing phoenix-like are thoughts of school—creative writing classes and programs to be exact. Publisher THE FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Editorial Committee MARGARET THOMPSON LINDA CROSFIELD SHANNON COWAN GAIL BUENTE SHIRLEY RUDOLPH
Managing Editor FERNANDA VIVEIROS
Production & Design SHIRLEY RUDOLPH
Webmaster GUILLAUME LEVESQUE
2006-2007 Board of Directors PRESIDENT—BRIAN BUSBY VICE PRESIDENT—KARIN KONSTANTYNOWICZ TREASURER—GREG BALL SECRETARY—LOIS PETERSON PAST PRESIDENT—MARGARET THOMPSON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR—FERNANDA VIVEIROS
Regional Representatives 1. NORTH—LYNDA WILLIAMS 2. SOUTH EAST—ANNE STRACHAN 3. CENTRAL—KAY MCCRACKEN 4. FRASER VALLEY—SYLVIA TAYLOR 5. LOWER MAINLAND—JOCELYN COBURN 6. THE ISLANDS—DAVID FRASER THE FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS PO BOX 3887 STN TERMINAL VANCOUVER, BC V6B 3Z3 T: 604-683-2057 BCWRITERS@SHAW.CA WWW.BCWRITERS.COM ISSN # 0843-1329
In this issue of WordWorks, we cover creative writing classes and programs —their merits, their limitations, and their role in building community between writers. Skeptic Margaret Thompson believes in a little mystery vis-a-vis the writing process while Linda Crosfield’s life was forever changed by taking a writing class. Shannon Cowan and Lynne Van Luven discuss the advantages and idiosyncrasies of academic creative writing programs while my own interview with Betsy Warland reaffirmed my belief that sometimes the best inspiration a writer can have is the experience and companionship of fellow writers. Whether honing new skills or seeking royalty advice, the support of a writing community, like that found in a classroom of like-minded souls, can be found in a writing organization such as the Federation. In fact, “fostering a community for writing throughout the province” is one of our mandates so finding new ways to help our members develop, publish and promote their work is high on our own To Do list. We are pursuing opportunities to play a more prominent role in building community within our membership, and working to develop stronger ties with BC’s magazine and book publishing associations. The Federation is sponsoring the readings at the Association of Book Publishers of BC’s Poetry in Transit Tenth Anniversary event at the Vancouver International Writers Festival and we have allocated funding to sponsor several other literary festivals in the coming months. At this year’s Word on the Street in Vancouver (Sunday, Sept. 24), the Federation will host a 30th anniversary celebration in the Authors Tent at 5:30 pm. There will be readings by our Literary Writes winners (hosted by poet Sandy Shreve) followed by musical entertainment and refreshments. It’s the perfect opportunity to catch up on literary gossip, mingle with colleagues and nosh on cake and goodies while enjoying your membership in our community of writers. Fernanda Viveiros
PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40685010 POSTAL CUSTOMER NO. 7017320 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO FEDERATION OF BC WRITERS BOX 3887 STN TERMINAL VANCOUVER BC V6B 3Z3
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WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
NEWS
The Press Room
International Focus for 2006 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival As we head into my first Festival as Artistic Director, I’m happy to tell you that we have a fantastic line-up of authors for 2006. At a time when world events seem to be evermore perilous, it is even more important to experience the world though the words of our literary artists, who chart the voyage of our deeper selves.
Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival The Vancouver International Writers Festival, one of North America’s premiere literary events, will take place October 17 to 22 at venues located throughout Granville Island. Inaugurated in 1988 as the brainchild of founding Artistic Director Alma Lee, the Writers Festival is now under the direction of Hal Wake, Vancouver’s own literary impresario. This year’s festival promises another exciting lineup of events featuring international and Canadian talent including British Columbia authors Caroline Adderson, Billie Livingston, J.B. MacKinnon and Timothy Taylor among others.
I am pleased to announce that former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson will give the Duthie Lecture on Sunday, October 22. Her new book, Heart Matters, is a memoir about her rise from humble beginnings to high office and the personalities she encountered along the way. This year’s Festival will be truly international. The Iraqi poet Saadi Yousef is coming from London, and the Mongolian poet and shaman Galsan Tschinag is coming from Germany. Tash Aw lives in England but writes about Malaysia, José Latour lives in Montreal but writes about Cuba, and Anar Ali lives in Toronto but was born in Tanzania and writes about East Africa. Spoken word artist Lemn Sissay writes and performs about rediscovering his Ethiopian roots. Fiona Farrell and Stephanie Johnson from New Zealand will join Australians Kate Grenville and Robert Drewe. Mark Billingham, and Jon McGregor are coming from England, Louise Welsh from Scotland, and Patrick McCabe from Ireland.
For details on all festival offerings and ticket purchase you’ll have to check out the 64-page program at www.writersfest.bc.ca but here are a few highlights to whet your literary appetite: Wednesday, October 18 (Event 15, 8:30 pm) The Alma Lee Opening Night Event, hosted by Hal Wake, will feature readings by seven exciting novelists including Tash Aw (The Harmony Silk Factory), Kate Grenville (The Secret River) and festival favourite Wayne Johnston (The Custodian of Paradise). Thursday, October 19 (Event 23, 1 pm) John Burns moderates a discussion on the challenges and delights in writing a short story. With authors Anar Ali, Clark Blaise, Fiona Farrell, Bill Gaston and Rachel Wyatt.
Canadian talent will include many BC literary gems, including Caroline Adderson, Marilyn Bowering, Bill Gaston, Anosh Irani, Billie Livingston, J.B. MacKinnon, Michael V. Smith, Timothy Taylor, Sarah Ellis and Dennis Foon. Shane Koyczan, who brought audience members to their feet at the 2004 Festival, will return to dazzle us with his powerful spoken word poetry and impressive stage presence. The list of Canadian writers also includes Ken Babstock, Anita Rau Badami, Dionne Brand, Chester Brown, Lynn Coady, Linda Holeman, Wayne Johnston, Alayna Munce, Noah Richler, Linda Spalding, Madeleine Thien and more.
Friday, October 20 (Event 42, 8 pm) The Association of Book Publishers of BC and TransLink celebrate 10 years of Poetry in Transit with readings by more than 30 poets— many of them Fed members! Susan Musgrave hosting. Saturday, October 21 (Event 46, 10:30 am) Writing Life: A PEN Anthology Event. Moderator Merilyn Simonds discusses the private act of writing with Lynn Coady, Damon Galgut, Lisa Moore, Eden Robinson and Madeleine Thien.
Popular events like the Literary Cabaret, the Poetry Bash, the Sunday Brunch and the Afternoon Tea will be back. Billeh Nickerson will once again host the Thursday night event (entitled Buns ‘n Roses this year), a showcase of talented emerging young writers.
Sunday, October 22 (Event 57, 1:30 pm) The Blue Sky. Mark Schneider will interview Mongolian poet and shaman Galsan Tschinag, the author of over 30 books translated and published throughout Europe and Asia. The Blue Sky, an autobiographical novel, is the first to be translated into English and tells of the author’s nomadic childhood in the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia. more on next page
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
I look forward to getting an early start on the celebrations with you on Granville Island this October for the 19th Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. Hal Wake Artistic Director
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
The Press Room Surrey Hosts Bevy of Bestsellers at 14th Annual Writers Conference Registrations are already pouring in as the Surrey International Writers’ Conference prepares for its 14th annual event, taking place October 20 to 22 at the Sheraton Guildford Hotel. Also on offer are five pre-conference Master Classes on Thursday, October 19. The teaching-based gathering will again offer the best in international talent. Headlining this year are such prestigious bestsellers as Bernard Cornwell, Mary Balogh, Carol Berg, Jennifer Crusie, Diana Gabaldon, Anne Perry, Jack Whyte, Thomas Perry and Susan Wiggs. Over 50 authors, creative writing teachers, literary agents, and editors from some of North America’s leading publishing houses will present over 70 workshops over the three-day event. Workshops cover all genres, as well as the creative and business sides of writing, geared toward beginning writers and aspiring experts. The Fed’s own Julie H. Ferguson will be presenting “Marketing Out Loud—A Guide to Approaching Editors and Agents with Your Nonfiction Idea” while Lois Peterson will share her writing and editing tips in “Basics: Words at Play.” Last year the conference, which also includes a book fair and a tradeshow of industry professionals, sold out well in advance, topping 700 registrants in total, with registrants and presenters from as far afield as Switzerland, Brazil, Scotland and Australia. The SIWC also boasts some of the top writing contest prizes in North America—over $4000 available to be won in four categories. For more information on the conference, check the SIWC website at www.siwc.ca or e-mail info@siwc.ca
Shuswap Assocation of Writers to Host Author Events and Writing Contest at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort The Shuswap Association of Writers is offering several events this fall at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort located in Salmon Arm’s downtown waterfront. Michael Kluckner, renowned artist, author and heritage proponent, will be giving a presentation on “Art, Writing, Books and the Web” on October 4, 7 pm. Admission is
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$15, $10 for SAW members. On October 21, SAW brings writer and artist Michael Blackstock and award-winning author, Deanna Kawatski, to the Prestige for a delightful day of readings, a chance to meet the authors, ask questions and meet other writers. Blackstock will read from Salmon Run, a Florilegium of Aboriginal Ecological Poetry, a contemporary social commentary rooted in First Nations oral tradition. Deanna Kawatski, known for her bestselling titles, Wilderness Mother and Clara and Me (shortlisted for the Hubert Evans Award), will share how she tracks down and captures new story ideas. Admission is $10 for each event, or $18 for both. SAW members can attend both events for $15. SAW is also holding a writing contest in conjunction with these events. The Worst Opening Line of a Novel contest aims to stimulate your quirky writing gene. The line must include the words salmon and shovel and longjohns. Entries must be postmarked or emailed no later than Friday, October 13. Mail your “worst opening line” to the Shuswap Association of Writers, Box 1134, Salmon Arm, BC, V1E 4P3 or email info@shuswapassociationofwriters.ca. Les Ellenor and Gail Anderson-Dargatz will judge the entries and the three finalists will attend the October 21 readings with Deanna Kawatski and Michael Blackstock free of charge. The winner will receive an all-day pass to the 2007 Shuswap Writers’ Festival (Saturday, May 26, 2007). The two runners-up will also receive prizes (to be announced). For more information on the Shuswap Association of Writers, check out www.shuswapassociationofwriters.ca
Chocolate Lily Nominees Four Federation members are included in the shortlist for the 2007 Chocolate Lily Book Awards. Flower Power (Orca Books) by Ann Walsh is one of twelve novels nominated in the novel/chapter book category. Finklehopper Frog Cheers (Tricycle Press) by Irene Livingston is nominated in the Picture Book Category as is Sheri Radford’s Penelope and the Monsters (Lobster Press). Lee Edward Fodi is the illustrator behind the nominated I’ll Follow the Moon (Brown Books) by Stephanie Lisa Tara. The 2006 Chocolate Lily Award winner in the novel category was the Fed’s own Kristin Butcher with her book, Zee’s Way (Orca Books).
