{"id":4546,"date":"2019-11-04T11:01:43","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T19:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=4546"},"modified":"2019-11-04T19:05:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T03:05:58","slug":"surprises-at-whistler-writers-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/writing\/surprises-at-whistler-writers-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprises at Whistler Writers Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

A number of surprises greeted me at this year’s Whistler Writers <\/a>Festival<\/a><\/strong>. I was invited because I was a Finalist for the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Awards in fiction for my novel, Sunflowers Under <\/a>Fire<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/a> These awards are sponsored by the Writers Union of Canada<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
On a trail in Whistler, B.C.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Beauty of Whistler<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Above all, you can’t beat the glorious setting. Robert and I used to go to Whistler with our children to ski the slopes of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. No longer skiers, we appreciated the scenery and the European style village with its variety of restaurants and shops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Whistler<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perks of Being a Finalist<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian Authors Association<\/strong><\/a> and Vivalogue Publishing<\/strong><\/a> hosted a luncheon for all the finalists<\/strong><\/a>. The finalists were: Edythe Anstey Hanen for Nine Birds Singing<\/em>, Ann Shortell for Celtic Knot – A Clara Swift Tale<\/em>, Diana Stevan for Sunflowers Under Fire<\/em>, Bill Arnott for Gone Viking: A Travel Saga<\/em>, Tina Martel for Not in the Pink<\/em>, and Mauel Mata for The Borders of Normal<\/em>. In the evening, each author read from their works at the Audain Museum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Edythe Anstey Hanen, Tina Martel, Manuel Matas, Diana Stevan, Bill Arnott, Ann Shortell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And we received a framed picture of our books as finalists in this competition<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look forward to reading these authors’ books after I’ve finished Don Quixote, a mammoth novel of over 900 pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Literary Cabaret <\/strong>Friday evening, Ann Shortell won the fiction award for her novel and Tina Martel won the non-fiction<\/strong> award <\/strong>for hers. After they’d said a few words, celebrated Canadian poets and novelists<\/strong><\/a> took turns at the mic to read from their published books. They inspired the audience with their brilliance. Musicians played along on trumpet, saxophone, percussion, upright bass, and grand piano. In other words, it made for an astounding evening! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workshops<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After reading the impressive program, I signed up for several workshops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trade Publishing in Canada today<\/strong>. The panel consisted of heavyweight publishing representatives from Harper Collins, Mother Tongue, Penguin Random House, Groundwood, Simon & Schuster, Orca and agent Rachel Letofsky. Did you know that over a million books were self-published in 2018.<\/em><\/strong> How do you find the cream in all of that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating Conversation with Your Readers<\/strong> presented notable authors reading from their works. My editor of Sunflowers Under Fire<\/em>, Eileen Cook,<\/strong> (You Owe Me a Murder<\/em>) was one of the panel members.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Whistler
l. to r. Cherie Dimaline, Eileen Cook, Tim Wynne-Jones, Kit Pearson, Deborah Ellis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tom Wynne-Jones, a two-time Governor General’s Award winner, led The MASS of Writing Fiction<\/strong> workshop. MASS stands for motivation, anticipation, stakes and suspense. All necessary intangibles for the writer to consider in the writing of their novel. He’s written 37 books for people of all ages. MASS stands for <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Thoughts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Having enjoyed the Whistler Writers Festival<\/strong>, I’m thinking of going again next year. It was so well organized. The biggest surprise was the myriad of talent presenting and reading. And I may enter the contest as well, if I finish the sequel to <\/strong>Sunflowers Under Fire<\/a><\/strong><\/em> in time. The link for the festival site can be found here. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you gone to any writers’ festivals that have inspired you? And if you’re a reader, I hope you check out some of the writers mentioned above. Any comments are always appreciated. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A number of surprises greeted me at this year’s Whistler Writers Festival. I was invited because I was a Finalist for the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Awards in fiction for… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1068,78,1069,1021,1073,1072,1066,1054,1067,1053],"class_list":["post-4546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-canadian-authors-association","tag-diana-stevan","tag-eileen-cook","tag-sunflowers-under-fire","tag-tim-wynne-jones","tag-vivalogue-publishing","tag-whistler","tag-whistler-independent-book-awards","tag-whistler-writers-festival","tag-writers-union-of-canada"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Whistler-gold-chair-1.jpg?fit=4032%2C3024&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-1bk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4476,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/writing\/a-writing-dream-come-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":4546,"position":0},"title":"A Writing Dream Come True","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"18 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"With news that Sunflowers Under Fire, my historical fiction, is now a finalist for the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Awards, a writing dream has come true. 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I had my mother's anecdotes but I needed to a lot of research to fill\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a writing dream","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/shield-1519642_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/shield-1519642_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/shield-1519642_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4521,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/writing\/roads-east-and-south\/","url_meta":{"origin":4546,"position":1},"title":"Stories on Roads East and South","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043d\u044f, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Taking roads east and south this summer gave me the opportunity to spend time with family, act in a feature film, and contemplate my next steps. Nothing like a road trip to stimulate those writing juices and come up with new stories. Ontario and Quebec At the National Art Gallery\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"stories","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_7459.jpg?fit=640%2C429&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_7459.jpg?fit=640%2C429&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_7459.jpg?fit=640%2C429&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4628,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/uncategorized\/counting-my-blessings-writing-and-otherwise\/","url_meta":{"origin":4546,"position":2},"title":"Counting my Blessings, Writing and Otherwise","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"14 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Only ten days before Christmas and I'm counting my blessings. 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I had hoped for a bigger splash. Rave reviews right from the get-go. But that meant that I\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"historical fiction","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/sunflower-front-ebook-small-size-2.png?fit=488%2C713&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3966,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/writing\/author-finds-inspiration-in-a-door\/","url_meta":{"origin":4546,"position":5},"title":"An Author Finds Inspiration in a Door","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"4 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"An author looks for inspiration everywhere. I found it in a door. 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