The dedicated authors from the Mini One-Day Writer’s Retreat will be reading from their manuscripts at the SCWES May Meeting, Sunday, May 31st, 2-4:30 pm, featuring Joan Fletcher’s launch of her scifi novel, “The Data Raiders.”
Local author Marion McKinnon Crook reads from her new book- Bloomsbury to Barkerville: The Life of Florence Wilson.
From the literary circles of Charles Dickens to gold-rush saloons in the Cariboo, this remarkable true story chronicles the fascinating life and intrepid spirit of Florence Wilson (1823–1902).
In 1862 Florence Wilson embarked on the SS Tynemouth, a bride ship destined for the Colony of British Columbia. She was one of sixty women travelling halfway around the world to become the wives of miners in the Cariboo gold rush. But unbeknownst to her fellow passengers, Florence had no intention of marrying; she was there to seek her own fortune. By the time she set sail, Florence had already experienced more life than most women and men twice her age. She had grown up as part of the gentry in central London’s Bloomsbury district, where she moved in the same literary circles as Charles Dickens and became a published poet. After being cheated of her inheritance, she fell into debilitating poverty—until news of the gold rush in Western Canada gave her the opportunity to change her life.
From poet to prospector to entrepreneur, Florence is best remembered in the frontier town of Barkerville, BC. She was the heart of the community, bringing entertainment and culture to a town dominated by transient male miners. In Barkerville, her fortunes rose, fell, and literally went up in flames in the great fire of 1868. But she always rebuilt and regrouped. Bloomsbury to Barkerville is a sweeping yet intimate portrait of an intrepid, ambitious woman.
Join us for our one-day writers’ retreat to give yourself time away from distractions to focus on your work-in-progress, and/or engage in activities, like a group poem, in a peaceful, scene setting at Davis Bay by the sea. Come and go as you wish.
Your polished pieces may be submitted to Not An Island literary quarterly for consideration for publication.
Read your work from the retreat at the Sunday, May 31st, SCWES Meeting, Davis Bay Hall, 2 pm.
By donation. Suggested donation $10 for members $20 for nonmembers.
An informal space to share and discuss poems you love, poems that you are currently reading, or poems you have written! Poems can be from any publication or book, as well as from online resources. For teens and adults
This event happens on the first Tuesday of the month, 10:30-11:30am in the Community Room
Want to enter a Writing Contest and Win but don’t know how to do so? Join Jan DeGrass, journalist and author, to learn the basics and be on your way to entering your first literary contest.
The fee is by donation to cover Jan’s time and the venue rental (suggested donation is $15).
Call for submissions for “Snippets from a Small Town: Understanding Life on the Sunshine Coast,” sponsored by the Small Neighbourhood Grant program. Send your poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photography, and art to cathalynn@gmail.com by Monday, November 17th. Small honorariums available. Launch at Gibsons & District Public Library Wednesday, December 17th, 11 am. Cover art by Sheri Peters.
You’re invited to come Write On for some quiet writing time at the Library on the third Wednesday of the month. No instruction or critique, just quiet time and space to write. Work on any writing you wish, in the company of your fellow writers.
Facilitator: Cathalynn (Cindy) Labonte-Smith
Drop in, no registration required.
If you require accessibility accommodations, please email outreach@gibsonslibrary.ca.
The Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society is pleased to host local award-winning mystery writer Charlotte Morganti’s book launch of The Karma Murders.
The Karma Murders
A driver falling asleep at the wheel. A truck slipping out of gear. A sailboat boom striking a sailor’s skull.
Someone is delivering fatal justice in Cheakamus, B.C. He has anointed himself as Karma’s Helper, delivering justice where it’s long overdue.
Townspeople see these accidents as random acts of fate. But P.I. Gabe Gabrieli believes the truth is more sinister. He recognizes the pattern—a killer’s signature hidden in plain sight—and studies the threads connecting the victims, searching for a common link.
Brief AGM will be held prior to the launch. Goodies at the break. All welcome. Free.
Aug 14 – 17th. Join Canada’s longest running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers. Featuring over twenty-five visiting authors including Nita Prose, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “The Maid”; acclaimed canlit star Guy Vanderhaeghe, who will be speaking about his non-fiction work, “Because Somebody Asked Me To”; David A. Robertson, a two-time winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award and author of “All the Little Monsters”; and Vancouver’s Gurjinder Basran, hailed by the CBC as one of the “ten Canadian women writers you need to read.” Plus opportunities for writers and readers to mingle amidst Rockwood’s heritage gardens.
Complete schedule here.
Aug 15-16. Meet Sunshine Coast Authors and Artists at St. Hilda’s Hall just steps away from the Rockwood Centre.
Writing Workshop with Fran Bourassa
Calling all poets, writers, and would-be writers of all ages and experience levels! Bypass your inner “editor” to find your authentic voice. Practice “free writing” short pieces from “word whip” prompts that elicit memories, emotions, and powerful ideas for poetry and stories. This method is quick, powerful, and everyone can enjoy it.
Fran Bourassa is an award-winning poet and contributing writer to numerous anthologies, including Breaking the Surface, Pacific Poetry Anthology, Force Field: 77 BC Poets.
Free but space is limited (in person only).
Registration opens on the 1st of the month here.
Join us at the Tidepool Aquarium for:
Private tour
Tank Talk Demo
Interpreter to walk you through Touch Tanks
Feeding Time
Art and/or Writing workshop with facilitators
All day access to the aquarium
Possible publication in “Not An Island” of finished works.