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
FEATURES
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
The Launch By Kay McCracken
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hanks to the god or goddess of book launches who got me this far, who helped catapult me beyond my insecurities. In one hand I clutch my purse, and the bag containing the book, radiant danse uv being: a poetic portrait of bill bissett; in the other, I grip the handle of a suitcase that rolls obediently behind me as I enter the Vancouver bus depot. I spot Craig right away. He’s sitting on a bench and doesn’t see me until I say hi. He’s looking for a woman with shoulder length dark hair and my new “do” is short and spiky with a reddish hue. Driving back to his place, Craig tells me that his brother Nelson has invited us for a barbeque. There goes my plan of resting before the big event, the book launch, a mere four hours from now. Say yes to everything a friend had suggested. Stay open. The bus ride was relaxing, I tell Craig. During the long trip, I had spent my time reading poems by dozens of Canada’s best. I find it surprising that I, still a novice in my own mind, have a poem included in this book, sharing space with the likes of Susan Musgrave, bpNicol, P.K. Page, sheri-d wilson and other such luminaries. The universe really does work in mysterious ways.
his own writing endeavours and needs the inspiration and companionship these gatherings provide. We’re having such a good time eating chicken kabobs, salad and rice that I almost forget what’s coming. I refuse the wine that Craig offers me, so some part of me still knows that I have to remain lucid. Nelson drives us to Gastown and as we walk down the sidewalk toward the Ironworks Gallery, I see streams of people heading into it. A cavern in my mind opens and bats of nervousness fly out to the far reaches of my body. I wonder if I’m overdressed, but no time to obsess now as I glance down at my black cotton skirt, bare legs and the black sandals with heels, not high high heels, but high enough, that I borrowed from my daughter. I feel myself teeter a little as we walk through the open door.
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ust inside, Jeff Pew and Stephen Roxborough (editors of the book) greet people; I offer my hand to each in turn and introduce myself. They return my greeting, shake my hand, smile, but something that has been niggling at the back of my mind begins to gripe louder. I never heard back from them after emailing to say I would be at the Vancouver launch. Several attempts to reach the gallery were foiled as well. Jeff has a flurry of people around him, but I manage to pull him aside to confirm that I’m on the roster. Blank look. No. Did you email? Yes.
The Ironworks Gallery is a great place for readings, Craig tells me. It holds two hundred people. Two hundred people! I think of the readings I’ve done at our monthly writers’ coffee houses where the most people I ever read for was maybe forty. Oh yes, that time at the college, maybe fifty. I really have no idea who will be reading at the launch, although I did hear on CBC that George Bowering would be there. Bowering was my Can-Lit prof from SFU, but that was long before he became Canada’s first Poet Laureate, and before he came to our Writers’ Festival last year. It’s great to see Nelson. He’s just finished a draft of his second book and will be giving a presentation at the Shuswap Writers’ Festival this year. As we discuss the festival, even Craig decides he’ll come to it, for once. He’s blocked in
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
sign my name beside my poem. A rush of warm goose bumps and a flood of feeling, like astonished happiness, wash over me. Now I know why people do this.
The Launch, cont’d You emailed? His alarmed expression spells trouble. Yes, I say, trying my best to look calm at least. Let me check, he says, and he runs off.
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y brother and niece are already seated at a table. I find bill bissett talking to a young woman in the room where his paintings are hung. We chat for a moment and I introduce bill to my family and friends, and bill is bill, which is to say that he’s open to every new person and experience. Muses sit on his shoulders, under his blue hat, are tucked into his underwear and socks. I tell people at the table about the time bill came over to the apartment before leaving Salmon Arm. He remembers meeting mom. My friend Carol and another friend have arrived and they’re talking, but it’s all a jumble as the pre-reading jitters have me now. Carol, good friend that she is, says to give her my nervousness. Jeff scrambles back through the crowd to confirm that I’m not on the list to read, apologizes, but because someone cancelled, he puts me in their spot in the first half. Thank you, God.
I scan the crowd, but there are so many people. I don’t see George Bowering. I don’t see anyone I recognize but just then CBC’s Sheryl MacKay takes the stage to introduce the first poet, Jim Brown. He met bill at UBC in the mid-sixties, and he, bill, Seymour Mayne, and Patrick Lane spawned the co-operative publishing entity Very Stone House. Patrick Lane has a poem in the book, but I don’t see him or Lorna Crozier here either. We’ve heard a rumour that Leonard – yes, Cohen – will be at the Victoria book launch the next evening. Heidi Greco, a writer and editor from White Rock, gets up to read. She’s the woman who asked for my autograph. I’m enjoying the readings but a little attack of stage fright tries to muscle in when I remember that I have to go up there and do this. Why is this something I must overcome almost every time I have to read publicly? I repeat every bit of advice anybody has given me, draw on any image that might help me overcome my fears. All writers are neurotic to a degree, I tell myself, so don’t sweat it. The next poet, Kedrick James, reads “channelling bill,” a fast paced, rollicking romp that has the crowd electrified. Another poet takes the stage and I realize we must be getting close. I tell myself to think of my poem, of the words and what they mean, of what they mean to bill and how the poem and everyone in this room is here for bill, to honour bill. Forget yourself and feel the words.
Karen Bissenden, the other poet from Salmon Arm included in the book, couldn’t be here, I say. Can I read her poem for her? No. Really? There’s already twenty-three people reading and we’re keeping it to five minutes each, okay? Five minutes. That’s all. You know that if readings drag on it kills the thing. I want to tell Jeff that I owe Karen, that she’s an accomplished poet, and that it’s because of her that I’m here having this experience. In a weird twist of fate, she couldn’t be here—but it’s a long story, and Jeff is needed elsewhere. A woman ventures onto the stage and lights candles. I notice the stand, mic, speakers, terra cotta walls, wooden shutters and artwork. Then a woman leans over me and asks me to sign her book. What? In the absence of light, I do my best to
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As the applause dies down, I hear Sheryl announce my name. I gasp and jump up, having kicked my shoes off, and rush barefoot toward the stage. Excuse me, excuse me, sorry, excuse me and then I’m standing up there. I say hi bill, bill says hi back. He’s front and centre in the audience, sitting above the rest, like a king, or maybe a court jester. I say my brief introduction, about how I met bill at the inaugural Shuswap Lake International Writers’ Festival, a festival I co-founded, and how he decided to come back to
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
FEATURES
Salmon Arm with a friend later that summer. “Xcellent Birds,” I say, is the poem I wrote after spending an afternoon in a river with bill. I begin to move closer to the mic, to feel the words as I read them. I look up into the sea of faces, at the people standing shoulder to shoulder beyond the seated ones. All eyes are on me and people are listening with rapt attention. Something has happened. This is awesome.
Xcellent Birds half our clothes off bill, Helen, and i follow Ronn under Enderby Bridge into Shuswap River
“we have become river gods/ and goddesses, now transformed/ by river smell and penetrating sun/ that drives us into cool water/ “ I chant. I’m grounded in the words, rather than in fear. People are listening to me, to a poem I wrote for bill after I dragged myself out of the Shuswap River where he and I and others went swimming one hot summer day
bill says he and i are easy going gradualists because of the way we approach the river
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we have become river gods and goddesses, now transformed by river smell and penetrating sun that drives us into cool water
I may have transcended more than my fear tonight as my bare feet step down from the stage, the sound of applause ringing around me.
bill and i swim to an island where everything is different a wolf print lingers among wild strawberry plants
In a twist of fate brought about by the river, bill, the wolf print, strawberry plants and four mysterious grounded birds that occupy my poem, I find myself here in this gallery, having just faced one of the toughest challenges of my life. I may have been launched into a new way of seeing the world and my place in it. The people at my table are congratulating me.
when we leave the river soggy clothes heavy with sand we come across four silent grounded birds
omething happened that day because I sat up half the night writing a poem to give to bill before he left town the next day. The experience of being with bill transcends ordinary reality, plunges people into a place where poets, mystics and madmen dwell.
they stand poised on a cliff while we cluck and coo over them wondering our human questions but these silent birds are a mystery
Carol buys me a beer, sets it down in front of me as the man-child mystic himself takes the stage. I savour the chill tart taste of the amber liquid, waiting to see what bill will do. Oh my god, he’s doing the poem about fish farming. Brilliant. Laughter rocks the room; bill’s tone is innocent, yet ironic. Brilliant poem, brilliant bill.
they may be doves, i say there are 4 of us and 4 doves, offers Helen doves are love, says Ronn xcellent beautiful xcellent, says bill
During the intermission, I run into Kedrick James next to the Nightwood Editions display of books for sale. The photograph on the cover of radiant danse portrays a much younger bill. Beautiful bill, a sweet William with sensual lips. I ask for Kedrick’s autograph. We chat. He writes, “Hi, Your reading was spectacular.”
we all agree but later when i search my bird books, unable to identify them, i’m mystified maybe it was a group hallucination, says bill, or maybe
I’ve never felt better. If bill is the king—and the holy fool too—then some of that energy has permeated me, and every person here. The room pulses with the energy of muses, muses dancing the radiant danse uv being.
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
it was the way we approached the river. Kay McCracken
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
How to Saw the Lady in Half A skeptic looks at Creative Writing courses By Margaret Thompson
I marvel, in a baffled sort of way, at the growth of Creative Writing faculties. I don’t think anyone even used the term “Creative Writing” when I was a student except to refer to the sort of effort one turned out for the school magazine; certainly there were no university or college courses of that name.
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’ve listened to people extolling the virtues of such courses, the huge benefits they’ve reaped as writers by working with such and such a famous name, and felt quite inadequate. What am I doing, writing novels and short stories, essay collections and children’s books, without the benefit of all that wisdom. Am I nuts? But then, I think, Dickens got by without a Creative Writing course. So did Tolstoy and Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant and Cervantes, Herman Melville and V.S. Naipaul. Jane Austen managed quite nicely on her own in a Hampshire vicarage. Geoffrey Chaucer fitted poetry into a busy life as a senior civil servant. They just rolled up their sleeves and did it, with no more preparation than that afforded by whatever education they’d received, life experience and the urge to write. So why is it that so many people now enroll in courses that purport to teach what came naturally to those great writers and to many lesser luminaries through hard work and experimentation? I don’t see any wholesale recruitment of creative writers by government or industry to warrant their wholesale training (government shrinks from creative, let alone writers,) so universities are not simply doing their part to fill a need as they did when they expanded science faculties in the eras of the Cold War and space exploration. Nor does writing promise a living, let alone a fortune. What is it, exactly, that people expect to get out of these courses?
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I hope it’s not creativity. I know you can teach a person to write competently, even well. I know you can show students how a novel or short story is constructed; you can explain the subtleties of characterization, demonstrate the role of setting, the power of voice and point of view; you can unwind the intricacies of form in poetry; analyze the impact of language; instruct in the use and artistry of figurative language and rhetorical flourishes. You can encourage people to internalize the proposition that good writing depends on good reading. You can even teach the strategies that promote divergent thinking, the problem-solving techniques that might lead to genuine originality. But you cannot teach a person to have the divine spark of creative genius. What do you think Shakespeare would have got out of CW Poetry 101? In the last paragraph I kept saying “I know you can…” I know these things, not because I am full of godlike omniscience, but because I learned them in school and university as a continued page 11
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
FEATURES
Scratching the Writing Itch How a Creative Writing Class changed my life By Linda Crosfield
Should—can—creative writing be taught? My friend, Margaret, points out that the likes of Emily Dickinson and Percy Bysshe Shelley managed to produce serious bodies of work without any official instruction. Yet now there are writing courses and writing schools and writing degrees and writing workshops and writing retreats. Almost anywhere you go, you can find someone who’ll offer to show you how to write.
