Writing & Book Camp

 

Nina Matsumoto:   Monday, August 9

Nina Matsumoto (better known online by the alias of "space coyote") is a Japanese-Canadian Eisner Award-winning comic book artist. Critically acclaimed for her unique style and versatility, she has released two volumes of her original manga Yokaiden through Del Rey Manga. A lifelong fan of The Simpsons, she regularly pencils for Bongo Comics (Simpson Comics, Bart Simpson Comics). Most recently she illustrated The Last Airbender Prequel: Zuko's Story, a prequel comic for The Last Airbender film by M. Night Shyamalan. Find her at www.spacecoyote.com

Rebecca Bollwitt: Tuesday, August 9

Although she built her first website in 1997, Rebecca has been blogging about life in BC since 2004 on Miss604.com, and podcasting since 2005. Miss604.com was voted "Best Vancouver Blog" by the Georgia Straight for 2009 & 2010, "Best Local Blog" by The Westender in 2010 & 2011, and has been ranked within the top ten blogs in Canada. Recently named one of BC’s Top 100 Women of Influence by the Vancouver Sun, Rebecca co-founded sixty4media, a WordPress website development firm, and has co-authored the book, Blogging to Drive Business. www.miss604.com

Don Calame: Wednesday, August 10
Where do story ideas come from and how does one use them effectively?

I moved to Los Angeles soon after graduating and got a job as a talent agent’s assistant. From there I worked briefly at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation after which I became an elementary school teacher and won an innovation grant. And then, after many years of struggle and toil (6 years to be exact) me and my writing partner at the time (Chris Conroy), sold our first script, The Lie, to Universal Studios. What followed was much rewriting and many more projects sold and much more rewriting. In 2001, at long last a project was produced. A Disney Channel Film called Hounded. It aired on April 13th (a Friday, no less, just to give it the luck it needed).

And then... more projects sold and more projects rewritten until finally a feature film got the green light, Employee of the Month. On the very strong urging of my wife I wrote Swim the Fly, which is my first published novel, followed by Beat the Band. At the moment I’m happily ensconced in British Columbia with my wife, my step-son, and our dog Scooter. www.doncalame.com

 

Carrie Mac: Thursday, August 11

An award-winning author who has read millions of books, and has sat happily at the feet of a legion of storytellers. She is equally fascinated by disaster and grace, car wrecks, hurricanes, plagues and genocide on the one hand, small and stunning everyday miracles on the other. She sometimes wishes she were a pirate. She'd often wished she'd run away and joined the circus when she had the chance. She spends a great deal of time in the company of her imagination, and when she isn't, she's wide eyed and awed by this planet and the people running amok all over it. Her recent books include Jacked and The Gryphon Project. www.carriemac.com

Rebecca Wigod: Friday, August 12
"I Don't Care What You Say About me - Just Spell My Name Right!"

This session is about how newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and other media spread the word about new books and their authors. What's the point of writing a great book if nobody hears about it? The news media can hlep you publicize your work - you just have to know how to approach them.

Rebecca Wigod was the editor of the Saturday books pages in the Vancouver Sun from 2000 to 2010. During that time, she wrote articles about hundreds of creative people - for example, the B.C. young people's authors and illustrators John Wilson, Ellen Schwartz and Kathryn Shoemaker and the visiting young people's authors and illustrators David Almond, Rick Riordan and Marie-Louise Gay.

Kallie George   

Workshop: Misfits: A Perfect Fit for Fiction

Misfit creatures and characters form the basis of many beloved books - Harry Potter, The Tale of Despereaux, A Wrinkle in Time, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Stargirl and The Lightning Thief. It’s no wonder, since misfits are characters that come with a ready, built-in conflict. In this class, Kallie will trace a short history of misfit heroes and heroines, including her own story about a two-tailed misfit mermaid. Students will then create their own misfit character, one that can either form the basis for a new story, or be incorporated into a story they are already writing.

