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JANUARY * |
2013 Annual General Meeting & New Year Open Mic at Oaklands Why not start the year with a reading at the Open Mic Night at Oaklands? Listeners supplied. Arrive early to sign up to read your fiction, creative non-fiction or poetry. January is also our Annual General Meeting (AGM). Members will (quickly) elect the 2013 executive. Why not nominate your friend? Why not join the executive yourself? Renew your membership – or join up – and have your say. All members are encouraged to display their published works or related services around the room. Tables will be supplied. Please arrive a little early so we can all settle in comfortably. The evening includes refreshments. Family, friends, and the general public are welcome. |
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FEB. 1st # |
Submissions – Island Writer 11/1 – DEADLINE |
| February | Inba Kehoe: Copyright & Plagiarism Inba Kehoe is the Copyright Officer & Scholarly Communications /Publishing Librarian at the University of Victoria Library. From the Uvic website http://www.uvic.ca/copyright/ Copyright protection exists as soon as a work is expressed in a fixed format e.g. a book. The author of the work is usually the owner of copyright. As the copyright holder, the author has the “right to copy.” That is, they have the right to produce, reproduce, perform or publish any translation of the work and to authorize anyone else these rights. Ms. Kehoe will discuss and explain the following important topics: Exclusive rights Moral rights Types of works protected by copyright What is not protected Length of copyright term Automatic protection Fair dealing Exceptions to the Copyright Act Public domain |
| March | Munro’s Books: “The Perilous Trade” Jim Munro gives an overview of publishing and book selling over the last 50 years. Munro’s Books will be FIFTY years old in September of this year. In 1963, Jim and Alice Munro opened their novel (pun intended) paperbacks-only bookstore beside the Dominion Hotel at Yates and Blanshard, back when movie theatres crowded the other three corners. That narrow space has expanded twice since (1979 & 1984) and now occupies the neo-classical old Royal Bank by Fort and Government. Jim Munro has seen the rise and fall of the book business. His talk will include: · The paperback revolution, · the rise of the mega bookstore · Amazon- rhe scourge of the industry · The cyberspace challenge · Colourful characters encountered · Mistakes publishers have made · Friendly advice for authors and would-be authors |
| April | Maleea Acker: Lyric Sensibility Maleea Acker addresses the need for greater unity between the arts and the sciences. She will read from her recent non-fiction book Gardens Aflame: Garry Oak Meadows on BC’s South Coast (New Star, 2012). “Acker’s wonderful little book is both a lyrical examination of this contested landscape and an ethical parable about how we should learn to live with the world as well as in it.” – Stephen Hume, “Books about BC make unique gifts,” Vancouver Sun, Dec. 14, 2012. In talking about the writing process, particularly, Maleea will discuss ways in which poetry informs her practice when switching into non-fiction. She emphasizes the need for metaphor and lyric in writing, even when writing on scientific topics. http://maleeaacker.com/Maleea Acker's first poetry collection The Reflecting Pool was published by Pedlar Press in 2009. Her current poetry work The Almond in the Earth will be released in the Fall of 2013, also by Pedlar Press. |
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MAY 1st # |
Submissions – WRITING CONTEST – DEADLINE |
| MAY * |
Island Writer 11/1 Magazine Launch
Contributing authors will read from their works of prose and poetry. |
| June | OPEN MIC Tell us a story: audience supplied Please come and read a scene from your novel, a short story or a poem. Readers and listeners equally welcome. Arrive early to read fiction or non-fiction. OPEN MIC format – please sign up on arrival.Perhaps consider submitting a piece to Island Writer – our twice-yearly collection from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. |
| JULY * | X |
| AUGUST * | X |
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SEPT. 1st # |
Submissions – Island Writer 11/2 – DEADLINE |
| September | Contest Awards and Guest Speaker Jack Knox Come join us as we announce the winners in the Victoria Writers’ Society 12th Annual Writing Contest. *Our Guest Speaker Jack Knox is an award-losing columnist with the Victoria Times Colonist.[postponed to savour at a later date] !See Jack Knox on April 2, 2014! |