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hen I was a teenager in Nelson the Friday paper used to run an ad for a writing school in Ottawa, and as a semi-aspiring writer I toyed with the idea of requesting the brochure. (Just now, when I googled “creative writing school,” I was rewarded with almost 29,000 places to look in .33 seconds; a far cry from waiting for the Friday paper to come out!) However, instead of following up on the writing school, I sent away for information on the Atlantic Airline Training School in Kansas City, Missouri, and spent the next two decades pursuing a career in that line of work. I did manage to fit in a year at UBC, and at the end of the term I showed some of my poems to one of my professors who suggested I get into a creative writing program as soon as possible. I thanked him, and immediately retreated to the world of airline reservations and flight check-in. But the itch to write was always there, sometimes scratched, mostly ignored. Eventually I became a mother, a single one, as it happened, and thoughts of writing disappeared under the demands of full-time work and full-time parenting. I moved back to Nelson, and in 1991 an ad for a creative writing class at the newly resurrected Kootenay School of the Arts caught my eye. I called my mother to see if she would consider looking after my son on Thursday nights. She agreed, and I signed up for the class. It changed my life. Tom Wayman was the instructor. In the very first class, referring to critiquing tricks we were going to pick up, he told us that, if nothing
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
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else, we’d be ruined for reading for the rest of our lives. While I wouldn’t agree that the joys of reading have been completely destroyed for me, I see the truth in what he said every time I find myself mentally questioning someone’s use of an adjective or reordering their paragraphs when I’m delving into a new book. That first night, as I slipped into a chair around the big table in a room in the SUB Pub at 10th and Elwyn, I didn’t know it, but I was about to meet people who, fifteen years later, are still part of my life. Most of the members of my Nelson writing group attended KSA classes. I even met my husband there. In subsequent years, instructors of KSA writing classes included Stephanie Judy, Diana Hartog, Caroline Woodward, Verna Relkoff, Ross Klatte and Don Gayton. Each of them brought something different to the table, but one thing they all had in common was a love of the craft and a deep commitment to seeing it done right. continued next page
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Scratching the Writing Itch, cont’d If the success of a creative writing class can be measured by its graduates, then KSA must have been onto something. Former students include Almeda Glenn Miller, who brought to class early drafts of what would become her novel, Tiger Dreams, published in 2002, and Anne DeGrace, whose novel, Treading Water, came out last fall. Holly Phillips and Steven Mills are both getting noticed in the world of speculative fiction. Holly’s book of short stories, In the Palace of Repose, was released to great acclaim in 2005, and a novel, The Burning Girl, came out in 2006. Steven has published several short stories and a novel, Burning Stones, which also came out this year. Ali Riley’s first poetry collection, Wayward, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 2005. Her new collection, Tear Down, has just been published. The first poem I published was workshopped in one of the classes. It has been my experience that public readings are one area where writers who have been through some sort of formal learning are likely to come out ahead of those who have not, in that they seem to be more likely to follow instructions when it comes to the suggested length of time one has at the
mic. “Time yourself,” we were told. “Practice. Out loud. And don’t be afraid to leave the audience wanting more.” I once sat through a suggested four minute reading where someone went on for a quarter of an hour while the poor time-keeper tried, unsuccessfully, to get them away from the podium. The reader’s preamble took longer than the four minutes. At one point, when the time-keeper was looking particularly stern, the reader said, “If I stop now, you’ll never know what happened!” Like anyone cared, at that point.
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nd so it was that on a warm spring night some years ago, friends and family of the Kootenay School of the Arts’ creative writing class gathered at the SUB Pub in Nelson to hear readings of new work by the students. Most of us had not read in public often, if at all. As we nervously gathered, drawn to each other for support, Tom Wayman, who’d been coaching us on the finer points of delivering words to an audience, had one last reminder: “Don’t forget to breathe!” he said. We didn’t. We’d practiced. And no one went appreciably over the allotted time, either.
Since taking a creative writing class in 1991, Linda Lee Crosfield has been scratching her writing itch on a regular basis. She’s participated in the 3:15 Experiment and has poems in several little magazines and anthologies.
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being influenced by standardized methods and ideas. In the Creative Writing Industry, he says, “literature itself, through the statistical process of large systems, is being student, and taught them in my own classroom later. I homogenized and flattened out” until “now the system of suspect the same is true, with individual differences, of compromise and non-commitment that ensues from the most writers. They didn’t need a course to teach them to workshop system of creative writing, and the role of agents write because they’d already learned the basics. The rest and editors in massaging the product, is shaping a generathey mastered by doing. Are Creative Writing courses, tion of editors and critics and writers, all of whom share then, simply remedying the inadequathe same indoctrination.” When a system produces not cies of English instruction in schools? only the writers but the people who publish and review what they write, it I suspect that there are almost as many becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy— In the final analysis, Creative reasons for enrolling in a Creative what they say is good, will be successWriting course as there are students. Writing courses sound ful—and the result, Osborne says, is Many just want to be able to write suspiciously like All You Ever “a literature of diminishing value.” better, not for any commercial reason,
How to Saw the Lady in Half, cont’d from page 8
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Wanted To Know About but for their own satisfaction. If such a In the final analysis, Creative Writing Magic and Illusion. course helps them on their way to courses sound suspiciously like All You becoming well-rounded, civilized Ever Wanted To Know About Magic individuals, then I am old-fashioned and Illusion. The students learn from enough to think that more than sufficient reason for a masters how to do all the tricks, how to distract the audience, university to offer it. how to heighten the suspense, the role of the assistant, the
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But Gradgrind would be proud of modern higher education. The usefulness—read, profitability—of any branch of learning is what really matters. So at least a portion of those Creative Writing students must be anticipating a financial reward of some sort. Publicity from Creative Writing faculties, I’ve noticed, tends to celebrate those alumni who have managed to secure advantageous deals with prominent publishers. Is that the carrot, I wonder? Come to us and we will smooth your path to publication? True enough, everyone needs help at first with presentation, with the queries, with identifying the appropriate publishing houses, with “selling” the manuscript. Most writers learn these things by trial and error, so I suppose participation in a course would be a shortcut in a highly competitive world. But is it really necessary to make it a university course? Aren’t there any number of short courses and workshops on offer, many by experienced writers who ought to know what they’re talking about, teaching all the things I’ve mentioned so far, and not leaving most students at the end with a half-finished novel and a large student loan debt? By far my biggest reservation about Creative Writing courses, though, echoes Stephen Osborne’s caveat in his recent Fed Lecture on the impact of so many students
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plant in the audience, the handling of lights and mirrors, the construction of false bottoms and trap doors. A few might even get as far as inventing their own routines, dreaming up illusions that nobody else has ever pulled off. Most end up knowing all the techniques, but they also share the same repertoire and still fumble the cards, drop the coins, make a mess of sawing the ladies in half; somehow the magic is less than magical and not nearly as much fun or as great a success with the audience as it should be.
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nd here’s a last, idle thought. No Great Mazzini would ever spill all his secrets to the curious. Why is it that writers are always so ready to demystify their particular mystery? Margaret Thompson came to Canada in 1967 and taught English at secondary and post-secondary levels until 1998. Her publishing credits include Squaring the Round, a selfpublished collection of prose and poetry on the early history of Fort St. James, Hide and Seek (Caitlin, 1996), Eyewitness (Ronsdale, 2000), a YA novel that won a BC2000 Book Award, Fox Winter (Hodgepog, 2003), and Knocking on the Moonlit Door (NeWest, 2004), a collection of travel essays, as well as short stories and articles in various literary magazines. She is the Past President of the Federation of BC Writers, and a member of the editorial committee of WordWorks. She lives in Victoria, BC.
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To School or Not to School: That is Two Questions Shannon Cowan in Conversation with Lynne Van Luven
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hannon Cowan: There has been a lot of talk about the merits of academic creative writing programs. This debate seems particularly timely given the launching of two new Canadian MFA programs, one a low residency option at UBC and another semestered program at the University of Guelph. Since there seems to be a demand for these programs, one would naturally think they achieved results. The debate seems to be in what kind of results. The most recent statistics available from the Associated Writing Programs (AWP), an American organization of close to 300 writing programs with over 10,000 members enrolled as undergraduate majors in creative writing, or as candidates for MA, MFA, or PhD, states that the job situation has never been more dismal. David Fenza, the executive director of the AWP says, “This has been a problem for 20 years. Starting in the late 1970s, the entire market has gone bust, and academe is producing far more graduates in creative writing than it has places for, professionally.”
Lynne Van Luven teaches Creative Nonfiction at the University of Victoria and is the editor of a forthcoming anthology, Nobody’s Mother: Life With No Kids.
Given your nine-year affiliation with the University of Victoria’s Department of Writing, can you comment on the above situation and its relevance to Canada? In your experience, why do students come to academic creative writing programs?
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ynne Van Luven: There will soon be three new MFA programs as the University of Victoria Department of Writing is in the process of also beginning a graduate degree in writing. We expect our program to be approved and operational by late 2007. (It is just going through the administrative approval process on campus right now.) A feature of our grad degree is to help prepare students for the teaching of writing as well as to enhance their own skills as hands-on writers. So, my colleagues in the Department of Writing have had a number of debates about the teaching of writing over the past few years, as we have worked our way towards agreement that we do need to expand into graduate studies in writing. But at the same time, speaking strictly personally now, I have always known that one does not always need a degree in writing to become a writer. Some of us teaching at UVic have degrees in other subjects and found our way into writing via happy accident and resulting practice. Most professors will agree that all we do for the very talented, creative and inspired students is to speed their process, show them resources, “doors to open,” as it were. continued next page
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Shannon Cowan is the author of two published books, a handful of short stories, and too many reviews. These days she writes and teaches creative non-fiction and runs a communications business from her home on Vancouver Island.
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To School or Not, cont’d Certainly, in my 15 years of teaching both journalism and writing, I have come to the private conclusion that you cannot teach a student to see or think like a writer if that is not inherent, but you can teach skills that will result in improved self-expression, research and writing.
philosophy of learning for learning’s sake, there is also less of an emphasis on the practical or business side of writing (the resources you mention), than there is on craft. So while it’s important that our writers have the opportunity to improve their writing skills, why do you think it’s necessary that this take place at university? What does the unique environment offer that can’t be achieved through other means?
I do not think we should make the mistake of equating what has happened in the United States with the situation here in Canada. The biggest difference in the U.S. is that the teaching of writing has been part of academe in a much bigger way, including journalism and so-called “creative” writing classes, more concertedly and longer, than it has in Canada. For instance, 20 years ago I got a PhD in English as the closest thing to a PhD in “writing” because my university did not have full grad studies in “creative writing.”
LVL: I’m not actually convinced that it is necessary that writing programs be located only in universities. Lots of folks do well with part-time instruction in such places as the Banff Centre or the Victoria School of Writing. And college programs can also be excellent because the level of interest in teaching in colleges is superb. But unless potential writers are auto-didacts or polymaths, the truth is that young people DO need an education out of which to write. I don’t really care how they get that, as long as they are educated in a variety of subjects, have some areas of knowledge in which they can specialize, In fact, I think we all should be very and have good language skills in cautious about starting MFA programs in writing holus-bolus in universities What a university can give a whatever language they are writing. If they have all that, their path to across the country. student is structure, success will be a lot less arduous Why do students come to university to sustained attention, group than if they just muck about on study writing? Several reasons, somesupport, and lots of their own. That last sentence, you times all of them at once. applies to most people. programs in which to study understand, I have met and taught outstanding 1. Because they find the idea of being a other subjects than writing. individuals who really do not need writer appealing and glamourous. to be in school for their writing to 2. Because they have an interest in succeed, but who also know that we language and a talent with words. live in a “credentialist” world now, and that being self-taught doesn’t always garner the same 3. Because some people just are congenitally unsuited to attention (though it should) as having a certificate or pursue careers in science, business or law, as much as degree. their parents might want them to. What a university can give a student is structure, sustained 4. Because they are in love with a certain kind of writing, or attention, group support, and lots of programs in which to a specific writer, and want to learn how to create the same study other subjects than writing. I tend to think that the effect. more curiosity you have, the more you will learn; the more 5. Because of the status of a particular institution’s program. you learn, the more depth your writing may have.