Kallie George is a children's author, editor, and teacher. She completed her Masters of Children's Literature at the University of British Columbia. As an editor for Vancouver-based Simply Read Books, she works on projects as multi-varied as wordless picture books, board books, early reader books, middle grade novel and young adult fantasy fiction. She is the co-creator of the award-winning Simply Small board book series, and author of the art book, Mr. M: The Exploring Dreamer. Her first early reader, The Melancholic Mermaid, was released in 2010. Kallie is a lead mentor for CWC, a creative writing program for children, and has taught workshops in Canada and South Korea. She has taught at the Youth Write Camp, sponsored in part by Raise a Reader, and has worked in the school system via Learning Through the Arts. She has also presneted publishing workshops to authors and illustrators through SCWBI and other organizations and is teaching a creative writing picutre book course through CAPP university.  www.kalliegeorge.com

Barbara Nickel

Workshop: The Poet's Tool Box

What tools do poets use to practice their craft? In this hands-on workshop, we’ll take the hammers and wrenches of poetry out of the tool box and use them to make some poems. We’ll gather the sounds and smells of summer, give a voice to a stone or a rose, and listen for the chime of inner half rhyme. With these and other exercises, we’ll explore image and metaphor, rhythm, sound, and where to break the lines in between. With lots of insider tips, we’ll also try out some tools for revision.

Barbara Nickel’s most recent novel for children, Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, winner of the 2006 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize (B.C. Book Prizes), and was chosen as a Canadian Library Association Honour Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for several Young Readers’ Choice Awards, including Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and the B.C. Chocolate Lily Award. Her other books for children include The Secret Wish of Nannerl Mozart (shortlisted for the Geoffrey Bilson, Mr. Christie, and Red Cedar Book Awards), and From the Top of a Grain Elevator, a poetry collection. Her new picture book in verse, A Boy Asked the Wind is forthcoming in 2013. Barbara is also an author of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for adults; her collection of poetry, The Gladys Elegies, won the Pat Lowther Award for the best book of poetry by a woman in Canada, and her second collection, Domain (House of Anansi Press) was listed in Quill & Quire’s Best Books of 2007.

Sara Bynoe

Workshop: Micro Writing

The world is busy and attention spans are waning. You want to be a writer so, what are you to do? Master the art of grabbing your reader with only a few words and tell a story quickly. In this short session we will punch up our persuasive power with poetic verses, strong images and bold statements in six word stories, flash fiction, postcard tales, twelve-word novels and other short form styles.

Sara Bynoe likes to have fun. She writes, acts, sings, performs, hosts, produces live events and likes to dance to early 90s dance music. Recently Sara completed a Masters Degree at Goldsmiths, University of London in Creative and Life Writing where she was tutored by some amazing writers including Blake Morrison, Maura Dooley and Bernadine Evaristo. At Goldsmiths Sara was shortlisted for the Pat Kavanagh Award for New Writers and hosted the launch of the Goldfish Literary journal.

Camilla D'Errico:

Workshop: How to Draw Manga - Character Development is Key

Drawing a comic or manga is no easy feat and although it's visual - the basis of any comic, manga or graphic novel is character development and good storytelling and not just big expressive eyes! The Japanese have perfected the art of developing compelling characters that draw you into their world. We will explore the storytelling and visual aesthetics of manga and how the two combine for effective and captivating visual storytelling.

 

Her books have been published by Random House and Tokyopop (Avril Lavigne's Make 5 Wishes), Simon Pulse (Camilla d'Errico's BURN), Image Comics (Sky Pirates of Neo Terra, Fractured Fables), IDW (Swallow 5, Sparrow 13) and Dark Horse (Myspace Dark Horse Presents, Vampy Cat) and she self-publishes her own literature-inspired graphic novel series, Tanpopo. She has been nominated for a Joe Shuster Award as Outstanding Comic Artist for 2010 (awards June 2011).

Camilla has distinguished herself as one of the breakthrough Pop Surrealism painters thanks to her ability to seamlessly weave manga and western styles with surrealist elements, wrapping it together with an extensive emotional palette. She has a unique style - "West Meets East" - that bridges cultural and geographical boundaries, while remaining totally relevant to today's varied audience.  www.camilladerrico.com www.facebook.com/camilladerricoart

Barbara Adler:

Workshop: Do you love music? Do you secretly rap along to Jay-Z, sing in the shower to Lady Gaga, or shred Metallica riffs in your bedroom? Don't be ashamed--it's totally normal. Wouldn't it be great though, if more music had amazing words? Seriously, how much do we need to hear about "bling?"

This workshop is for writers who want to mash their words with all kinds of music. You don't have to be a cello virtuoso or an opera singer-- just bring some writing that you love. If you play a small or medium-sized instrument, bring that too (no pipe-organs, please). Shy people and first-time performers are welcome.

