September 11, 2010 – 11:01 am
If you’re coming to Orcas Island for the Writers Festival, you may want to spend Friday evening just reading, writing, relaxing, or exploring the island. However, we thought you music lovers would want to know that there’s a trio of excellent Celtic fiddlers (some of the best in the world) performing at Orcas Center, our 200+ seat performing arts auditorium, on Friday night. The Writers Festival workshops end at 5 p.m. and the Jumpstart! class ends at 4, so there’s time for dinner before the show, which starts at 7:30 p.m.
Performing as the “Celtic Fiddle Festival,” and called “three of the finest folk violinists anywhere” by The Washington Post, Kevin Burke (Ireland), Christian Lemaître (Brittany) and André Brunet (Quebec) combine their talents, musical traditions, and spontaneous humor for an evening of dazzling energy and subtle grace.
Tickets are $25/adults, $11/students, or $17 for Orcas Center adult members
Friday, September 17, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Visit http://www.orcascenter.org/calendar/showDetails.asp?key=247 for more info or to purchase tickets.
September 8, 2010 – 4:43 pm
Yesterday Orcas Islander Margie Doyle published a substantial article on the past, present and future of the OIWF, featuring her conversation with Barbara Lewis. Here is the link to http://orcasissues.com/; just scroll down to September 7 and you’ll see Barbara’s smiling face.
September 8, 2010 – 3:50 pm
Author Matthew Goodman, who taught Creative Nonfiction workshops at the OIWF the last two years, has been featured on NPR’s “On the Media” this week (September 3). Hear a brief interview (or read a transcript) at this link: http://www.onthemedia.org/ Goodman connects our wish to believe in hoaxes with this week’s news.
August was the 175th anniversary of the New York Sun’s Great Moon Hoax, when Richard Adams Locke created a sensation by writing a series of satirical articles, taken seriously by the public, about life on the moon. Matthew Goodman, author of The Sun and the Moon, says this story marked a paradigmatic shift in the way Americans perceived newspapers.
September 1, 2010 – 2:42 am
In the September issue of Seattle magazine, a small feature called “Road Trip!” encourages readers to come to Orcas Island and sample the fare at two new restaurants, Allium and The Quilted Pig, led by acclaimed chefs. For “Extra Credit” they encourage folks to check out the Orcas Island Writers Festival. Though we do take a wee bit of exception to their phrasing ”wannabe writers” because we know that many of you are already writing very well, we appreciate the plug. And you may very well want to explore these or other Orcas Island fine dining establishments, and have fun at the Saturday Market during a lunch break.
August 12, 2010 – 10:49 pm
As of today, August 12, there are 2 spaces open in Sue Silverman’s Nonfiction Workshop. If you by chance tried to sign up a few days ago and the Eventbrite registration page would not let you, please try again as we have corrected a technical problem. But the time is short to sign up, because the closing date for manuscript submission is August 17. Click here to go to Sue Silverman’s website to learn more about her writing and teaching. Sue is the author of Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir.
We’re excited to have Nance Van Winckel returning to the Writers Festival this year. She’s doing some very cutting-edge work in bringing writing off the page. She’ll devote Day 3 (Sunday) of her Jumpstart! classes to exploring this topic. Check out some of the videos she’s posted to YouTube to get an idea of some of the possibilities. Click here to go to a video that shows the projects of several of her Vermont College of Fine Arts students – From the Writer’s Hands: Off-the-Page Poems. Also, you can check out some of the other videos she’s posted once you’re there, or click here to go directly to one of our other favorites – Photoems – which shows how Nance uses Photoshop to add “graffiti” to photos of old buildings and such.
Your one-day ticket to any of the 3 Jumpstart! classes (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) gets you in to all the other festival events happening the same day, as well as the Sunday Send-Off Buffet.
Anyone participating in the Orcas Island Writers Festival is welcome to submit work to our local literary journal. (You can read an entry by Barbara Lewis at http://sharkreef.org/non-fiction/old-love) .
SHARK REEF endeavors to give voice to serious writers who have made a true commitment to work hard to produce original writing of high quality. We are particularly passionate about publishing the work of the “common man and woman” whose writing emerges from first-hand experience. As all evaluation of art is subjective, we make no bones about the fact that our selections are informed by our own tastes, whims, and fancies.
SHARK REEF, online now at sharkreef.org, was launched in June of 2001 as a new millennium online zine from a rural grassroots community. Over the years, SHARK REEF has published the work of almost a hundred writers and numerous visual artists. Most of them live in the islands; some are visitors who, perhaps, wish they lived here.
SHARK REEF publishes two issues a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Submission deadlines are June 30 and December 31. We consider solicited and unsolicited material, published previously or unpublished, fiction, non-fiction prose, poetry and dramatic writing. We feature artwork by local visual artists in each issue as well.
Go to sharkreef.org for submission guidelines.
We loved our one-day workshop with Deb Lund on Saturday, June 5. Fourteen lucky writers spent the day with Deb Lund, author of the acclaimed “Dino” series books for children. We were so fortunate to have Deb guide us through some very helpful and creative prompts (especially the wonderful writers’ cards that she designed). Several participants have told us that they have sprouted some new ideas for stories. One has a novel emerging from the maps we drew. Deb also did a reading at Darvill’s Bookstore. We hope to have Deb back again soon!
Sunday, June 6
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Deb Lund, author of the acclaimed “Dino” series for children, will do a reading/storytelling at Darvill’s Bookstore. Come to hear a good story, get your book signed, or to meet the Whidbey Island author. The event is free. Deb Lund will also be leading a writer’s workshop on June 5th, “Fiction Fire! for Teens and Adults,” hosted by the Orcas Island Writers Festival.
Barbara Lewis, Festival Director, will be attending the Skagit River Poetry Festival this Saturday, May 22. If you’re there, walk up and say hello!
To learn more about the Skagit River Poetry Festival, visit: http://www.skagitriverpoetry.org/about.cfm.