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SC: I’m interested in what you said about the difference between Canadian and American creative writing programs, and the caution you suggest. In Canada, creative writing tends to be a unique field in graduate studies since it is largely oriented toward assisting individual writers with developing a process as opposed to disseminating or researching concrete knowledge. Given the
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SC: And to add to that last point, one piece of advice new writers hear a lot is, “read everything you can get your hands on. Read to find out what works; read to find out what doesn’t.” I wonder if you can comment on how university programs do or do not add depth to a student’s writing by fostering technique. I’m thinking here of the differences in programs and how some spend
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time teaching technique directly (how to write a scene, move their work beyond mere confessional or diary format. I for example), while others focus on developing techam quite a tyrant on the necessity of the personal view nique organically through workshops. UBC’s focus has connecting with the wider world. long been the latter. Students don’t necessarily sit down Ideally, any writing workshop whatever the genre, needs to with their teachers and hear lectures on developing plot connect the student to both herself and her own mindor read published novels and discuss how the author furniture, and the larger community in which she lives. texturizes his or her pages. Instead, Therefore, it needs to draw on a certain amount of literary these same lessons, if they come up, history and technique, while simultaspring from a student’s work as other neously stimulating students to be students read and critique and ask Is the approach a university aware of their own writing processes, questions. One drawback to this takes towards writing weaknesses and passions. I suppose method (sometimes called the “Iowa technique something for that sounds terribly idealistic, but method,” after the Iowa Writer’s students to consider when there it is. Workshop) is that classes may be filled with students who have little deciding whether or not to I cannot speak about how other writing background, even at the study writing at an academic programs or professors operate, Master’s level. Without a technical because the teaching of writing, more level? foundation, including knowledge of than any other subject, seems still quite terminology and specific writing idiosyncratic. traditions, many students are unable to effectively SC: You mentioned earlier that you studied writing engage in critique. On the flip side of this are those through an English PhD. At the time, English was the programs that treat writing like an academic subject, closest subject to creative writing that you could take. My potentially drowning out the creative process with limited experience with American programs tells me that investigative study. Is the approach a university takes many of them offer a more concerted look at literature for towards writing technique something for students to consider when deciding whether or not to study writing the purpose of understanding writing history and tradition. Did you find approaching your craft from that angle at an academic level? enriching, from the standpoint of being immersed in LVL: One of the strong points of any group of people literature? who gather to discuss their writing is the idea of a colloLVL: I think my own PhD background has been greatly quium: people individually share ideas and insights and tempered by my own on-the-job work as a journalist. I really the result is a greater shared wisdom. In my workshops, I fuse the two in my teaching. So while creativity is important, always provide students with a reading list which is both and I value a writer’s voice, I also want to see research, current and historical, so they can read on their own and reportage and engagement with the REAL world. broaden their own understanding of other works within their genre. So I do expect them to read broadly, and also to SC: Lastly, what do you think is the desired end result for present new texts they have discovered to their peers. I do students who study creative writing at an academic level? not think you can separate process from practice or form What are yours and your colleagues’ hopes for your students? and content. Rather, I think you need to stimulate awareness LVL: I would say that generally, what I want my writing of how such aspects of the whole written work complement workshops at the undergraduate level to do overall is to each other. That is why I always augment the actual workshop critique with wider readings and very minute technical create a more aware, humane and human being. And alongside that, I want the students to become aware of what exercises. Using this melange or layering approach, students begin to see the relations between the importance of stocking skills they possess as writers, what they want to pursue as writers, and how they need to continue to develop to achieve their minds with new ideas as well as the necessity of their goals. Any workshop at any level is just one step along drawing upon their own experience and worldview. Because the way. Learning how to write is one of those learning I teach creative nonfiction, it is vital that writers use the personal as a springboard into public issues and concerns, to processes that truly is life long.
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photo: D. Larson
Betsy Warland: Building a Community of Writers Poet, nonfiction writer, essayist and editor Betsy Warland received her BA in Art and Education at Luther College in Iowa before immigrating to Canada in 1973 and happily becoming a citizen. The author of ten books and one of Canada’s leading experimental, feminist writers, Betsy is dedicated to mentoring emerging writers and is the Director of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University’s Writing and Publishing Program in Vancouver. She teaches in TWS, as well as a variety of courses such as A Poet’s First Book and Realizing Your Manuscript. Here, in conversation with Fernanda Viveiros, she shares her views on creative writing programs, the importance of developing a supportive writing community, and reflects on her writing practice.
Fernanda Viveiros: Joyce Carol Oates in her book of essays, The Faith of a Writer, says “Inspiration and energy and even genius are rarely enough to make ‘art’: for prose fiction is also a craft, and craft must be learned, whether by accident or design.”As a creative writing instructor, what do you see is your role in developing new writers? Betsy Warland: The literary community has changed since I was an emerging writer in Toronto in the 70s and early 80s: it is more diverse and larger (the positive) and yet more fragmented (the not so positive). This makes it much harder for emerging writers to find their way into it: the organic writing community links between established and emerging writers—through which knowledge is passed on—are not as strong as they were in the past. As a result, creative writing schools and intensives have become a major conduit for emerging writers. Learning how to build and sustain a sense of community for oneself as a writer; learning how to develop professional skills; and learning how to find and sustain focus and depth, or as Virginia Woolf so aptly wrote of it, staying “on the scent” of the narrative: these are the hardest aspects for an emerging writer to access and interiorize. My complaint about most narratives written today, whether prose or poetry, is that they are stuck in one gear, one
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pace, one tone, one depth-level. Enabling writers to discover how to find and stay on the scent is my central goal as a creative writing instructor or mentor. Learning basic craft is considerably easier to access as it is more concrete, thus easier to teach and more in demand— the “nuts & bolts.” It seems tempting to think that once writers acquire facility with craft, the success of their narratives is certain. It isn’t; depth, focus, staying on the particular scent of each narrative is imperative. Learning the more refined aspects of craft as you grow as a writer is not as easy to access, but courses and mentoring opportunities do exist. Two pitfalls I have encountered quite a bit are too much compartmentalized teaching, and gorging on too many workshops/courses/programs. For an emerging writer with a solid full draft of a manuscript, compartmentalized teaching does not enable them to learn how to finish their manuscript. For emerging writers gorging on too much training, their voice, focus, and personal resolve to get the writing done become seriously undermined. FV: How does SFU’s The Writer’s Studio differ from other creative writing programs in the province? BW: In a number of respects. We differ in that we are the only extended, intensive program that is local. Our writers mostly come from the Greater Vancouver Area, with a few from the Lower Mainland. Occasionally, a writer will move to Vancouver from another province to be in TWS. The other programs are national or regional. These programs build community nationally or regionally but then the writers return home and are often just as isolated locally as they were before. Because the main source of support, stimulation, and initiating of activities is found with other emerging writers, our emphasis is learning in community; building a vibrant community locally. We are also the only program that offers full training: a one-on-one mentor/ mentee relationship; a biweekly, mentor-led workshop group; courses on craft and process; and professional training in book production, giving and organizing readings, and finding a publisher. We also support our alumni in ongoing activities after they graduate. We are an applicationbased program (www.sfu.ca/wp/tws), and another significant way we are different is that our mentors personally choose the writers they are excited about working with; this helps to create an immediate sense of community. The Writer’s Studio is a part-time, noncredit, one-year intensive program designed to co-exist with people’s ongoing life commitments. This is not to suggest that it isn’t demanding—it is! But, our writing lives have to co-exist with the very real commitments of the rest of our lives, and TWS helps writers figure out how to do this.
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FV: Has teaching enhanced your writing? Is there anything in particular about the discipline of teaching that you would say has manifested itself in your work? BW: Teaching creative writing inspires my critical thinking about writing as well as my writing process. Teaching can be a kind of muse! Anyone who has taught knows how teaching a “topic” you are well versed in challenges you to learn more deeply about that topic. Teaching also manifests a community of writers, an environment rooted in the act of writing that is so elusive in our day-to-day lives as writers. When I have no time to write for periods of time, teaching keeps me in touch with the magic of writing via the writers I am working with: the continual surprise of a narrative, and how the writing pushing us again and again to the brink! FV: Obviously, one of the benefits of a creative writing program is that it allows people time outside the realities of day-to-day life to explore the world of writing in a very intense way, but isn’t it also true that immersion in a group can lead to a sameness of voice, of narrative style? BW: Sameness of voice and style arises when a teacher signals that students should emulate her/his approach but fails to acknowledge this, or, equates her/his style as the only style that constitutes “good” writing. These messages can confuse, even harm, an emerging writer’s voice and style. It is also crucial to clearly delineate between voice (which must be idiosyncratic) and style. Style is a combination of formal strategies, and these formal strategies that we create as contemporary writers can be consciously emulated, used by any writer, just as a sonnet can be used. Like any other art form, training and companionship is essential. Intensive reading, courses, workshops, mentoring—all can be invaluable. Those of us in the teaching role need to be aware of our power and biases, as well as our limits and our students’ limits. We can only teach so much —then our “students” must do the hard, solitary work of realizing the full potential of their narrative. We make every effort in The Writer’s Studio to prepare our emerging writers to push-off at the end of the year. Because of the fragmentation in the literary community, and because of the changes in publishing that now require manuscripts to be submitted almost press-ready, emerging writers can need creative writing programs, or a manuscript development service (such as the one I offer privately) to assist them in those crucial stages. FV: Although the George Woodcock Fund is in place to help financially strapped writers and Canada Council administers grants (notoriously difficult to access!), Canadian continued next page
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Betsy Warland, cont’d writers take their financial health into their own hands when they pursue the lure of the word. Perhaps that is why so many writers turn to teaching? BW: If you are not writing in a potentially lucrative genre (which is most of us), writing is a very tough profession when it comes to supporting yourself financially. Yes, this is one of the reasons why writers often teach. On the creditside of academe, the panacea is having the summer to write each year. We also migrate into other adjacent jobs such as editing, publishing, technical writing.
feminist lesbian writer, and then as an experimental/language-centred feminist lesbian writer. All these “labels” are primary. What subjects and forms were foreground a decade or two ago are not necessarily foreground now; we must evolve as writers and our narratives must evolve as well. Nothing is abandoned, it all influences what we write, it’s just that its proximity to each narrative changes. FV: How large a role has literary collaboration played in your success as a writer? I’m referring here specifically to your writing relationship with Daphne Marlatt. How did your book, Two Women in a Birth, come about?