Barbara Adler has a weird job. She is a traveling storyteller, performance poet and accordion player. She tours internationally with her many projects, and has performed and collected stories all over the province with The B.C. Memory Game. She is a founding member of the acclaimed folk-poetry group, The Fugitives, but her most serious personal mission is to convince the world that the accordion is to be loved, not feared. She leads Fang, Vancouver's most famous (ie. its only) accordion shout rock band. Check out all her projects at www.badler.ca

 

Wayde Compton

Workshop: Taking Poetry from the Page to the Soundwaves: Writing in a Re-Mix Culture

"In this workshop we'll talk about making poetry in the age of electronic re-mixing, sampling, and turntablism. Comptom will discuss the meeting of hip hop and literature, and will expose the group to other examples of creative sound-poetry. The last half of the workshop will give the participants a chance to record their own poems -- and to edit, mix and play them back using various sound recording technologies provided."

A Vancouver writer whose books include After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region, Performance Bond, Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature and 49th Parallel Psalm. He and Jason de Couto perform turntable-based sound poetry as a duo called The Contact Zone Crew. Compton is also a co-founding member of the Hogan's Alley Memorial Project, an organization dedicated to preserving the public memory of Vancouver's original black community. He is also one of the publishers of Commodore Books. Wayde Compton teaches English composition and literature at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Coquitlam College. Find him at www.waydecompton.com

James McCann

Workshop: Finding Inspiration in an Inspiring World

"We will examine the world around us, from the object we use to the places we visit, and see what we can take from it to inspire our stories. Writers block will become a thing of the past."

James McCann is the author of the Rancour Chronicles (Be Read Books) and Flying Feet (Orca Books). McCann grew up on the icy plains of Manitoba, where he spent most of his teen age years reading comics and playing Dungeons and Dragons. Both of these hobbies taught him the storytelling tools that he now uses as an author and creative writing instructor. A graduate of the school of life, he believes that a good education comes foremost from experience. He has taken this philosophy into the classroom to teach creative writing techniques to countless students and teachers. He is a familiar face in local festivals and writer's camps, and when he isn't writing McCann can be found practicing tae kwon do, going on hikes with his Shih Tzu Conan, or co-hosting a podcast series, Authors Like Us. You can learn more about him at http://www.jamesmccann.info

 

Hiromi Goto

Workshop: "Show Me The Way..."

"Show, don’t tell," is one of the most common comments a developing writer will hear as feedback. When we are developing our craft writers often experience challenges in understanding the difference between showing and telling. In this workshop we’ll talk about how they differ and move through fast-paced exercises to hone our skills. When we show well monsters become more monstrous, other worlds become real, dramatic action breathtaking and we can feel the protagonist’s world upon on skin. Make your writing more visceral, immediate, and specific!

Hiromi Goto is the award-winning author of many books for youth, adult, and children. She is a firm believer of writing what you feel most passionately about; just do it well. Since childhood she’s been fascinated by stories of ghosts, monsters, yokai, aliens, girl heroes and survival.... She lives somewhere between dreams and nightmares. Her dark fantasy YA novel, Half World, was winner of the 2010 Sunburst Award and the Carl Brandon Parallax Award and was long-listed for the IMPAC-Dublin Literary Award. Darkest Light, a companion book to Half World, will be published with Penguin Canada in Spring of 2012. More information on her website, at www.hiromigoto.com

 

Gurjinder Basran

Workshop: Characters with a Cause

Through group discussion and writing activities we will explore how causality and character development can drive a story forward.

Gurjinder Basran’s debut novel, Everything Was Good-bye, was the winner of Mother Tongue Publishing's "Search for the Great BC Novel Contest" in 2010 and was awarded the 2011 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for the most outstanding work of fiction by a BC author. As a manuscript, Everything Was Good-bye was shortlisted for Amazon.com's 2008 Breakthrough Novel Award and earned her a place in The Vancouver Sun's annual speculative arts and culture article "One's to Watch". Having grown up in a strict household, Gurjinder spent most of her youth and a good portion of her adult years daydreaming and credits her imagination for the writing life she has now. Gurjinder studied creative writing at Simon Fraser University and the Banff Center for the Arts and currently lives in Delta, British Columbia with her husband and two sons. Find her at www.gurjinderbasran.com