| October | Marilynne Miles Gray: Finding an agent … is like having a baby and then some! You claim you have no intention of sourcing a literary agent? Hold on. To agent or not to agent, that isn’t the question…This 90-minute session tackles the subject from a number of perspectives including that a Canadian author who has an agent plus input from numerous others who’ve considered the subject long and hard.Learn more interesting and useful information than you ever imagined, such as: the 4 routes involved in getting published, the psychology of putting a MS “out there” for review, your rights as an author, the myths about agents and publishing, hidden resources for writers that are uncovered during the search, and much more.Bottom line: you’re likely to change your mind about the place and value of an agent once you’ve attended this 90-minute session. Some additional topics covered in the 90 minute presentation: 3 Questions to ask BEFORE you look for an agent Agent queries process 6 common author mistakes The synopsis Best (award-winning) websites (and worst) to guide your search Common FAQs and lots of answersMarilynne Miles Gray holds an Honours BA in English Literature with a minor in geology and geography plus an MA from UBC where she also did her teacher training certification. During that time, she did occasional writing for The Ubyssey student newspaper, taught English 100 classes and English to foreign graduate students, plus teacher-trainee supervision.In addition, Marilynne also holds an MEd in Educational Administration with a minor in English as a Second Language. Later she juggled public school teaching and doctoral studies (at the University of Toronto) before returning to teach in B.C.In a career move, she worked for a Vancouver software company on their product documentation. After that, with her husband, she founded a mentoring company for which she helped with test development, a refereed journal for professional educators, online product documentation and training of clients and their staff, many in universities and Fortune 100 companies. She reckons she edited more than 500 scholarly articles during that phase of her life.Along the way, at almost every point, she has worked as an editor of some type of newsletter for women in business, gardeners, ice curlers or artists.Her current focus has been on a historical crime trilogy centred on the World War 1 and Twenties period and that’s where the hunt for literary agents began and continues… |
| November | 6 Yasuko Thanh:Walk a Mile in These Shoes
Relevance in Fiction: Stories as a “Concrete” Philosophy, or, How Reading Fiction Can Make Us Better People Yasuko Thanh will discuss how many of her stories find their roots in real life events. Especially ones that lay bare a few facts, but present an even greater mystery. Part of the impetus of her critically acclaimed book Floating Like the Dead was the overlooked aspects of BC’s history, such as the story of the D’Arcy Island leper colony, stories of Oakalla Prison, of Riverview Hospital — histories of the other voice, stories in which the idea of “historical significance” was politically contested. Yasuko will read from her book and reveal why she is drawn to that which is under-represented, matters whose current portrayals suppress uncomfortable truths. “I’m attracted to the ‘unofficial versions’ of things.” In doing so, she will touch on relevance in fiction and talk about whether walking a mile in someone’s uncomfortable shoes can teach us to become better people, and, if so, the enigmatic process by which it happens. Ms. Thanh won The Journey Prize and published a collection with M&S that was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Award and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and chosen as a Quill & Quire Best Books of 2012. One of the stories won the Arthur Ellis Award for best Crime Short Story, and CBC Books has named her one of Ten Writers to Watch. Yasuko lives in Victoria with her husband and two daughters. http://yasukothanh.com/ Floating Like the Dead (excerpted from publisher’s website): In this sharply observed and erotically charged debut collection, Journey Prize-winner Yasuko Thanh immerses us in the lives of people on the knife edge of desire and regret, hungry for change yet still yearning for a place to call home, if only for a little while.Many of the characters in these stories are expats, outlaws, and outsiders, some by choice, others by circumstance. Yet in their struggles to be themselves and to belong, they remind us of our own deepest longings and desires.
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| DECEMBER * | 4 Island Writer 11/2 Magazine Launch  Come celebrate the launch of the latest Island Writer with readings and goodies! Contributing authors will read from their works of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry.Family, friends, and the general public are welcome. The readings begin at 7 o’clock promptly.The evening includes refreshments, mingling and distribution of Island Writer magazine volume 11 issue 2. Our twice-yearly collection has gone digital for members. Hard copies will be at the meeting for those who ordered in advance. A limited number of extra copies will be available for purchase. |
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