BW: All writing is collaborative. We collaborate (consciously and unconsciously) with the narratives that preceded us; we FV: How much of your writing collaborate with the authors we are aesthetic is informed by your work in companioned by; we collaborate with the visual arts? And how do you Feminism has unleashed our all our previous writing; we collaborate structure your writing—do you imaginations as women with the stories of lived experience we consider how the words themselves will writers. We have, and will have encountered. Two Women in a work on the page, or does the language Birth is a collection of the collaborative continue, to address subjects writing I did with Daphne Marlatt. It come first? not believed to be of literary represents texts from when we first BW: I trained as a visual artist, and I companioned each other but wrote worth prior to feminism write reviews and critical essays on art separate texts, to when we embarked on from time to time. Visual elements three extended collaborative texts inform my work. In my most recent book, Only This Blue, written in three different time periods over a number of four colours are the generative sources for the long poem. I have also imported, and redefined, several visual art concepts years. We were inspired to collaborate by our relationship as writers and lovers, but also by the experimental writing of into my teaching of creative writing. Yet, music informs my work at a deeper level. I experience the page more as an aural that era as well as the risks feminist writers were taking in space than a visual field. “Blank” space on the page isn’t void France, the U.S. and Quebec. Although there was enthusiastic interest in our collaborations, there also seemed to be a but full of meaning and nuance. Like silence, it conveys as lot of ambivalence, even adverse response. This may have much as what is said (inscribed), sometimes conveys even been due to our writing the lesbian body and desire as a more than what is said/written. I am always taking into couple (never done before in Canada). It may have been that account how the language of each particular narrative needs we choose to not “mark” our texts (who wrote what) which to occupy the aural space it is navigating on the page. For most, if not all, previous collaborative texts in Canada had me, narrative (whether prose or poetry) originates from oral done; or, it may have been due to the disparity of our roots. This is why I also take into account the reader’s need for the kind of pacing and pauses we rely on in conversation profiles (Daphne was well-established, I was an emerging writer). There’s a lot of slotting of one another into what is or when listening to a performance. perceived to be the appropriate importance-level in the FV: You’ve said that the writing we value is “writing which literary community. Because we were not a heterosexual springs from the necessity to speak the unspoken, the taboo couple that was easy to differentiate—this threw people of our lives.” As a feminist lesbian writer, how do you off—and perhaps status/profile became the default response. integrate the same-sex debate into your work? I know that I did encounter being subsumed. Established writers in the community doubted that I was a writer to be BW: Feminism has unleashed our imaginations as women taken seriously. It raised many complex reactions. Frankly, it writers. We have, and will continue, to address subjects not took about a decade for these dynamics to shift. The bottom believed to be of literary worth prior to feminism, as well as line, however, is that it was fascinating and challenging investigate new and altered forms that suit these subjects. I writing process and practice and I don’t regret it! “grew up” as a feminist visual artist and poet, then as a
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FV: Has raising a special needs child influenced your writing and teaching? BW: In subtle ways. But, I made a decision early on not to write about my son, with the exception of a very short text I wrote for visual artist Nora Blank’s collaborative project “The Inner Ear.” When he is older (he’s eight now), I may reconsider this, but not until he and I can talk about it. I feel that he needs to be part of such a decision. FV: What I meant is, has the time and energy involved in raising a special needs child affected your priorities in regards to setting aside time to teach and write? And whether viewing life through the eyes of a child facing life-long challenges has affected your own priorities, your own perspective on writing and work?
nonfiction festival in Canada! Can you imagine poets never having had a poetry festival? Historically, creative nonfiction authors have been minimally represented at authors’ festivals, often not included at all. This has changed a little, but certainly not a lot! There is the potential for a much larger literary creative nonfiction readership in Canada (as the authors you mention prove). FV: To what extent is your work collaborative before you send it to a publisher? Are there any editors you have worked with over the course of your ten titles who have helped you define or find your style?
BW: I revise extensively; it’s not unusual for me to revise a poem up to a hundred times! Fortunately, I have learned to enjoy the process of revision as much as inscription, to work with the same I revise extensively; it’s not creativity yet with an increased ruthBW: Having a special needs child has unusual for me to revise a lessness about the overall narrative and profoundly affected me. It is a very form, each line, each word and each different experience than having a child poem up to a hundred “scored space” as I revise. It is my who is fully-abled. I have had to learn times! preference, and it is practical for me, to to write in an entirely different way: go do the majority of my own editing for long stretches with no writing time, or, write intensively given the limited resources of publishing house editors. I for an hour here, a couple of hours there. I think it has have been fortunate, however, to have some excellent taught me how to be a better writer in many regards, though publishing house editors with several of my books. I also rely I sometimes miss longer, focused periods of writing. With a on my “First Readers” for substantive feedback. These are special needs child often comes greater financial needs and astute readers—my brother, friends who are librarians, visual the need to earn more has made things like going on a artists, editors, and writers—that I ask for feedback on my writer’s retreat much harder to do. Yet, I find my son to be manuscript in draft stages. Their input is always invaluable. the most fascinating person I have ever known and this With my current manuscript of twenty-two essays, I did hire infuses my writing and teaching. a substantive editor, then a copy-editor, as the complexities of the manuscript required it. No, editors have not helped FV: Two years ago at The Banff Centre, you and twenty me “define or find my style.” This is my responsibility. other professional writers met to discuss the future of Canadian nonfiction and to find ways to boost the profile of Sometimes they have helped me fine-tune it here and there, which is no small thing, as fine-tuning can ultimately make nonfiction, including creative nonfiction. In a press release all the difference. given at the time, you said “there’s something wrong with the state of nonfiction in Canada, and it isn’t the writers.” FV: Creative writing programs seem to breed close relationGiven the recent spate of successful creative nonfiction titles ships between emerging writers. Do you have any advice for by West Coast writers John Vaillant, J. B. McKinnon, Terry sustaining literary friendships given the competitive environGlavin and others, do you think this concern still holds true? ment of bestseller lists, award nominations and publicity? BW: It still holds true. This turn toward a greater respect for BW: Good on you, Fernanda, for asking this question! This creative nonfiction has only just begun. Most creative seems to be almost a taboo subject yet it is a dilemma that nonfiction writers are still experiencing too few outlets and many writers struggle with, particularly mid-career authors marginalization. An example: Myrna Kostash (with whom I who are not “new” or “hot discoveries” nor esteemed elders. organized the first gathering at Banff ) has recently secured Our national authors’ organizations appear to be in a trough funding for a small, creative nonfiction festival in Edmonton period. Attendance at AGMs has dropped; the involvement (to find out more about the festival, contact Miki Andrejevic of younger authors is weak. They will revive, but it means we at litfest@interbaun.com). This will be the first creative continued next page
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Betsy Warland, cont’d
women writers, I think we are still uneasy about fully accessing the power of our narratives.
have lost important ground in which to meet and nourish ourselves. We need to talk about all this more openly. We have a big wave of baby-boomer writers heading into elders, yet many of our current elders are living on minimal incomes. No one is going to take care of us but ourselves. A long view is needed: not a “who’s hot today” view. When I went through a major health crisis (which often becomes a monetary crisis as well), one of the two groups that rolled up their sleeves was a local women writers group, Sex, Death and Madness. They held a very successful fundraiser that helped my family and me enormously. This is the kind of thinking and action we need to build into our community.
FV: Awards often appear to be popularity contests, with the “winners” chosen by juries consisting of friends and colleagues. Which Canadian writers do you think deserve more attention than they are getting?
FV: The thing with fundraisers, though, is the sense of obligation they carry. It is a weight some people would find uncomfortable. However, I agree that writers, like artists, benefit most from developing strong friendships and mentor relationships within their immediate community. I’ve noticed a proliferation of small writing groups starting up in Vancouver—many of which are women-only. Why do you think this is?
BW: Suffice it to say: many. We do tend to fall into pretty predictable patterns of who is awarded and who isn’t and when this pattern is disrupted, suspicion and detraction often erupt. FV: What are you working on now?
BW: I’ve just finished an eight-year project of twenty-two essays on concepts I have developed about the act and process of writing, as well as reflections on the materials we work with as writers (computer, page, words, etc.). Recently, I began a new poetry manuscript that investigates the notion of romantic love (some of which is published on the U.S. online journal Write the narratives that hunt Trivia (www.triviavoices.net). Curyou down: the ones that rently, I am working on an essay on surprise and terrify you, the lying and its relationship to narrative, which I would like to publish as a very ones that you often chapbook.
“
would have preferred not to write.
BW: I was very reluctant to accept the offer of the fundraiser for me. I had to struggle with it but finally understood that this action was a positive thing for more than my family and me. It helped establish an action we can take in the writing community to take care of ourselves and will need to take more and more as we age. It also became an event that people organizing it, contributing to the silent auction, and those attending, loved. Everyone had a terrific time! Three years later, Rita Wong and I organized a benefit for the authors who lost the most in royalties when Press Gang went bankrupt and this too was a wonderful event. In terms of the women-only writers’ groups that you mention, it seems there are reasons why they continue to be a productive option for women writers. Recently, I taught a creative writing course for SFU Women’s Studies and I know there were topics, or approaches to topics, that these writers wrote about that they would have unlikely written at all, or that they would have compromised too much, if they hadn’t had the intellectual and emotional context that the course provided. A number of these narratives were remarkably powerful. Generally, as
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”
FV: And finally, do you have some last words of advice on the most important steps in developing as a writer?
BW: Write the narratives that hunt you down: the ones that surprise and terrify you, the very ones that you often would have preferred not to write! Take risks in content and form. Wake up to your habits of craft and ways of working with narrative and relentlessly question the suitability of using them with each narrative you write. Accept that each narrative has its own specific requirements and that what you brilliantly figured out for a previous narrative often does not suit the ones that follow. Accept that nearly every narrative you write will require far more work and far more time to fully realize than you ever imagined. Leonard Cohen usually takes a minimum of a year to write one song. Read voraciously. Find companionship; seek out and build community for yourself. Give readings as much as possible for this gives you a concrete sense of where revisions are still needed as well as where the audience responds positively to your narrative. Accept that you will often feel “discouraged.” Put your trust in the act of writing itself: the timelessness of it; the endless intrigue of it; the rigorousness of it, and how this nourishes you because everything else about your life as a writer is secondary (at best) in comparison.
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
CONTESTS & MARKETS
Contests & Markets Please note that inclusion in WordWorks is not an endorsement of any contest or market. We encourage our readers to thoroughly research all contests or markets before submitting work and ideally, it’s recommended that you read one or two copies of the publication in question to make sure your writing “fits” their requirements and guidelines. Our homepage at www.bcwriters.com lists recent additions to Contests and Markets.
Looming Deadlines
Submit 1 piece of fiction (5000 words max) or up to five poems. Include $5.00 for additional entries. Mail entries to Other Voices Fiction and Non-Fiction Contest, Box 52059, 8210 109 Street, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2T5
The 2006 PRISM International Literary Nonfiction Contest Deadline: September 30, 2006 The winning entry will be published in the 2007 Winter Issue of PRISM International and receive an additional payment of $20 per printed page. Full contest details can be checked out at http://prism.arts.ubc.ca/contests/nonfiction.htm
The Metcalf-Rooke Award Deadline: September 30, 2006 Bibiloasis presents its second annual Metcalf-Rooke Award for best short or novel-length fiction with the winner receiving a publishing contract with Biblioasis, a leather-bound copy of their book, $1500 in cash prize, a regional book tour and multiple launch parties. Check out www.biblioasis.com for details.
The Canadian Writers Collective Travel Story Contest Deadline: September 30, 2006
Submit Canadian travel stories (999 words or less), that feature a trip –taken, not taken, imagined– to/from/between places in Canada –real, surreal, unreal– paste your story into the body of an email, with the subject “Canadian Travel Story(your name)” and send it to cwcdrew@yahoo.ca. Don’t put your name within the body of the email as our judges will be judging blind. Starting December 1, the winning stories will be featured at the top of the CWC blog for a glorious two weeks each! First Prize $50 (genuine Canadian Literature for second and third places!)
Other Voices’ 2006 Annual Fiction and Poetry Contest Deadline: September 30, 2006
Enter your best fiction and/or poetry. The winner of each category will receive a $250 prize as well as publication in Other Voices Journal of the Literary and Visual Arts. Entries must be original and unpublished. No simultaneous submissions. Note: entries must be received by, not postmarked by September 30. Include a $25 entry fee in the form of a cheque or money order. All contest entrants will receive a year’s subscription to Other Voices. Blind judging. Include your name, e-mail, and mailing address on a separate cover letter that also specifies the title/s of your entry.
Boston Review 14th Annual Short Story Contest Deadline: October 1, 2006 The winning author will receive $1,000 and publication in the May/June 2007 issue of Boston Review. Stories should not exceed 4,000 words and must be previously unpublished. Submit manuscripts with a cover note listing the author’s name, address, and phone number; names should not appear on the stories themselves. A $20 processing fee ($30 for international submissions), payable to Boston Review in the form of a check or money order, must accompany each story entered. Entrants will receive a one-year print subscription to the Review beginning with the May/June 2007 issue. Manuscripts will not be returned. Winner will be announced May 1, 2007, on the Boston Review Web site, http://bostonreview.net/. Send submissions to: Short-Story Contest, Boston Review, 35 Medford St., Suite 302, Somerville, MA 02143
The Winston Collins/Descant Prize for Best Canadian Poem Deadline: October 10, 2006
Entries: Maximum entry length is 100 lines, typed, doublespaced; the writer should not be identified on the entry: include a separate cover sheet with the writer’s name, address, phone number & email, and the title of the poem enclosed. Previously published material, or material accepted elsewhere for publication cannot be considered. Include a S.A.S.E. Fee: $29 entry fee (includes GST and a one-year subscription; make cheque or international money order payable to: Descant) Prizes: CDN $1000, plus payment for publication in Descant; Two Honourary Mentions will be awarded. This annual prize is in memory of Winston Collins, writer and enthusiastic teacher of literature. The prize will perpetuate his remarkable talent for encouraging selfexpression through writing. The judges for the first year of the award will be fiction writer and critic Douglas Glover, and fiction writer Lisa Moore. Send entries to: Descant Prize Competition, PO Box314, Station P. Toronto, ON. M5S 2S8 Web Address: www.descant.on.ca
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Contests & Markets cont’d
Markets
2006 CBC Literary Awards Deadline: November 1, 2006
Cézanne’s Carrot
The awards are Canada’s only literary competition celebrating original, unpublished works in both official languages. There are three categories: short story, poetry, and creative non-fiction, with cash prizes totalling $60,000, courtesy of the Canada Council for the Arts, publication in Air Canada’s enRoute magazine and broadcast on CBC radio. To find out how to enter, visit www.cbc.ca/literaryawards/ or request a print entry form by calling toll free 1-877-888-6788.
Asian Canadian Bedtime Stories Contest Deadline: November 1, 2006
Ricepaper invites entries for its first annual contest. Submit fun, witty and imaginative bedtime stories, 300-1000 words, about Asian Canadians. Must be suitable for children aged 8 and under, and must feature at least one prominent Asian character in a North American setting. Winners will be published in Spring 2007 issue. Entry fee: $20 (includes 1-year subscription); $10 per additional entry. For more information, check out www.ricepaperonline.com
2006 Prairie Fire Press - McNally Robinson Writing Contests Deadline: November 30, 2006
Bliss Carman Poetry Award Judge, Lorna Crozier; Short Fiction Judge, Sandra Birdsell; Creative Non-Fiction Judge, Stan Dragland. $5,250 in prizes. For information, contact Prairie Fire Press, 423-100 Arthur Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 1H3, telephone 204-943-9066, email prfire@mts.net or visit www.prairiefire.ca
The Eighth Annual VIWF Poetry & Short Story Writing Contest Deadline: October 22, 2006
Submit your finest work to the Vancouver International Writers Festival Poetry & Short Story Contest. Prizes will be awarded to the top two entries in poetry and in creative fiction. The 1st place entries will be published in the Spring 2007 issue of subTERRAIN and on the Festival website. Entries will be accepted for previously unpublished work in each category: Poetry (any style): 500 word limit. Creative short fiction: 1,500 word limit. 1st prize in each category: $350, 2nd prize in each category: $250 .Entries will be judged blind. Please do not put your name on your story or poem. On a separate sheet, include your name, address and phone number and the word count of your piece. For each story or poem, please include a $10 entry fee. Make cheques or money orders in Canadian funds only payable to the Vancouver International Writers Festival. Drop off or mail your submissions to the Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival, 202–1398 Cartwright St., Vancouver, BC V6H 3R8. For details, check website at www.writersfest.bc.ca
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www.cezannescarrot.org Seeks high quality literary work exploring spiritual, transformational, visionary or contemplative themes. Publishes poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction and visual art that celebrate the human experience in uplifting, revolutionary ways. Email submissions only. Payment: three $25 editors’ prizes awarded each issue. Detailed guidelines on website.
Orca Book Publishers www.orcabook.com Orca Book Publishers seeks short novels (23000-26000 words) for ages 10+ (grade 2 to grade 5 reading level, ideal for struggling and reluctant readers). Looking for strong stories with sports action combined with exciting mystery and suspense, vivid characterization, and compelling plotlines. Send outline, synopsis and sample chapters to: Andrew Wooldridge, Orca Book Publishers, PO Box 5626, Stn B, Victoria, BC V8R 6S4.
Fickle Muses www.ficklemuses.com New online journal of myth and legend, is now accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, book reviews, essays and illustrations for its debut issue (January 2007). Seeks “writing that creatively incorporates myth or legend to connect the contemporary reader with ancient traditions.” Send submissions by email only. Paste submission into the body of the email or attach as a Word or RTF document. Please include your name and the genre (e.g. Sari Krosinsky, Poetry) in the subject line and send to: editor@ficklemuses.com. Fickle Muses acquires one-time rights. No payment is offered at this time.
Descant www.descant.on.ca Descant is accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, essays, art and photography for upcoming theme issue on Iran. Publication in Winter 2007. Deadline: December 31, 2006. Check website for details.
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
FEATURES
Pitching Professionally How to Captivate Editors and Agents with Your Nonfiction Book Idea By Julie H. Ferguson
Imagine you are an acquisitions editor at one of Canada’s publishing houses.
Q
uery letters plop into your inbox at the rate of 50 to 100 a week; you are on a first name basis with the courier who twice a day delivers bulging packages addressed to “The Editor”; and piles of unsolicited proposals and manuscripts obstruct your office. How do you manage this onslaught? Most editors cope by considering only book ideas submitted via query letter. They send unsolicited proposals and manuscripts back to authors unopened or periodically give them to interns to skim. Today most query letters are emails. While electronic communications have improved access and speeded the process of pitching nonfiction book ideas, the letter itself hasn’t changed in the 35 years I have been writing. Editors and agents remain adept at identifying publishable books from just one page and if they like your idea, will invite you to send along your nonfiction book proposal for consideration. Indeed, this is the goal of any query letter for nonfiction—to generate an overwhelming desire to see your proposal. Irresistible query letters can be daunting to craft because so much rides on them. This formal request to submit the proposal takes sound research and dedicated effort to compose but, most of all, it needs a critical eye that is not your own. Key ingredients are outstanding writing, an ability to generate excitement, and realism, for no editor wants to hear about the next bestseller from a first-time author. A query letter is an elegantly blended mixture of
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
information, reassurance, and a “movie” trailer.
H
ere are some suggestions to improve your query letters so they rise above the competition and result in an invitation to see your proposal.
1. Remove all opportunities for rejection. Given the deluge of queries each week, editors and agents are intolerant of any unforced errors a writer may make. These may include lazy grammar and spelling, choosing a fancy font in the hopes your letter stands out, sending attachments, or being too familiar. Remember, this is a letter from a professional. Other signals for instant rejection are sending the query to an unnamed editor or the wrong house, writing too long a letter (500 to 700 words is ideal), or omitting one of the required components. Do not give editors any reason continued next page
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Pitching Professionally, cont’d
can mean the difference between rejection and a request for more material.
to discard your query before they consider it.
3. Include all the required components
2. Remember to categorize your book
If you don’t know exactly what editors/agents want in a query letter, books and courses on the subject are readily available to guide you. Some of the key ingredients include:
The editor/agent needs to know upfront what type of book your query letter is pitching. Is it a biography, a cookbook, or a how-to book? Categorization refers to the shelf your book will sit on in a bookstore and this needs to be precisely identified for nonfiction queries. Take the time to grasp the nuances of the many categories and sub-categories by prowling Amazon.com and the shelves of big bookstores, the independents, and perhaps a specialty bookstore. Some writers ask their local bookstore where they would shelve a book like theirs. Endeavour to slot your book into the right one. Sometimes books straddle categories, delivering an early warning of impending publisher angst. Get writer colleagues to assist too, especially if they are familiar with your manuscript. An accurately pigeon-holed book
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• Just like any letter, the query has a lead, a body, and a conclusion. The lead for nonfiction can be either a business-like statement describing your book or a creative, compelling hook. Nonfiction leads may use a surprising statistic, an anecdote, or a provocative question to entice the editor to read further. (50 words or less) • The body of the letter for nonfiction is the all-important sales pitch. It must have details about your subject, the length, scope and distinctiveness of your book, as well as a discussion about its market and competition. (300 to 400 words) • Today publishers also expect nonfiction authors to be experts and to demonstrate ideas for increasing the sales of the book—this is known as your platform. Your query needs
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
FEATURES
to briefly address this—the proposal will detail your book’s platform and post-publication plan. (75 words or less)
Recommended resources
• The penultimate paragraph covers the author’s credentials (bio) and focuses on why you are ideal to write this particular book. (75 words)
• The conclusion of any query contains the request to send your proposal to the publisher. As sales experts insist, ask for the sale: “May I send the proposal for Spirit Wisdom for your consideration?”
Crafting Irresistible Query Letters that Result in Publication, Julie H. Ferguson, Beacon 2002 (Canada)
• You need not tell the recipients that you have sent the query to others—it’s a given.
The Writer’s Guide to Queries, Pitches and Proposals, Moira Allen, Allworth Press 2001(USA)
4. Get rid of the passive voice and other “to be” verbs
Electronic
Nothing dooms your query more effectively than sentences like “John was seen at the beach by his wife” or “It is clear that…” If you do nothing else, scour your query for this weakness and reword the offending phrases. Next, give your finely tuned letter to some experienced/published writers and get them to critique and edit it—then rewrite it, several times if necessary, passing it back for comment each time.
5. Format your query professionally First determine the route that the editor or agent prefers to use for queries—email or a traditional paper letter. Most publishers’ and agents’ websites have a page called “Submission Guidelines” that will tell you. Today nearly all accept equeries. However, anything other than a standard business letter format will invite rejection. Here are a few pointers for electronic queries: • Format your email program for plain text, not HTML. • Write the subject line: “Query: cookbook, vegetarian” or “Query: Canadian history, naval” Note the category comes first, then the sub-category. • Compose your query in a word-processing program and, when you are satisfied with it, paste it into the body of the email (never send as an attachment—they can transmit viruses). • Use a black, 12 point font, single-spaced. Also, watch for the old-fashioned double space after a period—a telltale sign that you are not paying attention to detail. • Place your enclosures below the letter, not attached to the email.
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
Attention Grabbing Query and Cover Letters, John Wood, Writer’s Digest Books 1996 (USA)
Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write, Elizabeth Lyon, Perigee 2002 (USA)
Writers can access hundreds of useful articles and links on the web. Here are a few sites to get you started: www.canauthors.org www.writersdigest.com/topics/nonfiction.asp www.writerswrite.com www.writing-world.com
6. Enclosures The essential enclosure for nonfiction editors/agents is the table of contents of your proposed book. It illustrates the structure and organization you have in mind. If your author credentials are lengthy and distinctly relevant, editors and agents will accept a separate one-page bio. (Although I could do this, I don’t. I save my one-pager for the proposal, preferring a six line, enticing paragraph in the letter.) Indicate any enclosures in the normal way after your signature block, e.g. enc:. • Write your query letter after you have polished your book proposal. If your pitch works, an editor will ask for the full proposal immediately. As proposals can run 12 to 60 pages, excluding the chapter samples, only a magician can produce a winning one in a couple of days. Nothing screams “amateur” more than telling an editor the proposal is not ready. • Expect to spend about twenty hours crafting an irresistible nonfiction pitch—your book idea deserves nothing less. If your query yields invitations to submit your proposal from 25 percent or more of the recipients, it has achieved considerable success. A coach for writers seeking publication, Julie H. Ferguson is the author of three books on Canadian history and five for writers. This year, she is a judge for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference Nonfiction Contest. Julie can be contacted through www.beaconlit.com 25
FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Launched! New Titles by Federation Members
Small Birds Cling to Bare Branches: Nesting Songbirds of Haida Gwaii
Thompson’s Highway: British Columbia’s Fur Trade, 1800–1850
Margo Hearne Colour illustrations by Janetta Pirt Self-published by Margo Hearne, August 2006 ISBN 0-9737394-0-1 $29.95
Alan Twigg Ronsdale Press, September 2006 ISBN 1-55380-039-7 $24.95
This is the first complete guide to the nesting songbirds of the Queen Charlotte Islands with 39 original full-colour illustrations by Masset artist Janetta Pirt. Foreword by Peter Hamel. Author Margo Hearne lives on island and lends her experience and knowledge to describing the birds and their habitat in rich detail. A lovely book professionally edited by FrogHeart Communications with production design by Sage Design. “What shines through every page of this charming book is its author’s love of the birds she describes...if all humans were like her, we would have no environmental crisis.” – Silver Donald Cameron Margo Hearne’s articles have appeared in the Guardian Weekly, Canadian Women’s Studies, Peter Gzowski’s New Morningside Papers and various local publications including the Queen Charlotte Island Observer. An amateur ornithologist, Margo’s work has been recognized by the Royal British Columbia Museum and the Audubon Society. She lives in Masset with her husband.
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Alan Twigg’s third volume of illustrated B.C. history traces the writings and lives of David Thompson, Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser and thirty of their peers— mainly Scots—who founded and managed more than fifty forts west of the Rockies. In keeping with bicentennial events in 2007 to honour David Thompson’s entry into British Columbia in 1807, Twigg presents Thompson as the hero of his era, the man who identified the Columbia River as the “highway” for commerce on the Western Slope, connecting both sides of the North American continent. “Twigg is the Ali Baba of Canadian literary studies. He finds literary gems from the often silent and discursive past and brings them to life. Since the deaths of W. Kaye Lamb, William Ireland, Margaret Ormsby and Charles Lillard, Twigg has been the main voice for what I call the British Columbia narrative.” – Barry Gough, Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada Alan Twigg, founder of BC BookWorld, is the author of twelve books, including Aboriginality (Ronsdale, 2005), First Invaders (Ronsdale, 2004), and Intensive Care: A Memoir (Anvil Press, 2002).
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
COMMUNITY
Phosphorus
Anything Boys Can Do
Decked and Dancing
Heidi Garnett Thistledown Press, September 2006 ISBN 1-897235-13-5 $15.95
Angie Abdou Thistledown Press, September 2006 ISBN 1-897235-12-7 $18.95
Christine Smart Hedgerow Press, September 2006 ISBN 0-9736882-3-8 $16.95
A literary Philosopher’s Stone, Heidi Garnett’s first book, Phosphorus, is an elemental collection of poems dealing with the wealth of the human soul. Garnett’s meditations are held to the page, fearless of beauty and science. A journey arranged in five chronological sections, the reader first becomes an intimate party to her German family’s devastating experience of war, and their subsequent emigration to the Canadian prairies. The pieces then transform into an exploration of inner and outer landscapes, growing into adulthood, courtship, formation of a family unit, culminating in an unassuming reconciliation with the past. The dominant note, even after the sobering addendum of family members lost in 1945, is acceptance; of tragedy, denial, loss, love, prejudice, and frailty by sundry means.
Anything Boys Can Do is a collection of short stories that casts contemporary women in an honest light—neither weaker than men nor on a pedestal above them. Abdou’s female characters unveil and, at times, unleash their savvy and wit on those too inept or indulgent to see it coming. On par with the social and sexual antics of their male counterparts, the escapist escapades of these women take shape in summer vacations and adulterous flings. In moments lived to forget the world, these women throw caution to the wind and suspend emotion. After all, regret doesn’t rear its head until after all the fun is done.
The sixty-four poems in this first collection from Saltspring writer Christine Smart are intimate and sensual, often profound yet always accessible. Some written in sensuous prose, others in a variety of image-rich verse forms, they speak of desire, love and longing, life and death, the beauty and evanescence of a natural world closely observed. One group of poems is an unsentimental, vividly recalled evocation of the poet’s early life on an Ottawa Valley farm. Another faces the dark side, with poems of illness, loss and grief, while a third rejoices in the pleasures of physical desire, love and motherhood.
Angie Abdou was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and now lives in Fernie, British Columbia. Her work has been published in Other Voices, The Harpweaver, Spring, the Windsor Review, Grain, and Ripe Magazine. Anything Boys Can Do is Angie Abdou’s first book.
Christine Smart was born in 1953 in Shawville, Québec. She graduated from Queen’s University with a B.Sc.N degree (1976) and holds a degree in Fine Arts, Writing (1997) from the University of Victoria. She worked in Montreal, Edinburgh and Victoria before moving in 1989 to Saltspring Island, B.C. where she is a community health nurse.
Heidi Garnett was born in Germany, and currently lives in Kelowna. In 2004, she won the Joyce Dunn Memorial Award for poetry and her work has been published in numerous literary publications including Carousel, The New Quarterly, Event and CV2.
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
The Truth About Rats (and Dogs) Jacqueline Pearce Orca Book Publishers, September 2006 ISBN 1-55143-473-3 $8.95 Unlike his perfect sister, Conner hates his piano lessons and gets bad grades in math. He’s really good at doing tricks on his BMX and he loves animals, but his parents have a no-pets rule and they don’t take his bikeriding seriously. When the SPCA he volunteers at becomes overcrowded everyone in the pet club—including Conner—agrees to take in a foster pet for a while. Conner has to smuggle his rat, Oscar, into the house. Jacqueline Pearce grew up on Vancouver Island, intrigued by local history and the relationships between people and animals and between people and nature. Her first novel, The Reunion (Orca 2000), was nominated for a 2003-2004 Chocolate Lily Award. While doing research for The Truth About Rats (and Dogs), Jacqueline adopted a rat named Oscar from the SPCA shelter. She discovered that rats are intelligent and that their scaly tails have many uses.
Half in the Sun Shaheen: Anthology of Mennonite Writing A Falconer’s Journal from Turkey Edited by Elsie K. Neufeld Introduction by Sharon Butala Ronsdale Press, October 2006 ISBN 1-55380-038-9 $21.95 With the publication of Half in the Sun, BC writers of Mennonite heritage claim their place in one of the most visible ethnic literary communities in Canada. The contributing authors share a history rooted in a dark region littered with stories of repeated migration, Soviet terror, displacement and resettlement. Several factors contribute to the broad range of this firstof-its-kind anthology: its multi-genre nature; the intentional mix of emerging, established and prize-winning writers; and the fact that a number of the authors are Prairie transplants whose work continues to be influenced by ties to that region’s geography, politics and local cultures. This anthology ends the collective invisibility of BC’s Mennonite writers in a very decisive way. The daughter of Russian Mennonite immigrants, Elsie K. Neufeld has written two nonfiction books Dancing in the Dark: a Sister Grieves (1990) and The Past Inside the Present (1996). She has edited numerous anthologies and her work has appeared in Mennonite publications as well as in Breaking the Surface (Sono Nis Press, 2000) and Inside Poetry (Harcourt Canada, 2002). Elsie lives with her family on Sumas Mountain, BC.
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Paul Jones Hancock House, October 2006 ISBN 0-88839-638-4 $60 (Limited Edition) Shaheen: A Falconer’s Journal from Turkey is a lyrical account of the relationship forged between a man and a bird, set against the exotic backdrop of the Turkish countryside. Author Paul Jones chronicles the capture and “taming” of a Saker Falcon, before the scourge of DDT affected many species of falcons throughout the world. Jones gives readers an inside view of falconry and all its trappings, little changed since the Middle Ages, and complements the text with his own elegant drawings. A lifelong devotee of raptors of all sorts, Paul Jones was able to acquire his own falcon while he worked with a branch of the United Nations in Turkey during the sixties and seventies as a forestry and forest industry development planner. Jones has been a member of the British Columbia Falconry Association and belongs to a long list of British Columbia birding and natural history organizations. He has authored numerous articles of natural history interest and his works include The Marbled Murrelets of the Caren Range and Middlepoint Bight and Nature’s Anniversary. He resides in Vancouver.
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
COMMUNITY
Regional Reports Central Kay McCracken, Salmon Arm kaymcc@jetstream.net
Michael Kluckner on Oct. 4, and Deanna Kawatski and Michael Blackstock on October 21. As a writer and artist, Kluckner has won numerous awards for his books on the history and heritage of some of our Canadian cities. Deanna’s books about her wilderness experience, her workshops and writing retreats have inspired many over the years. Blackstock, a Northwest coast native, is a writer, visual artist, forester and naturalist. Check www.shuswapassociationofwriters.ca or call 250-833-5634 for details. Ann Walsh’s poem, “driving mr. bill,” gives readers yet another glimpse into the magic universe of legendary Canadian poet bill bissett. Ann’s poem is included in radiant danse uv being: a poetic portrait of bill bissett (Nightwood Editions). The anthology was favourably reviewed in the Globe and Mail recently.
Patricia Alford of Celista has a poem in this summer’s Dalhousie Review and two poems in this fall’s Room of One’s Own. Alford has been working on her MFA in Creative Writing at Naropa University in Boulder Colorado for the last two years.
South East Anne Strachan, Nakusp sisinwriting@hotmail.com
The Marie Manson Award for artists/writers who are serious about their endeavors and show excellence in their work went to Karen Bissenden of Salmon Arm this year. Karen combined her two passions, poetry and fabric, to create dimensional works of art. Karen plans to use the award money to attend the Victoria School of Writing next year. Heidi Garnett’s first collection of poetry, Phosphorus (Thistledown), coming out in September, is “an elemental collection dealing with the wealth of the human soul.” Heidi won first prize in the Joyce Dunn Writing competition in 2004 (Shuswap International Writer’s Festival), and has been published in literary magazines including the New Quarterly, Event, CV2 and Carousel. She credits John Lent’s teaching and mentorship for her success. Prolific writer Sterling Haynes had a humorous poem, “The Postal Telephone Blues,” (New Quarterly) published recently and a story titled “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” (The Medical Post) published in July. Sarah Weaver’s story, “Weekend Conversation,” won First Prize in the ninth annual Nina Dickins Short Short Story Contest sponsored by Nina Dickins and the Shuswap Writers Group. Ken Firth emceed, read a short story and a poem or two. Kay McCracken had the distinction of being one of the three judges this year (not an easy task with so many good entries!). The Shuswap Association of Writers (SAW) is sponsoring two events in Salmon Arm at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort:
WORDWORKS–FALL 2006
East Kootenay members are alive and writing! Dorial Davis reports the Cranbrook Writers’ Group is in its twelfth year of existence, finding a home in the CDAC office and gallery. This active group meets once a month for fellowship, writing practice, readings, sharing and encouragement. Fed member Rita Moir’s workshop in April attracted a full house, and everyone learned a great deal. The group is working on obtaining a grant for another workshop. Angie Abdou’s first book, a collection of short stories entitled Anything Boys Can Do, will be published in September by Thistledown Press. The book will be launched on September 22, 7 pm., at Polar Peek Book & Treasures in Fernie. For times and places of readings throughout BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan, see the Thistledown website: http://www.thistledownpress.com/ One of Linda Lee Crosfield’s poems was a runner up in The Ontario Poetry Society’s recent Winsome Words contest. Sandra Hartline has had several articles published in the Spring/Summer 2006 issue of Articulate, including a review of Holley Rubinsky’s novel, Beyond this Point, which found its way to her website as the “Hartline Review.” Golden’s Kuya Minogue will be presenting a Write from the Source Workshop on October 1 to 6 at the Naramata Centre
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in Penticton. This five-day silent Zen Writing Practice workshop, developed by author Natalie Goldberg, combines Zen practice and writing in a unique and surprising way. For more information, contact Kuya at kminogue@redshift.bc.ca
Susan McCaslin read her poetry at an exhibition (Aug. 6 to Aug. 8) of the photography of Thomas Merton, A Hidden Wholeness: The Zen Photography of Thomas Merto, at the Sacred Box Gallery on Main St. in Vancouver.
Hello I Must Be Going, a new play directed by Nicola Harwood and written by Bessie Wapp, Nicola Harwood and Fed member Judy Wapp, was presented in numerous communities in the Kootenays (Nelson, Procter, Castlegar, Kaslo, Gray Creek, Nakusp, Silverton, Grand Forks, Revelstoke and Salmo). The play portrays four generations of women in Bessie and Judy Wapp’s Jewish Lithuanian family. This play explores the resistance of women to the machinations of war and shows us that running to the next country is not how peace will finally be won.
Sylvia Taylor is the new Editor and Chief Writer for The New View, a community-based publication backed by the Whalley Business Improvement Association. She also joined Community Innovation’s Business Development Program as a consultant, providing writing services to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Ernest Hekkanen’s New Orphic Publishers of Nelson is pleased to announce the Fall 2006 publication of The Reluctant Author: The Life and Literature of Ernest Hekkanen, an informal study by Margrith Schraner. For details of the book launch, please call (250) 354-0494. Kootenay Coop Radio, CJLY, 93.5 FM Nelson, 96.5 Kootenay Lake, is airing a new half-hour program, The Writers’ Show, about the nitty-gritty aspects of writing and the publishing experience, of interest to both writers and readers. The season began Thursday, Aug 31, at noon. Fed member Holley Rubinsky is the producer and host. Guests are BC-based book writers and include, among others, Bill Gaston, Tom Wayman (reading from his new fiction), Anne Fleming, Cynthia Flood, Rita Moir, Anne DeGrace and Keath Fraser. For those outside the broadcast area, the show can be streamed online through www.kootenaycoopradio.com.
Fraser Valley Sylvia Taylor, Langley sylviataylor@uniserve.com The Langley Writers’ Guild celebrated its 25th anniversary during a garden gala and anthology book launch in Langley, June 17, attended by media and Mayor Kurt Alberts, with readings from Ed Griffin (former instructor), Farideh Kheradmand, Doris Reidwig, and other members. Sylvia Taylor, Fraser Valley Regional Director for the Federation of Writers, honoured recently deceased poet, Max Plater, in a reading of his work.
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David Watmough, the Fed’s octogenarian founder, appears in a new anthology by Pulp Press edited by Billeh Nickerson. Del McNulty’s poem, “Exhale,” appears in Volume lll 2006 of Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine and her postcard story “Out With The Tide” was shortlisted in this year’s Writers’ Union of Canada Postcard Competition Margo Bates’ book, P.S. Don’t Tell Your Mother, was recommended on the summer book list by Rex Murphy on CBC Radio Cross Country Checkup. This autumn Margo will be presenting The Story of the Telkwa Hall Rum Punch and Other Favourites at the Delta, Ladner and Tsawwassen libraries. Robert Martens is a contributor and co-editor of Half in the Sun, a Ronsdale Press anthology of West Coast Mennonite writers with Elsie Neufeld as chief editor. Ursula Maxwell Lewis, owner/editor of The Cloverdale Reporter newspaper, has launched her newly designed website. She is also taking nonfiction submissions of up to 400 words, for the Fourth Annual Cloverdale Reporter Heritage Christmas Magazine. Darya Kowalski’s poem, “The Art of Living,” was published in Ascent Aspirations Magazine Windfire Anthology. On August 20, Fraser Valley authors and writers gathered at the annual Bard’s Ink BBQ, hosted by Penny Duane, to celebrate all things writerly. Dana Ramstedt sends her regrets that she will not be continuing the Wired Monk Langley/Aldergrove Writers’ Contest as she is moving to the Kamloops area. She invites interested parties to take over this worthy literary event, and promises her support. She thanks all past participants, especially literary judges Sylvia Taylor (nonfiction) and Dan Neil (poetry) for their three years of commitment, support and expertise.
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COMMUNITY
Lower Mainland Jocelyn Coburn, Vancouver jcoburn@sfu.ca Eileen Kernaghan’s historical YA fantasy The Alchemist’s Daughter and Irene Livingston’s picture book Finklehopper Frog Cheers are included in the new 2006 edition of OUR CHOICE: Annual Guide to Canada’s Best New Children’s Books, from the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Janet Hudgins’ short story “Red Light” will appear in a Paper Journey Press anthology, Blink: Flash Fiction Before You Can Bat an Eye (www.thepaperjourney.com). Heather Haley recently completed a residency at Banff Centre for the Arts’ Wired Writing Studio. Her videopoem, Purple Lipstick, will premier at the International VideoBardo Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 24, 2006. The Vancouver Review will publish Window Seat in their September issue, a poem featured in her new manuscript/ book of the same name. This fall she will launch Two Redheads, a podcast, produced in collaboration with Roderick Shoolbraid, and an audio CD, Princess Nut Hatch. Shaheen, written and illustrated by Paul Jones, will be released this fall from Hancock House. Shaheen is the story of a Saker falcon Paul flew in Turkey while he was working there in the sixties. Larry Jacobsen participated in the Summer Dreams Reading Festival at Robson Square on July 22. His memoir, Leaning Into the Wind: Memoirs of an Immigrant Prairie Farm Boy is available in numerous libraries in BC and Alberta, including the Fraser Valley and Okanagan Regional Libraries. Alan Twigg’s third volume in his Literary Origins series, Thompson’s Highway: British Columbia’s Fur Trade, 18001850 (Ronsdale Press) will be in bookstores in September. Twigg traces the writing and lives of David Thompson, Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser and their peers—mainly Scots—who founded more than fifty forts west of the Rockies prior to 1850. Jancis Andrews had an article titled “The Rubbish That Turns Little Girls Into Sexpots” published in the “Soundoff ” section of the August 2 issue of the Vancouver Sun.
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Neil Aitken, a long-time expat and new member of the Fed, completed his MFA in Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, in June and now lives in Port Coquitlam. Several of his poems were recently accepted and are forthcoming in Crab Orchard Review (September/06), Portland Review (September/06), and Poetry Southeast (January/07). He recently attended the Kundiman Asian American Poetry Retreat in Charlottesville, Virginia (June/06). Alan Morgan has published his first book, I Think. I Wrote a Book. He participated in a number of Meet the Author events at several Lower Mainland Chapters, Coles and Indigo bookstores throughout August. An inaugural book signing was held on August 18 at the Strawberry Hill branch of Chapters Books This past spring Fiona Lam, Shannon Cowan and Cathy Stonehouse completed collating a manuscript of literary essays about writers who become mothers, featuring Susan Musgrave, Linda Spalding, Anne Simpson, Catherine Owen, Susan Olding, Rachel Rose and others, provisionally entitled Mothering and the Muse. One of Fiona’s poems will be included in an upcoming Norton anthology of South and East Asian poetry from all over the world, entitled Contemporary Voices of the Eastern World; and one of her essays has been shortlisted in Event magazine’s annual NonFiction Contest. Her Facts and Arguments piece, “Adopting the Dim Sum Strategy” appeared recently in the Globe and Mail. Sheri Radford’s second book, Penelope and the Monsters, has been nominated for the 2006-2007 Chocolate Lily Awards. Sheri recently completed a short script commissioned by Sinking Ship Productions for Roll Play, which is a new interactive TV series for preschoolers endorsed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. On July 8 Bernice Lever gave a workshop, “Harnessing your Critics,” in Peterborough, Ontario, at CanWrite 2006 (for the Canadian Authors Association). Her poem, “Let’s Go Home Now,” is in the Canada Poetry Association’s 20th anniversary anthology. Her two prose pieces, “Adam,” and “Same Sex Wives,” and a poem, “Red Dog Outhous,” were published in the North Shore Writers’ 2006 anthology. Bernice was also one of five winners in the Words on Robson poetry contest sponsored by the Summer Dreams Reading Festival with her submission, “Reunion.” On Saturday, July 22, new Fed members Bonnie Nish and Sita Carboni of Pandora’s Collective presented The Summer
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Dream Reading Festival, an annual, engaging, outdoor festival established to raise public awareness regarding the on-going literary events, programs and resources available in the community. Sita received five poetry publications this summer with two poems in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine and three in Blue Print Review’s print issue Monument. Bonnie’s poem “Crying Out Loud In Jerusalem” will be published this fall in the book Illuminations Experience of the Personal Spiritual Experience.
The Islands David Fraser, Nanoose Bay ascentaspirations@shaw.ca Bryan Smith appeared on Channel 12 TV promoting his light-hearted, energetic novel, Villa Victoria. Kenn Joubert from Cedar completed the first book in his Huguenot Trilogy, Escape to Freedom, in early 2006. It is now published-on-demand with Trafford Publishing in Victoria and is available at Salamander Books in Ladysmith and Falconer Books in Nanaimo. Kenn participated in a gala by the Cedar Artisans, “Two days in Provence,” held at the Hazelwood Herb Farm in Yellow Point where books sales were excellent. Kenn was also awarded a partial scholarship to attend the Victoria Writing School in July. Kim Goldberg has had poetry published in both the Spring 2006 and Summer 2006 issues of Dalhousie Review. On August 6 she read poetry at the Hiroshima Day Lantern Ceremony in the Nanaimo harbour. Mary Ann Moore and Meg Hansen conducted “Writing the Labyrinth,” a writing circle and labyrinth experience, at SeaCloud in SaltAir B&B, north of Chemainus. Writing in a circle and walking the labyrinth are creative healing tools offering connection and insight. Pat Smekal received Second Prize for his poem, “Untitled Sevenling,” in the Cecilia Lamont Literary contest, Third Prize for “Morning Delivery” in the WestEnd Writers’ Club contest, First Prize (poetry, “Reclining Nude, Oil on Canvas”) and Second Prize (poetry, “Love Game”) in the North Shore Writers’ Association Literary contest, and an Honourable Mention in the Ascent Aspirations Magazine Anthology Two, Windfire contest, for “The 4:10 to Mittagong.”
David Fraser has published his first collection of short fiction, The Dark Side of the Billboard. He has had the poem “The Hunters” published in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine 2006, and poems published this summer in A Little Poetry, Outsider Ink, Long Short Story, Experimental Candy, Tryst, Poetry Canada Magazine and in the anthology The Future Looks Bright published by the Canadian Federation of Poets. David also participated as a finalist judge for the Canadian Poetry Association’s Poem of the Year, and for the Pacific Region Arts Council Literary Contest. A small group of Comox Valley women writers, The Valley Women of Words, has published its first anthology of prose and poetry, Verve: Selected Writings by Valley Women of Words. The seven members of the group, Angela Burns, Christina Burr, Ruth Dickson, Lois Gibson Juzak, Marjorie Napper, Lily Hoy Price and Joanne Sanderson have drawn on memories, beliefs, imagination and a sense of humour, to present 46 works. Verve may be purchased from Blue Heron Books in Comox, or the Laughing Oyster in Courtenay, or by contacting the publisher at gsgcanada@shaw.ca. For more information contact Angela Burns at (250) 890-2081. Maria Tippett received an Honourary Doctorate from SFU in June and will receive another from the University of Victoria this November. Kim Bannerman’s short story “The Mask and the Maze” was nominated for a 2006 Hugo award, while her short story “Armegedn, or the End of the Word” appeared in the Paraspheres Anthology from Omnidawn Press in March 2006. She is currently working as a screenwriter in addition to adjusting to her new role as a mom. Bob Collin’s book, Out Standing in Their Field, (short-listed for the 2001 Leacock prize) was reviewed in the Summer issue of Oregon-based Small Farmer’s Journal. Bob performed at the Port Alberni Forest Fest spoken word festival at McLean Mill National Historic Site on July 8.
North Lynda Williams, Prince George Lynda@okalrel.org North regional report unavailable at press time.
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